Product Details

• Actors: Paul Gross, Don McKellar, Martha Burns
• Directors: Peter Wellington
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: ACORN MEDIA
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2006
• Run Time: 276 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FBFYKU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,473 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Slings & Arrows - Season 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The title of Slings and Arrows, like many of the themes and characters in this show, comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It refers to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" that the Danish prince suffers, leading him to question whether he is to be or not... you know. It’s a clever title for an inspired show about--what else?--the theatre. Set in the New Burbage Theatre Festival, a fictional Canadian Provincial theatre, a jaded, burnt-out artistic director, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), dies suddenly, and is replaced by a potential genius, his visionary protégé Geoffrey Tennant (Due South's Paul Gross). Geoffrey is legendary at the New Burbage for his awe-inspiring performance of Hamlet there years before, and also because he went mad and now his sanity seems to be hanging by a thread. And oh, by the way, Oliver’s still hanging around as a ghost, but Geoffrey’s the only one who can see him (sound familiar?), and his impulsive reactions and out-loud arguments with Oliver--including one captured while being interviewed for a news program--besides being hilarious, convince the cast and crews he’s really lost it. The show details the daily activities at the festival as they attempt to mount a new production of Hamlet (starring a movie star who’s all face and no talent), and in doing so it employs a huge cast of peripheral characters, including the dysfunctional acting company (rising star Rachel McAdams has a key part), scheming board members, and a neurotic theatre staff, each with their own little subplots interweaving to make one big drama.

This first-season set of the Sundance Channel program contains only six episodes, which is too bad because the series is so excellent it’ll leave you wanting more. The fact that shows of this caliber are rare makes it stand out all the more. The writing is topnotch, with memorable dialogue, biting dark humor, and clever situations that continually point out how absurd real life can get. This one is a real gem, a show that demonstrates ‘tis nobler in the mind to laugh at the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, rather than suffer them. --Daniel Vancini

Product Description

Showered with awards and critical acclaim, this darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and artistic miracles that happen behind the scenes.

Paul Gross (Due South) stars as washed-up actor Geoffrey Tennant, who returns to the New Burbage Theatre—the site of his acting triumph and his career-ending meltdown—to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. Believing that theatre is meant to provoke not anesthetize, Geoffrey takes on the suits who want to turn the festival into a theme park, a director who runs amuck with Hamlet, and his own demons, including Oliver—who returns to haunt him. Also starring Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, The Notebook), Stephen Ouimette (Mentors), and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best TV Has to Offer, April 15, 2006

By 

Violet Quill (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slings & Arrows - Season 1 (DVD)

"Slings and Arrows" is an intelligent, witty, sometimes moving, mostly brilliant series from Canada that is head and shoulders above anything on TV today. If you like following a wide canvas of fascinating characters through the peaks and valleys of their lives, if you like theater, if you like brilliant ensemble work, if you like writing that is just as brilliant, this series is for you. I hope this series opens people's eyes to some of the remarkable film and theater work going on in Canada these days. By all means, watch "Slings and Arrows." But make sure you have plenty of time. Like a page turning novel, it won't let you go until you see the entire season.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifically..., April 3, 2007

By 

Walter P. Sheppard (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Slings & Arrows - Season 1 (DVD)

...entertaining. I'm not going to rattle on about how wonderful this series is -- so unlike anything on dreck-laden US television. Instead, I'll just say that I agree with all the praise piled on "Slings & Arrows" by others and note it is a special source of fun for anyone with backstage experience. And I'll add the lyrics of "Call the Understudy," the song sung by Cyril and Frank over the closing titles to each episode --

Call the understudy
I can't go on tonight
I'm drinking with my buddy
I'm getting good and tight
Before they raise the curtain I'll be higher than a kite
So call the understudy
I can't go on tonight

Tell the cast and crew to break a leg (break a leg!)
Roll me out another bloody keg (bloody keg!)
I need to ease the pain that life can bring
And liquor is what will hit the spot
The play is not the thing

So call the understudy
I think it's only right
My diction will be muddy
I'll never find my light
Before the intermission I'll be pissin' on a sprite
So call the understudy
I can't go on (he can't go on!)
I won't go on (he shan't go on!)
I can't go on tonight (damn right!)

If you want to laugh -- and, finally, to be moved once again by "Hamlet" -- scoop this up and settle down for a treat.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's "Outrageous Fortune" to See This Show, April 19, 2006

By 

Susan Eisenberg (Silver Spring, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Slings & Arrows - Season 1 (DVD)

A friend of mine taped this Canadian show off the Sundance Channel and mailed it to me. I have never loved a TV series more. It's hilarious and touching and features Canada's top actors in a backstage satire of a company that resembles Ontario's Stratford Festival. Don't miss "Slings and Arrows" if you're a theater buff. It's going to be a cult hit as soon as the DVD hits America.