Product Details

• Actors: Paul Gross, Don McKellar, Martha Burns
• Directors: Peter Wellington
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, 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 (76 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FBFYKU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,517 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Slings & Arrows - Season 1" on 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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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful

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

By Violet Quill

Format: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.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

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

By Walter P. Sheppard VINE™ VOICE

Format: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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hilarious sendup from the pleasantly warped Paul Gross September 20, 2007

By Sarah TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Mention Paul Gross to an American, and the image that most people come up with is the uberpolite, by-the-book Mountie Benton Fraser from the Canadian series "Due South: Season One (4-DVD Digipack)". Paul's dark, quirky humor still managed to surface through Frasier's naive act, particularly in the final seasons of the show. Now ask a Canadian; no doubt some will bring up H2O, a Canadian political thriller in which Gross plays the prime minister. Odds are, another Canadian will bring up Men With Brooms, Paul's directorial debut and attempt at a quintessential (if not the only) Canadian curling comedy. Next, ask a loyal Stratford theatre buff about Paul; no doubt that you'll hear of his brilliant performances as Hamlet in 2000. Paul is also a vocal advocate of the arts within Canada and an accomplished musician.

Paul's many talents truly come together on Slings and Arrows, a sendup of the internationally-known Stratford Shakespeare Festival. For those not in the know, Stratford, Ontario (named after Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon) hosts a lavish Shakespearian theater festival that runs for seven months a year, featuring some of the brightest stars of stage and screen.

Slings and Arrows is titled after Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1) and is set in fictional New Burbage, a small, rural town that briefly flowers during tourist season. The New Burbage theater company is worn and uninspired, anchored by diva Ellen Fanshaw (played by Paul Gross's wife, Martha Burns). The artistic director Oliver Wells (Steven Ouimette) is a washed-up thespian and alcoholic who views the theater as a cash cow, nothing more. Across town, Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) is struggling to save a small theater (Theatre Sans Argent, or "Theater Without Money") from eviction. Tennant suffered a mental breakdown seven years ago during one of Wells' productions of Hamlet, and it ended his career in the theater. On the opening night of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a very drunk Oliver calls Geoffrey from a payphone, passes out in the street, and is run over by a truck. His ghost haunts Geoffrey, who has become the interim artistic director of the festival.

Which is all...very Shakespearian in nature. The show is rich with irony, and I found myself frequently laughing at unexpected flashes of brilliance. Add to the mix the quirky cast of actors, backstage antics, and theater in-jokes, and you have an effervescent satire of theater and the state of the arts in Canada.

There are subplots involving American corporate sponsors, pot, budding love interests, and old rivalries. The dialogue is witty, the editing airtight, and the rousing opening and closing singalongs ("Cheer Up, Hamlet!" and "Call the Understudy") make this a blast. Add to the fact that many members of the cast and crew are theater vets (Burns, Gross, Ouimette, Susan Coyne, and William Hutt all performed at Stratford) and Canadian screen stars (Don McKellar, Sarah Polley, Rachael McAdams).

Though the show is beloved by many who work in the theater, non-thespians will find Slings and Arrows equally engrossing. My "theater" background consists of working backstage on one or two high school plays and a visit to Stratford in 2002, and I absolutely loved Slings and Arrows for its blend of comedy, outstanding performances, razor-sharp dialogue, and glimpse at the backstage craziness and camaraderie. Extras include a trailer that's best left until after you've watched the first season, outtakes, production notes, cast filmographies, a list of the series' credits, and lyrics to "Cheer Up Hamlet" and "Call the Understudy."