The Shakespeare Society

Lol, I know what it's called - unis bang on about it all the time. It was just a reponse to the previous post about 'original dialogue'.

I was hoping for an in-depth discussion of the BBC's Much Ado...I suppose I'll just have to start it! I missed the first half hour (I had to watch Jeremy Paxman - priorities!), but thought it was quite good, liked the way they managed the scenes where they get Beatrice/Benedick to find out that the other is supposed to be in love with them (I know there's a name for them...) and thought they updated it well. I'm not convinced that the updated Macbeth will work so well.
There was also an advert for something Shakespeare-y on Radio 4 next week, anyone know anything about it?

i've missed every single shakespeare thing on the bbc; a bit annoying.

I saw the recent Sheffield production and was actually rather disappointed, after years of Michael Grandage (love him) and Sam West's promising start with Comedy of Errors, Much Ado was a bit of a let-down. I felt that the actors weren't really using the space they had, they were more or less just walking on, delivering their lines, and walking off again. They could have done so much more with the scenes where Beatrice and Benedick each 'overhear' about the other's love for them, and the Dogberry thing seemed fairly pointless. It wasn't a bad production as such, it just didn't add anything to the play - which I feel something as frequently performed as Much Ado needs to do if it is to stand up.
Taming of the Shrew can work, even in modern times. The film 10 Things I Hate About You 'updates' it fairly well, equally we have things like Kiss Me Kate. However, the BBC one seemed like a bit of a cop-out. I usually watch Shrew to see how they deal with the feminist issues and this version simply ignored them. I know I sound a bit hairy-legged feminist here, but it's that kind of thing that perpetuates all the myths around rape. I mean, what modern woman would really put up with treatment like that? Especially one depicted (as this Katharina was) as an ambitious, ball-breaking career woman type? I also thought that making Bianca into a celebrity didn't quite work. The performances, however, were good, but the rest of it spoiled it for me.

It's funny, 'cause I really enjoyed the BBC Taming of the Shrew adaptation. I thought the actors were great and I found it very funny. Of course there are some uncomfortable anti-feminist sentiments which made it quite jarring in its modern setting - but that IS the Shakespeare play. If (as 'adaptations' like '10 things I hate about you' have done) you just ignore the 'submitting-to-the-husband' bits and pretend they don't exist, then you're essentially changing the plot and not really being faithful to the play. Which is all fine if you don't intend to be faithful, but I think the BBC adaptation was trying to keep as much of the Shakespeare storyline in it as possible.
The 'fault' is with the play itself, not the BBC adaptaion. Anyway, I enjoyed it in a 'not-taking-it-at-all-seriously' way!

i've missed every single shakespeare thing on the bbc; a bit annoying.