In January 2016, alongside our work onstage at the Barbican, a special festival of RSC Shakespeare on Screen has been created to complement the King and Country plays.
RSC Shakespeare on Screen
9-31 January 2016
Barbican Cinemas 1 & 2
Curated by John Wyver, RSC Director of Screen Productions, in association with the Barbican, RSC Shakespeare on Screen will uncover highlights from 50 years of Shakespeare in performance. Nine titles have been selected from the huge archive of RSC work captured on stage or reconceived for film and television.
John Wyver says: “The RSC Shakespeare on Screen season showcases some of the great performances of the British theatre from the past fifty years and more, and it highlights numerous imaginative contributions of the RSC’s creative teams to the art of adapting Shakespeare to the screen. We are showing some productions from the BBC archives that have been newly restored, and indeed many of these screen versions have hardly been seen since they were first shown. It’s thrilling to present these at the start of the year that marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and to think that RSC productions from as long ago as fifty years can once again excite and involve and delight audiences today.”
Macbeth (1979)
Saturday 9 Jan – 3pm
Cinema 1
Graced by fiercely thoughtful performances from Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, Trevor Nunn’s intense and intimate production, originally staged at The Other Place, was recorded in an almost bare television studio.
Production directed by Trevor Nunn
RSC Panel Discussion
Sunday 10 January – 2pm
Cinema 2
Academic Judith Buchanan leads this illuminating discussion, with current RSC Artistic DirectorGregory Doran and other guests to be announced on the RSC’s involvement with film and television and the challenges of translating stage productions to the screen.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1959)
Sunday 10 January – 4pm
Cinema 2
A rarely-seen partial recording of Peter Hall’s acclaimed staging. Charles Laughton plays Bottom in a sparkling production, which was conceived as if for a wedding in an Elizabethan country house.
Production directed by Peter Hall
The Wars of the Roses: Henry VI (1965)
Monday 11 January – 12 noon
Cinema 2
This is the premiere of a newly restored, BBC recording of the first great RSC History plays cycle. Unseen for decades, this is one of the most significant and compelling productions of theatre on television. Here, David Warner’s touching English monarch is contrasted with Janet Suzman’s fiery Joan of Arc.
Production directed by Peter Hall, John Barton
The Wars of the Roses: Edward IV (1965)
Monday 11 January – 3pm
Cinema 2
The second in this great RSC History plays cycle; Peggy Ashcroft blazes across the screen as Queen Margaret, alongside the exceptional cast of Donald Sinden as the Duke of York and Roy Dotrice as Edward IV.
Production directed by Peter Hall, John Barton
The Wars of the Roses: Richard III (1965)
Tuesday 12 January – 6pm
Cinema 1
Ian Holm’s compelling, chameleon-like King Richard is at the centre of this innovative BBC recording, and there are wonderful performances also from Janet Suzman (Lady Anne) and Eric Porter (Richmond).
Production directed by Peter Hall, John Barton
Othello (1990)
Sunday 17 January – 3pm
Cinema 2
A powerful version of Trevor Nunn’s intimate production for The Other Place, which unusually plays the text in full. Featuring the talents of Ian McKellen, Willard White, Imogen Stubbs and Zoe Wanamaker, the chemistry between the leads is palpable and exquisite.
Production directed by Trevor Nunn
As You Like It (1963)
Tuesday 19 January – 6pm
Cinema 1
One of the earliest hits for the newly established RSC, Michael Elliott’s sparkling version, set around a huge oak tree, is most memorable for Vanessa Redgrave’s luminous Rosalind.
Production directed by Michael Elliott
King Lear (1971)
Saturday 23 January – 3pm
Cinema 1
Peter Brook’s vision of the tragedy was filmed in black-and white against the snow-covered landscapes of Denmark’s North Jutland; there is a spare grandeur to the setting. Paul Scofield’s central performance is simply magnificent.
Production directed by Peter Brook
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996)
Sunday 24 January – 3pm
Cinema 2
A richly visual imagining of the play that appears to be dreamt by a young boy. Based on Adrian Noble’s 1994 staging, this is a triumph of lush design and immaculate performances by Lindsay Duncan, Alex Jennings and Desmond Barrit.
Production directed by Adrian Noble
Hamlet (2008)
Sunday 31 January – 2pm
Cinema 1
This striking television film captures the essence of Gregory Doran’s modern-dress staging, in which David Tennant’s quicksilver Prince lives in an Elsinore surrounded by surveillance and spying.
Production directed by Gregory Doran
Further information here: http://www.kingandcountry.org.uk/events/rsc-shakespeare-on-screen/
http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/series.asp?id=1490
King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings
The Royal Shakespeare Company will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with a major theatrical event at the Barbican in January 2016: King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings – with performances of all four productions of Gregory Doran’s history plays in repertoire, thanks to generous support from our Global Premier Tour Partner, J.P. Morgan.
The season brings together the previous production of Richard II (premiered in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in October 2013), with the recent Henry IV Parts I & IIand the new production of Henry V following its acclaimed run in Stratford.