Product Description

The four cutting-edge productions in this collection bring Shakespeare alive for a 21st century audience. Macbeth is the chef in a three-star restaurant, slicing apart his celebrity boss, Duncan. Beatrice and Benedick are rival co-anchors on a nightly newscast whose open hostility masks passion of a different kind. Titania and Bottom carouse together in a tawdry theme resort called Dream Park. And the eccentric aristocrat Petruchio sets out to tame the conservative MP Kate in a politically incorrect marriage of convenience. Playful, cunning and passionate, these adaptations breathe new life into four classic plays, perfectly complementing the great BBC Shakespeare tradition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9289 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-07-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 360 minutes

Amazon.com
Shakespeare Retold, BBC's four-episode Shakespeare project, is more fulfilling when compared to past filmic adaptations of the maestro's plays, since its experimentation ventures well beyond previous versions of the same stories. In the past, adaptations relied on strict adherence to the original scripts (see Orson Welles' and Polanski's Macbeths, or Franco Zefferelli's lavishly accurate renditions of The Taming of The Shrew and Romeo and Juliet). Though Welles as Macbeth and Liz Taylor as Kate are stiff competition, however, these parts are ever open for reinterpretation. But not until Leonardo di Caprio as Romeo dropped a hit of ecstasy on screen did adaptations stray so far into the narrative experimentation that this series relies on. The stories retold, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, and A Midsummer Night's Dream so loosely keep their Shakespearian frameworks that unassuming viewers may miss the link. For example, in Macbeth, Joe (James McAvoy), the ambitious sous chef, kills his restaurant's owner to inherit the kitchen's three Michelin stars. Does this mean now that every movie about murderous jealousy is Shakespeare Retold? In The Taming of the Shrew, conservative politician Kate, valiantly portrayed by Shirley Henderson, is coerced into marriage by her political advisor to win Prime Minister votes. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck (Dean Lennox Kelly) is a hippified nerd who drops onto the camera lens something like liquid acid before spinning a mundane tale of broken engagement. Shakespeare modernized without his language, or original settings, hardly feels like Shakespeare at all. Shakespeare Retold, will undoubtedly please some fans and enrage others. Though Shakespeare professors will relish this new attempt to contemporize Shakespeare, the four films comprising Shakespeare Retold not only diminish the potency of these classic tales, but also beg the viewer to question what Shakespeare tales really are. —Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

A hat trick
As an English professor always looking for new perspectives on Shakespeare for my students, I watched these enthusiastically. Aside from Midsummer, which focuses too much on Theseus and Hippolyta's marriage and is very dark,these are terrific. The best stars in the English firmament make up these casts. The best is Shrew -- Shirley Henderson, Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle all grown up (metaphorically, she's a tiny person) is a miniature nuclear bomb, and Rufus Sewell is absolutely edible. The elevator scene is hysterical. Twiggy is also great as her former model mother ushering around her current model sister, Bianca. I've been waiting for these on this side of the pond for a year now!

Excellent modern versions!
As a lifelong lover of the Bard, and yearly attendee and patron of a Shakespeare festival, I was very wary of purchasing these DVDs and seeing them, but I was especially pleased with these storylines and the production quality.

The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing are standouts; each warrant the purchase price of the set. But MacBeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream are no slackers, either! The acting is overall superb, the music and lighting and sets very well done, and for once, the chemistry between the leads was flawlessly believable. The modernization of Shakespeare's language was so well orchestrated, and the parallels between Shakespeare's day and the modern world so well done, I loved these productions.

Perhaps not for the overly devout Shakespeare fan who sighs at every missed line or nuance, but I have to give these my highest rating as they are excellent modern versions of Shakespeare's plays.

1 Great, 2 Good, and another
I viewed these originally on BBCAmerica and then purchased them...so glad I did.
This version of "Macbeth" was the standout for me. It kept most of the themes while translating the story to a modern kitchen. While a tragedy, this was also the funniest of the four: some marvelous lines and even better performances from Hawes and McAvoy. McAvoy's boyish looks and small stature served to reenforce his subservience to his wife, a sleek, insinuating, and ultimately tragic Ella Macbeth. Hawes performance, especially the dissolving into madness was touching and controlled: no scenery was chewed in the making of this story.
The same cannot be said for "Shrew". Rufus Sewell was brilliant and Shirley Henderson over the top (as usual, but it works here.) Henderson's voice is an acquired taste so it you don't like it, don't bother with this but you'll be robbed of Sewell's delicious turn. The ending was a disappointment and knocked this from an A to a B-.
The Damian Lewis/Sarah Parrish "Much Ado" was mildly funny and passed the time but I've no desire to see it again.
I think the "Midsummer Night's Dream" was a bit too ambitious and ended up bit of a mess. Some wonderful performers who needed a stronger director?