British Traditions in the BBC
May. 22nd, 2008 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiki_engThe BBC is a strange and wonderful institution. It really, really is. It's got all the wonder of TVO, PBS, and the CBC wrapped up in it only it actually has money.
Thing Number One: Old News: Steven Moffat is replacing Russel T. Davies
Dear Russel: Why are you leaving us? Don't you love us anymore?
Admittedly, the Steven Moffat thing has me kind of excited, because: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink... and the next two episodes to air are also written by him. (*is excited*) (He also wrote Coupling.)
Thing Number Two: Stratford
So, that was this Monday and rather posh and English for the holiday, really. We saw The Taming of the Shrew and it was good.
The last time I went to Stratford, mind, was six years ago when I saw Alls Well That Ends Well and that was completely and utterly amazing. (It was my first live Shakespeare.) I've still got the cast list kicking about somewhere, but what I remember is this: it was William Hutt's last season, his last role at Stratford, he was the King of France and he was William Hutt - the man's pretty much a legend in Canadian theatre: he spent 50 years at Stratford. Parolles was played by the understudy that night and he was garbed in brilliant orange and was this amazing scoundrel. He was a bit of a scene-stealer, and I think I may have fallen a bit in love with him. All's Well That Ends Well is one of my favorite plays, actually, and probably like to remain so.
We were seated sort of in the back and a bit off to the side, then, so being in the balcony this time made me feel incredibly snobbish, I have to say. It didn't help that I was right along with this pinched looking woman sitting next to me who did not approve of their ideas regarding Queen Elizabeth.
Anyway, the aftermath of the play had me wandering about on the internet onto the BBC website and their Shakespearian character personality quiz - I'm Beatrice, apparently, but I don't take much stock in this as I'm fairly certain the only other options were the following: Lady Macbeth, Titania, and Katherine Minola. A couple of years ago the BBC did this Shakespeare Re-Told thing where they adapted the plays to modern times (It's a lot like reading AU, actually, because some people sat down and said, "OK, so what if we set Macbeth in a restaurant kitchen, a really snazzy one?")
Much Ado About Nothing is streamable on youtube. I quite liked it. It has Damian Lewis in it (and also three of the characters have appeared in the new Doctor Who - e.g. Billy Piper) which amuses me. What further amuses me is that I haven't read this play, and know it's plot from a Snarry fanfic.
I want to find a way to see their The Taming of the Shrew version because it looks amazing. ...and by amazing I mean incredibly entertaining: "A young harridan MP marries a title in order to advance towards her goal of becoming party leader." It looks fun and it stars Shirley Henderson (Jude in Bridget Jones's Diary, Moaning Murtle in Harry Potter, and Ursula Blake in Love and Monsters) and Rufus Sewell (Count Adhemar in A Knight's Tale). So that's officially on my list of things to see.
Thing Number One: Old News: Steven Moffat is replacing Russel T. Davies
Dear Russel: Why are you leaving us? Don't you love us anymore?
Admittedly, the Steven Moffat thing has me kind of excited, because: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink... and the next two episodes to air are also written by him. (*is excited*) (He also wrote Coupling.)
Thing Number Two: Stratford
So, that was this Monday and rather posh and English for the holiday, really. We saw The Taming of the Shrew and it was good.
The last time I went to Stratford, mind, was six years ago when I saw Alls Well That Ends Well and that was completely and utterly amazing. (It was my first live Shakespeare.) I've still got the cast list kicking about somewhere, but what I remember is this: it was William Hutt's last season, his last role at Stratford, he was the King of France and he was William Hutt - the man's pretty much a legend in Canadian theatre: he spent 50 years at Stratford. Parolles was played by the understudy that night and he was garbed in brilliant orange and was this amazing scoundrel. He was a bit of a scene-stealer, and I think I may have fallen a bit in love with him. All's Well That Ends Well is one of my favorite plays, actually, and probably like to remain so.
We were seated sort of in the back and a bit off to the side, then, so being in the balcony this time made me feel incredibly snobbish, I have to say. It didn't help that I was right along with this pinched looking woman sitting next to me who did not approve of their ideas regarding Queen Elizabeth.
Anyway, the aftermath of the play had me wandering about on the internet onto the BBC website and their Shakespearian character personality quiz - I'm Beatrice, apparently, but I don't take much stock in this as I'm fairly certain the only other options were the following: Lady Macbeth, Titania, and Katherine Minola. A couple of years ago the BBC did this Shakespeare Re-Told thing where they adapted the plays to modern times (It's a lot like reading AU, actually, because some people sat down and said, "OK, so what if we set Macbeth in a restaurant kitchen, a really snazzy one?")
Much Ado About Nothing is streamable on youtube. I quite liked it. It has Damian Lewis in it (and also three of the characters have appeared in the new Doctor Who - e.g. Billy Piper) which amuses me. What further amuses me is that I haven't read this play, and know it's plot from a Snarry fanfic.
I want to find a way to see their The Taming of the Shrew version because it looks amazing. ...and by amazing I mean incredibly entertaining: "A young harridan MP marries a title in order to advance towards her goal of becoming party leader." It looks fun and it stars Shirley Henderson (Jude in Bridget Jones's Diary, Moaning Murtle in Harry Potter, and Ursula Blake in Love and Monsters) and Rufus Sewell (Count Adhemar in A Knight's Tale). So that's officially on my list of things to see.
