The Great Shakespeare Watch

Awhile back, I talked about a couple of Shakespeare's plays being noir. Actually, a lot of his plays are noir. The Merchant of Venice, of course, tops the list and was my original reason for posting. At the time, I was reading my way through the plays.

In the comments, someone said Shakespeare was meant to be seen, not read. That was a "Well, duh" moment for me. I've seen Richard III and The Tempest as done by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival years back, both excellently done. But I thought, I've only seen a handful of these as movies. So I made this my project for the year: See all of Shakespeare's plays on YouTube or as a movie. As of this writing, I have four left: The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Henry VIII, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Included was Edward III, which, until the 1990s, was not considered one of his. A handful are still questioned as his, most notably Pericles. 

Because some plays aren't as well-known as others, it becomes hard to look for versions online. Some, like the Henry VI trilogy, varied wildly between an RSC television special from the 1960s to a youth Shakespeare camp to a local Shakespeare company doing a table read over Zoom. The last was actually kind of fun to watch. 

Of course, there were the classic movies, like Pacino's turn as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. My favorite remains Ian McKellan's take on Richard III. But the biggest surprise to me was Joel Coen's MacBeth, with Denzel Washington in the title role. (Talk about Shakespeare as noir!)

In having to comb YouTube for some of the plays (I didn't want to spend money on a Britbox or Marqee subscription.), I've found the plays filmed on stage to be uneven in quality. Some of this, of course, was the ability of the actors. One, MIT's reality-show take on Timon of Athens. Then acting and editing were...Let's call it an acquired taste. But the concept worked rather well. Some had a lot of heart and some great performances, but were not exactly Wil's best. In particular, it's obvious why Edward III took so long to be included in Shakespeare's canon. It's Shakespearean in style, but the story begins with the titular Edward wooing Joan of Kent while the back half is about the Black Prince, though said Black Prince is offstage for most of it. Shakespeare would likely have focused on Prince Edward. 

 So, should one read or watch Shakespeare's plays? Oh, watch is definitely preferred. How else can you see Falstaff, the Bard's prototype for Harry Mudd and other rogues? But reading the Henry Trilogy (and The Merry Wives of Windsor) can be fun, especially if you read Sir John's lines aloud? I wish this binge included a turn by Brian Blessed as Falstaff. He's an obnoxious lout, but he's my favorite recurring Shakespeare character.