Recommendations: Week of 3/13/23
"The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was."
I am prepping for a new opera podcast (check out Opera for Everyone!) on Verdi’s Macbeth, so naturally my thoughts have turned to the heady task of adapting Shakespeare. When I was younger, I watched every adaptation I could get my hands on, recognizing even at a young age that these stories had something special and I should absorb as much of them as I could. But what I have come to realize is the great age of 90s/2000s Shakespeare adaptations has faded into distant memory for most, if indeed they were ever aware of it in the first place. Throughout the 90s and into the 2000s, some of the best Shakespeare adaptations the world has ever seen were made, with the best writers, directors, and actors or their generation attached. So, for the foreseeable future, I am going to dedicate one of these Monday posts to a specific play or plays and the adaptations I insist you see. Some of these are a little hard to find these days, so I’ve included information on where you can stream them in each review.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999): I love movies that feature young versions of actors we now know so well, and this adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is filled with them: a very puckish Stanley Tucci; a handsome douchebag Christian Bale; an ageless Michelle Pfeiffer; an absolutely hirsute Dominic West. This adaptation is just a joy for a Shakespeare lover. It remains faithful to the play while updating the setting to late-Victorian Italy, like if Lucy Honeychurch from A Room with a View stumbled upon fairies among the bluebells. Delightfully, the soundtrack is filled with opera favorites, including the restoration of Mendelssohn’s famous Wedding March back to its proper place in the tale. Truly one of the best Shakespeare adaptations out there; couldn’t recommend it more.
Directed by Michael Hoffman
Starring Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christian Bale, Anna Friel, Dominic West, Sam Rockwell
Available to watch for $3.99 on YouTube or Apple TV
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017): There really was no need for a new adaptation of this play (see above), but this one manages to update the story in an interesting way by moving it to contemporary Los Angeles. Shakespeare is almost infinitely adaptable because of how universal his plays feel. Even the Scottish play could be moved beyond those borders without losing what makes it great. The setting for this adaptation makes it new, but the cast carries this adaptation. Fran Kranz (starring and producing) is a personal favorite, but everyone is on point. Watch if you’re looking for a more contemporary adaptation.
Directed by Casey Wilder Mott
Starring Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Finn Wittrock, Rachel Leigh Cook, Fran Kranz, Avan Jogia
Available to watch on Peacock
Get Over It (2001): In the long tradition of Shakespeare adaptations, the more recent trend of turning them into teen rom-coms is one of my favorites. One wouldn’t imagine this would always work, but it actually does seem to always work. Each time it has been attempted, a great movie has come out of it and this is no exception. Perhaps the least well known of the teen Shakespeare rom coms, Get Over It stars young future stars Kirsten Dunst and Mila Kunis as teens in a high school adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare loved plays within plays and he loved people bursting into song and I think he would have approved of this silly movie. Watch it you’re looking for a lighthearted version.
Directed by Tommy O’Haver
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Mila Kunis, Ben Foster, Sisqo, Shane West, Martin Short
Available to watch on Hulu or Starz
ShakespeaRe-Told: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005): ShakespeaRe-Told was a strange little miracle of public funding. Broadcast by the BBC in 2005, the limited series adapted four Shakespeare plays in unique modern settings. Each series was adapted by a contemporary writer and starred British theatre and television actors, which is to say, some of the best actors in the world. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set at “an inclusive leisure facility,” where Hermia and her parents have gathered to celebrate her engagement to the wrong man. Hijinks, of course, ensue when her true love appears. The series is great (I think this is the weakest of the four, but is still very enjoyable) and really demonstrates how to change the setting while respecting the original play.
Directed by Ed Fraiman
Starring Bill Paterson, Imelda Staunton, Zoe Tapper, William Ash, Rupert Evans, Sharon Small, Lennie James, Dean Lennox Kelly, Johnny Vegas
Available to watch on Crackle for free or YouTube for $4.99