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William Shakespeare Goes to the Movies
Course Description
The joke has been well rehearsed: if William Shakespeare were alive and well and living in Los Angeles, he would be earning his living as a Hollywood script-writer/director.
From the early days of cinema, Shakespeare's plays have constituted an interesting playground for film-makers. The 1990s, in particular, witnessed a strong revival of Shakespeare adaptations for the big screen. In fact, we find ourselves in a hitherto unparalleled phase of creative engagements with Shakespeare extending to all fields of popular culture.
It is the aim of this lecture course to provide an introduction to the Shakespeare canon via a survey of the major adaptations/re-workings of his plays for the big screen. Thus, we will look at, and compare, the work of famous directors and their styles (Lawrence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh, Baz Luhrmann etc.), at the same time familiarising ourselves with the major plays or – at least – those plays that have evinced great 'cinematic' potential (e.g. Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream).
Recommended reading:
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Shakespeare I