THE PLOT THUS FAR
Behind every Shakespeare play is a story. Shakespeare Uncovered portrays the Bard as an impresario who, four centuries ago, defined show business in his day-drawing on historical sources, stealing and adapting ideas, bringing back popular characters, writing prequels, and developing dramatic ideas from the politics of the day.
In each episode, a major Shakespearean actor or director explores and reveals the extraordinary world and works of William Shakespeare and the still-potent impact they have today. The presenters have spent their lives with Shakespeare’s work and relate not only to the stories of the plays themselves, but also how they came to be written, how they have been performed, and how they have survived over 400 years.
Includes Six Films…
Taming of the Shrew, with Morgan Freeman
Romeo and Juliet, with Joseph Fiennes
Othello, with David Harewood
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Hugh Bonneville
Antony and Cleopatra, with Kim Cattrall
King Lear, with Christopher Plummer
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Shakespeare Uncovered” is a collection of documentaries about famous talents coming together to stage some of the Bard’s greatest works. The series takes you through the process of getting the performance, while the bonus area contains the final filmed performances. There’s something about theater that allows this kind of magic to happen. I just wish they could dip back further in time to find some truly vintage moments.
Why haven’t I seen Season 1 of this series? Plummer killing it as King Lear? Hugh freaking Bonneville in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? I’m such the target audience for this release and I wouldn’t have known it existed if PBS didn’t UPS me this DVD set. I’m an addict now and I’m hoping that Season 1 makes its way to Amazon Instant or Netflix soon.
The DVD comes with no special features. But, it’s six films worth of content. The A/V Quality holds up for standard definition. Still, I would’ve killed to have seen some of these performances get remastered to HD. Honestly, it’s still worth a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!