Date: 2008
Posted by: amiablewalker
Credits: Filmed by Amy Walker
Cast: Amy Walker (Hamlet)
Duration: 2.59
American actress Amy Walker delivers the ‘To be or not to be soliloquy’ from Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1, while flossing. And why not? As Kenneth Branagh has demonstrated (with a somewhat bigger budget), this is a speech designed for delivering to a mirror.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2008
Posted by: sykesmarcus
Credits: Filmed by Marcus Sykes
Cast: Marcus Sykes (Angelo)
Duration: 3.26
Marcus Sykes gives Angelo’s speech “What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?” from Measure for Measure, Act 2 Scene 2. Filmed in black-and-white, in compelling close-up in tune with the quiet delivery. The music is an unnecessary distraction. One of a series of video monologues titled onscreen either Shakesphere in the Ghetto or Shakespeer in the Ghetto.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2006
Posted by: sykesmarcus
Credits: Filmed by Marcus Sykes
Cast: Marcus Sykes (Othello)
Duration: 1.02
Marcus Sykes delivers Othello’s impassioned speech “Think, my lord! By heaven, he echoes me, As if there were some monster in his thought Too hideous to be shown. -Thou dost mean something” (Act 3 Scene 3). Another fine performance, almost but not quite too much so close to the camera. One of a series of video monologues titled onscreen either Shakesphere in the Ghetto or Shakespeer in the Ghetto.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2008
Posted by: sykesmarcus
Credits: Filmed by Marcus Sykes
Cast: Marcus Sykes (Othello)
Duration: 1.08
Marcus Sykes gives another speech from Othello, this time “to be once in doubt / Is once to be resolv’d” (Act 3 Scene 3), filmed in close-up, with orange-red colouring. One of a series of video monologues titled onscreen either Shakesphere in the Ghetto or Shakespeer in the Ghetto.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2007
Posted by: sykesmarcus
Credits: Filmed by Marcus Sykes
Cast: Marcus Sykes (Othello)
Duration: 1.58
Marcus Sykes gives a fine reading of Othello’s speech “Her father loved me, oft invited me” (Act 3 Scene 1), all in close-up, filmed in black-and-white, in intimate conversation with the camera (intriguingly positioned a little above him, which adds to the note of pleading as Othello is obliged to look up to us). One of a series of video monologues titled onscreen either Shakesphere in the Ghetto or Shakespeer in the Ghetto.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2003
Posted by: Joe9185
Credits: Joe9185
Cast: unnamed
Duration: 2.55
There are many Star War spoofs of Shakespeare out there. This is one of the better ones – a well-made enactment of the duel between Hamlet (with beard) and Laertes, with light sabres. Produced as a project for Damascus High School in 2003. Just a shame about the lame humour at the end.
Links
YouTube page
Date: 2002
Posted by: nakedrabbit
Credits: Directed by Tim Maloney for Naked Rabbit, John Hoffhines cat wrangler and composer
Cast: John Over (Hamlet)
Duration: 3.29
Engaging spoof of the Masterpiece Theatre-style of TV theatre presentation (complete with avancular introduction), with cut-out animation of cats performing part of Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2, where Hamlet meets with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The witty presentation (which may owe something to the cut-out cat style made famous by Joel Veitch’s Rather Good site) and the eccentric quality of the verse-speaking make this stand out from the usual Shakespearean tomfoolery. One of the most viewed of Shakespeare productions on YouTube.
Links
Available on the DVD God Hates Cartoons
YouTube page
Date: 2007
Posted by: MosesHouse
Credits: Directed by Max Littman, writer/executive producer Michael Weinreich, produced by Lisa Shapiro, director of photography Maximilian Schmige, production manager Annie Wilkes, art director Janet Franco, editor Adriana Blancarte, gaffer/grip/camera operator Matthew Ace Palanca, music Edvard Grieg (Gavin Gamboa-piano, Timothy Beutler – drums, Luke Webb – guitar)
Cast: Jason Davids Scott (Timon), Lauren Bruniges (Sherry), Maximilian Schwarzenbach (Samuel), Martha Mintz (Beatrice), Eric Hedlund (Raphael), Merlin Huff (Edgar (Servant no. 1), Nicholas Owen Tapis (Servant no. 2), Miguel Juanreichez (The Gardener)
Duration: 7.12
Bloody modern dress, modern silent film (including intertitles, piano music and black-and-white cinematography), based on Timon of Athens (though in practice it seems to owe rather more to Titus Andronicus). As the film’s website puts it:
Timon’s Friendship Adventure is the story of a jovial, plump, rich man. His main concern is the happiness of those around him – so much so that his generosity soon results in his own bankruptcy. When he asks his friends for loans he discovers that friendship can sometimes be a one-way street.
Made in 2007 and featured at various film festivals. Just a shame about the electric guitar.
Links
YouTube page
Film’s website
Date: 2007
Posted by: groeneg
Credits: Animated by GroeneG for Gproductions
Duration: 0.40
Rudimentary clay animation of an egg, asking ‘to be be or not to be?’ and discovering the answer. The filmmaker GroeneG describes it thus:
A mini Shakespeare play called Omlet. I really like the way it relate to modern society and how when it boils down to the nitty gritty on an egg, To Be Or Not To Be inadvertently brings mental awareness to scrambled, fried or over easy.
Links
You Tube page
Date: 2002
Posted by: Futerra (and now keiraweb2)
Credits: Directed by Roger Lunn, produced by Rebekah Gilbertson, Ed Gillespie, Alan Graves and Solitaire Townsend, music by Matt Scott, cinematography by Dave Griffiths, editing by Lucia Zucchetti, production design by Jane Harwood, costumes by Suzanne Barnes, sound by Alison Bown
Cast: Cherie Lunghi (Titania), Mark Owen (Oberon), Keira Knightley (Helena)
Duration: 4.04
The Seasons Alter is a promotional film made by Futerra, an organisation campaigning for climate change. It makes ingenious use of dialogue between Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 1 to highlight the issues of global warming, human complicity and human responsibility (“Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, Pale in her anger washes all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound; And thorough this distemperature we see The seasons alter”). Cherie Lunghi plays Titania, Lloyd Owen is Oberon, and Keira Knightley is their ‘daughter’ Helena (of course, they have no daughter in Shakespeare’s play). The film has been widely distributed on assorted free video sites.
Links
YouTube page
BardBox 