There is a limited series TV show from several years back called The Hollow Crown which is live action tv adaptations of various Shakespeare plays. Wife has wanted to watch it forever, but nobody ever had it and I've been averse to purchasing it. Yesterday evening I found it was on The Roku Channel so we started it, much to her joy.
I always liked reading Shakespeare, even if I mostly only did it as school assignments and not as something I thought to pick up for myself in leisure time. But I've only read what seem to be the most famous plays.....Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream.....maybe another one or two I'm forgetting.
The Hollow Crown focuses on his historical plays which I never read, and that means it's the first time I've passed through all these Shakespearean sentences. Reading Shakespeare is challenging enough, though I always noticed once I really settled into each reading, after 5 or 10 minutes, it all started making more sense and I could really pick up the pace. But watching movie adaptations of even stories I was already familiar with is more challenging, because there's a comprehension difference in reading that language, and listening to it. (Easier to read, more difficult to follow while just listening.) This problem is compounded by the fact I've never read any of the plays brought to life in this series.
We got through about half of the first episode last night. I am enjoying it, though I admit I only was getting the gist of what the characters are saying and often missing a lot of the particulars. In true Shakespearean fashion, they do go on in making a simple point or expressing a simple thought. Does seem to be extremely well-done, though, with superb acting, sets, costuming, etc.
And it's got Capt. Picard for a little while in the first episode, so there's that. I forget that before he boldly went where no man had gone before, he was a Shakespearean stage actor for a long time. Also did a movie of Hamlet with the 10th Doctor that's very good, and makes sci-fi nerds like me smile.
