It’s around 1597 and Shakespeare is putting the finishing touches on his new play, Romeo and Juliet, when his wife Anne Hathaway arrives. Anne frankly, hates the double-suicide ending and takes Will’s quill. She then proceeds to write a new story where, after Romeo dies, Juliet packs up and flees with her Nurse and her two best friends to have a holiday in Paris (the city, not her ex-fiance).
To find a jukebox musical that is so self-aware in its writing, so humorous in the way it includes its songs through the narrative, and so blatantly charming, is a pure joy…and really, if you asked me to summarise this review into just a sentence it would be that: & Juliet is pure joy. –Carly Fisher
Stuff you Might have Missed
1609 collection of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, which were published without his permission.
Anne Hathaway Shakespeare- the sonnet Anne complains that Shakespeare never mentions her in his work, except once in sonnet 145, where he writes: “I hate, from hate away she threw, and saved my life saying, ‘not you’.”
Anne and the Second Best Bed– After breaking the fourth wall, Anne also complains that her husband left nothing to her in his will but “My second best bed with the furniture.” This is true, and some scholars have attempted to defend this choice, but it certainly doesn’t look good. In the myth of Shakespeare, this story has helped to construct the Shakespeare who cares more about his work than his wife. What’s interesting is that “&Juliet” helps address this myth and examines it. For more information about the myth of Anne and Will, click here to see my review of “Hamnet”
Yes, Juliet might be based on a historical character. One reason Will objects to his wife changing the play is that it violates the historical accuracy of the story. Like I said in my “Genesis of Romeo and Juliet,” the Capulets and Montegues might have been based on real political factions in Verona.
The Characters
The Music
All the songs in “& Juliet” came from one man- Max Martin, a Sweedish songwriter who has composed songs for Brittney Spears, Celene Dion, and The Backstreet Boys. These mega pop-hits were a huge part of my childhood, so seeing them combined with my favorite writer definitely tickled me and set off my nostalgia goggles. More importantly, it’s very interesting to see how the playwright David West Read turned these songs into a musical.
Setting “Romeo and Juliet” to pop music is by no means a new idea- “Gnomio and Juliet” underscored the whole movie with music by Elton John (who also produced the film). Making Shakespeare into a kind of rock or pop star is also not a new idea- Something Rotten and the musical version of “Shakespeare In Love” also did that. What is new is the concept of turning the story of Romeo and Juliet into a jukebox musical- a story where all the songs are pre-existing pop songs.
Normally I hate jukebox musicals- I find it irritating when producers take an artists’ songs and try to stitch them together into a coherent musical play. In normal musicals, the songs are designed to further the plot and help explain the characters’ internal and external conflicts. In my experience with most jukebox musicals, the songs feel like a waste of time, because the songs were never designed to tell an overarching story, so when they are integrated into a play, the story grinds to a halt. When it’s done badly, either you’re bored with the songs, or bored with the play.
With this in mind, I was prepared to dislike “&Juliet”. I was expecting either to hate the songs for slowing down the plot, or to hate the plot because I wanted to get back to the songs. But… miraculously, both the songs and the story WORKS! David West Read did a great job seeing the overarching themes of loss, love, and conflict within relationships within the music of Max Martin, and translate them into Romeo and Juliet- the iconic lovesick teenagers.
I’d like to highlight the incredible effect of one of these songs in the context of the play- “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” by Miller, made popular by Brittney Spears:
Oh, baby, baby The reason I breathe is you Boy, you got me blinded Oh, pretty baby There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do It’s not the way I planned it
It’s very clever that the writer gave this song to Juliet when she us at her most down and most self-destructive. She feels like her life is over without Romeo (her loneliness is killing her). What’s nice about this musical is that this moment is the beginning of Juliet’s arch, not the end.
Costumes
I could write a whole post about how clever the costumes are, and I will at a later date. Suffice it to say that they compliment the story and music by blending Elizabethan costumes with the sort of late 90s-early 2000s pop-star fashion favored by The Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, and of course, Brittney Spears.
My Final Word
This show might not please everyone- hardcore Shakespeare nerds might find the concept hard to swallow, and honestly since the songs are mostly from the 90s and early 2000s, the music might be a little dated for a modern audience. Also, with the positive portrayal of homosexual relationships this show is DEFINATELY NOT FOR CONSERVATIVES. That said, it might do exactly what I’d hoped it would do- make fun of Shakespeare with care and in the process, get audiences to enjoy it anew.
In a world and in an age where everything is taken so seriously, it’s a complete delight to return to the idea of going to the theatre simply for fun and entertainment. Yes, the storyline is light and the line up of songs is a laundry list of bops, but in my opinion, there’s no problem in any of that! Quite the opposite! Packed to the brim with exceptional talent and some of Australia’s top dancers filling the ensemble…this is entertainment for entertainment’s sake and that is a lost art form in and of itself. – Carly Fisher
LADY CAPULET Good night. Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need. Lady Capulet and the Nurse exit. JULIET Farewell.—God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life. I’ll call them back again to comfort me.— Nurse!—What should she do here? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. Come, vial. She takes out the vial. What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning? She takes out her knife and puts it down beside her. No, no, this shall forbid it. Lie thou there. What if it be a poison which the Friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man. How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point. Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? Or, if I live, is it not very like The horrible conceit of death and night, Together with the terror of the place— As in a vault, an ancient receptacle Where for this many hundred years the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed; Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies fest’ring in his shroud; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort— Alack, alack, is it not like that I, So early waking, what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad— O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environèd with all these hideous fears, And madly play with my forefathers’ joints, And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud, And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone, As with a club, dash out my desp’rate brains? O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body Upon a rapier’s point! Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee. She drinks and falls upon her bed within the curtains.
The Given Circumstances
This famous soliloquy comes from Act IV, Scene iii. In this speech, Juliet grapples with her fears and anxieties about taking the Friar’s sleeping potion.
Traditional Interpretations
Ellen Terry (Vinal Record Recording, C. 1911)
Ms. Terry, like her famous grandson John Gielgud, is more interested in delivering the text clearly, beautifully, and strongly than getting Juliet’s character across. Consequently, by our standards, her reading of the speech is slow, declamatory, and maybe a bit over-the-top. However, this kind of delivery really brings out the rhythm of the verse, the beauty of the individual words, and the structure of the speech itself, so I recommend actors listen to it as a jumping off point. In my opinion, having a good technical grasp of the speech will keep an actor from going too far with the emotion, (making it hard for the audience to hear and understand them). This is why there’s still value in these dusty old recordings.
Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zephirelli, 1966)
Zephirelli was very sparing with the dialogue- choosing to condense this entire speech to one line “Love, give me strength.” Hussey has a great deal of passion in the speech, as if she is absolutely certain that taking the potion will re-unite her with Romeo.
Claire Danes (Romeo +Juliet, 1996)
Claire Danes contemplating the vial in Romeo + Juliet
Danes has a sense of almost macabe trance-like energy when she delivers the speech. Like all the edged weapons in the movie, the dagger is replaced by a gun. Most of the speech is cut because Luhrman wanted to emphasize the character’s obsession with violence, rather than fears about ghosts and arranged marriages. Consequently, Danes does little other than put the gun under her pillow, take out the vial, and drink it.
Ellie Kendrick (Globe Theater, 2009)
Ms. Kendrick is one of my favorite Juliets ever! She is a wonderful blend of sweetness and naivety, tempered with anxiety and practical thinking. She delivers the whole speech to different parts of the audience and makes sure every idea and every horrible thought of Juliet lands. Furthermore, her fast pacing around the stage helps her not only connect with the audience, but to use the Globe theater to make them imagine the Capulet vault.
Verse
As I always say, verse is the heartbeat of a character, and based on this, Juliet’s heart is beating a mile a minute. You’ll notice that five of these lines start with a trochee (T), and five of them have trochees. This means Juliet is unsettled, she’s literally off-beat. In addition, there are frequently pauses in the middle of the lines called cesuras, which might indicate that either Juliet is trying to answer her own questions, or that she is so worried, that she’s gasping for breath.
In this second part of the speech, the lines start running together. Juliet’s pace is quickening and she breathes every 2-3 lines instead of at the end of each line.
Structure
The speech is organized as a series of questions:
“What if…”
“What if…”
“How if…”
“Or if I live…”
“O, if I wake, shall I not…”
and then the terrifying statement: “O look…”
So, with this in mind, the actress needs to convey Juliet’s overactive imagination, her fears, and her ability to answer these fears with inner calm and inner strength.
Imagery
It’s a horrific idea being shut up alive with the dead. Shakespeare gives us the sights and smells and the grim reality of feeling “stifled” in a vault. I created this image to demonstrate the smells, the fear, and the claustrophobic nature of the vault.
I chose to have the vault lit with candles, and to use green smoke to represent decay and possibly noxious gas, like the nitre that sometimes dips from walls of tombs. I also added some stone faces of ancestors to stare down at Juliet.
Historical Research
Sarcophagus in church of San Francesco al Corso, an old Franciscan monastery in Verona.
The plain stone sarcophagus above has become a tourist attraction as the traditional ‘resting place’ of Juliet. As I mentioned in my Friar Lawrence post, the Friar who marries Juliet is a Franciscan, which is probably why they chose this church in Verona as the ‘site’ for Juliet’s grave.
It is a plain, open, and partly decayed sarcophagus, in a wild and desolate conventual garden once a cemetery now ruined to the very graves. The situation struck me as very appropriate to the legend, being blighted as their love.
– Lord Byron, Letters and Journals Vol. III
Since Italy is a small, hot country, bodies in the 16th century were buried almost immediately. First, the body would be wrapped up in a shroud or winding sheet, as Juliet mentions at the end. The corpses might be decorated with Rosemary or other sweet-smelling herbs.
A winding sheet for a corpse
Wealthy families like the Capulets or the church, would store all the bodies of their ancestors in burial vaults or crypts. Some bodies would be anointed with oil or preserved with vinegar.
Literary Inspiration: The Cask of Amontillado
Montressor and Fortunato move through the burial crypt in “The Cask of Amontillado”
When I think of the dark, macabre atmosphere of a family tomb, I think of The Cask of Amontillado, a short story by Edgar Allen Poe where the anti-hero Montressor, tricks his enemy Fortunato into going into his family crypt and buries him alive! There are some interesting parallels between Montressor and Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet- both men belong to ancient families, both men are violent, and both refuse to let any kind of insult stand. I think Juliet sees the vault as a hostile place, where her ancestors are angry at her for “betraying the Capulet name,” after marrying a Montague.
Image Research 4: Tybalt’s Angry Ghost
AI image of Tybalt’s Ghost
Like Montressor in The Cask of Amontillado, Tybalt embodies the Capulet feud, and it makes sense that Juliet would see him when she thinks of being shut up in the vault. The real question is, what does seeing him do to her? Is she terrified? Is she remorseful? Is she moved to protect Romeo? How does seeing Tybalt’s ghost motivate her to take the potion?
Other Questions to consider
Why is Juliet so nervous?
How does Juliet feel about running away from home?
Do the ghosts represent something? Guilt? Judgement? Some kind of ticking clock?
What does she see Tybalt’s ghost doing?
How does Juliet pull it together at the end?
Emotional
Not only is Juiet worried about her health, (mental and physical), I get a sense that she might also be experiencing guilt. The notion of her being tormented by spirits that shriek like mandrakes, suggests that maybe the ancient Capulets aren’t very pleased with Juliet. This makes sense because she married a Montegue. I get the sense that maybe, for the first time, Juliet actually feels guilty, as if she’s failed her ancestors. However, for whatever reason, she definitely re-focuses and thinks about Romeo. Either she rejects her ancestors and Tybalt, or maybe she sees the potion as a way of protecting Romeo, or possibly Juliet just wants these fears and anxieties to end, and takes the potion as a release. My actor and I will no doubt try these ideas out and figure out what works within the structure and within her interpretation of the character.
Our Interpretation
Again, it’s a little too early for me to tell you our interpretation yet, but I’ll post it later.
Resources:
Myshakespeare.com. This website will allow you to look up unfamilliar words, download pictures and videos of the scene, and even watch an ‘interview’ with Juliet, where, just as in this speech, she becomes more and more anxious and fearful until the very end.
Shakespeare actually lived during the settlement of Virginia, and the Pilgrims came to America just 4 years after he died. I wonder, if Shakespeare had lived, what he would have made of this American tradition?
Why no Coriolanus?? David Oyelowo is playing him at the National Theatre and it’s the one analysis of Shakespeare you don’t have! Please hurry! I’m seeing it on Friday!
User Noittickles, sent to me today
Well, with a request like that, how can I refuse!
Coriolanus is the only Shakespearean story about Republican Rome, which is to say, before Julius Caesar turned Rome into a dictatorship. The play has been called pro-democracy, pro-monarchy, fascist, Marxist, and many other things. In some ways, the play is rather simple and its verse isn’t much fun to read, but the questions it poses, and the way Coriolanus shows the clash between power and common people, makes it fascinating to think about.
The play’s title character is also the most opaque one Shakespeare ever wrote. Some say he is a war hero, undone by the mob. Some say he is a want-to-be dictator who hates the common people and wants to keep power among the military elite. Unlike Hamlet, Macbeth, or any of Shakespeare’s other tragic heroes, we never get a sense of his true intent, or his actual feelings on anything.
To illustrate this, let’s look at two very different interpretations of the same speech. In Act III, Scene iii, the tribunes (representatives of the commons in the Senate), have organized a smear campaign to prevent Coriolanus from becoming Consul, (the highest rank a Roman aristocrat could achieve before Emperor Augustus). Coriolanus is furious at the Tribunes, and vows to leave Rome to take his revenge on the city. Here’s the text of the speech:
Coriolanus. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you; And here remain with your uncertainty! Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts! Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes, Fan you into despair! Have the power still To banish your defenders; till at length Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels, Making not reservation of yourselves, Still your own foes, deliver you as most Abated captives to some nation That won you without blows! Despising, For you, the city, thus I turn my back: There is a world elsewhere. [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Senators,] and Patricians] Aedile. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! Citizens. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo!
In the first speech, Tom Huddleston plays Coriolanus as a heroic soldier, disgusted and hurt by the lies of the scheming Tribunes:
Hiddleston chose to play Coriolanus not as a villain but as a frustrated demagogue- someone who wants to lead his people to greatness, whether they like it or not. Whether you approve of his methods, Hiddleston’s Caius Martius does care about the good of Rome. You can almost see the tears in his eyes as he leaves the city he loves, the city he bled for, and that has now betrayed him.
By Contrast, Ralph Fiennes takes a much more authoritarian and cruel route in the film Coriolanus, which Fiennes also directed:
Youtube critic Kyle Kallgren made the excellent case that Fiennes’ Coriolanus is first and foremost, a soldier. You could argue that perhaps Coriolanus has no political ambition whatsoever; he merely wants to keep fighting because war is all he knows. Maybe he purposefully sabotaged himself during his campaign for Consul, because all he wishes to rule is the battlefield:
Kalgren also highlights the “proto fascist” parts of Fiennes’ performance, since Fiennes himself has played Nazis, serial killers, and of course, Lord Voldemort, who is essentially a fascist dictator. Like Merchant of Venice, the Nazi party used Coriolanus as a propaganda tool, claiming that Caius’ fall from grace showed the failure of a weak democracy:
The poet deals with the problem of the people and its leader, he depicts the true nature of the leader in contrast to the aimless masses; he shows a people led in a false manner, a false democracy, whose exponents yield to the wishes of the people for egotistical reasons. Above these weaklings towers the figure of the true hero and leader, Coriolanus, who would like to guide the deceived people to its health in the same way as, in our days, Adolf Hitler would do with our beloved German Fatherland.
Martin Brunkhorst, “Shakespeare’s Coriolanus in Deutscher Bearbeitung. Quoted from Weida
It makes sense that fascists would gravitate towards a play about a seemingly virtuous Roman military leader. After all, the word “fascism” is an Italian word, coined by Benito Mussolini, to evoke the glory days of the Roman Empire- days when Roman society was based on military conquest under a strong leader. What these fascists fail to recognize is that Coriolanus is not a strong leader- he hates politics and is unable to gain any support from the people or from the elites in power. His inability to “play the game” of Roman politics, does make him appealing to some, but on the whole, his career is a disaster.
Some have chosen to interpret the story of Coriolanus as a sort of action-movie wish fulfillment- a man in a lawless society who uses his fists rather than words. Back in the 1990s, Steve Bannon (former advisor to President Donald Trump), wrote a hip-hop musical called: The Thing I Am, which re-interpreted the story of Coriolanus as a police captain who is trying to clean up downtown LA, which is embroiled in gang warfare. I find this interpretation paper-thin and not at all conducive to the spirit of the original play. It also has very racist and paternalistic undertones. You can read my review of it here:
Shakespeare refuses to be prescriptive on political or social issues. He tries to represent all sides of an issue and let the audience decide. With the rise of neo-fascist movements, sectarian violence, and the persistent questions surrounding police and military forces, Coriolanus is more relevant than ever. I haven’t seen this production at the National Theater, but I hope it calls attention to the various angles and points of view of the play- Coriolanus the war hero, Coriolanus the traitor, Coriolanus the soldier, Coriolanus the would-be-dictator. David Oyelowo is a fantastic Shakespearean actor, so I’m sure he can bring a great deal of complexity and nuance to this complicated man.
What I find interesting is that the trailer chooses to use this speech, when Coriolanus has defected to Rome’s enemies, the Volskies. He seems sorrowful, desperate, and afraid of what the Volskies will do to him, now that he is in their camp. One line that Oyelowo delivered exceptionally well was the line “Only the name remains.” I haven’t seen the whole play, but it seems THIS Coriolanus is concerned with the glory of his name living after him. The final question this play asks is, for such a complicated man, how will Coriolanus be remembered?
Well, there you go, Stopittickles! Hope you enjoyed this overview of the play Coriolanus. If you like this review, you might like to sign up for my online class on Julius Caesar via outschool.com:
I find it really cool that a new rock adaptation of Hamlet is coming to London, and that the band Radiohead is going to supply the music.
This isn’t the first time Radiohead has supplied music for a Shakespeare adaptation- in 1996, three of their songs underscored the hit movie Romeo+Juliet by Baz Luhrman
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that one of the most iconic voices of our generation, James Earl Jones has passed away at the age of 93. I’m sure I also don’t need to mention his iconic film roles in such films as Field of Dreams, Coming To America, The LIon King, and of course, his (initially uncredited) role as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Trilogy. As I’ve written before, Jones had a powerful, authoritative voice that played kings, generals, knights, and even gods, which came directly from his training as a Shakespearean actor. So, instead of taking a look at his illustrious film career, I’d like to celebrate Jones’ contributions to Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare changed his life, and through him, changed mine.
Jones and Poetry
“I don’t mind talking about my stuttering because it’s just another example of you finding yourself with a weak muscle and you exercise it, and sometimes that becomes your strong muscle,” Jones told KCRA in 1986. “I was mute from grade one through freshman year in high school — mute because I just gave up on talking.”
-James Earl Jones in a TODAY Show interview, 1986
James Earl Jones was born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. Not only did he struggle with racial discrimination at home and in his career, he also dealt with a debilitating stutter which, as you can see in the quote above, left him all but mute for years of his life. It was one of his teachers who helped Jones find his voice by giving him poetry to read, inspiring him to become an actor. As a Shakespearean actor who also struggles with a stutter, reading this about Jones helped me become an actor as well.
The New York Shakespeare Festival
Your voice has the power to inspire, motivate, and change lives. Don’t be afraid to use it.
James Earl Jones
Before he became a star in the Hollywood firmament, Jones was a classically trained actor who starred in many contemporary and classic plays like The Iceman Cometh, The Great White Hope, and a title role in a drama about the great Shakespearean actor, Paul Robeson. In addition, Jones was a regular performer at the New York Shakespeare Festival, starring as King Claudius in Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, The Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, and like Paul Robeson, Jones was celebrated for his dignified and powerful portrayal of Othello.
James Earl Jones as Othello and Cecilia Hart as Desdemona in a scene from the Broadway revival of the play “Othello.”
James Earl Jones as Othello and Christopher Plummer as Iago in a scene from the Broadway revival of the play “Othello” (New York 1982)
“Mr. Jones commands a full, resonant voice and a supple body, and his jealous rages and frothing frenzy have not only size but also emotional credibility,” .”
The Times wrote in a review in 1964
From Shakespeare to Strangelove
James Earl Jones made the leap from stage and TV (he was one of the first celebrity guests on Sesame Street among others), after a surprising performance. In 1964, he was playing the relatively minor role of the Prince of Morocco in Merchant of Venice at the New York Shakespeare Festival, while George C. Scott played the more iconic role of Shylock. Surprisingly, Director Stanley Kubrick saw both of them and cast them both in Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Bomb, Jones’ first film role.
This goes to show that success is often not a straight line, that sometimes it’s the people you know and the reputation you garner that gives you success in your field.
Success should not be measured by material possessions, but by the contentment and fulfillment we find within ourselves.
James Earl Jones
My Favorite Performance of Jones
Though his film roles brought him international acclaim, James Earl Jones still performed onstage well into his 80s, including many more memorable performances at the New York Shakespeare Festival, including my favorite performance of all Jones’ stage roles- his role as King Lear. I’ve written before that Jones is still my favorite Lear- he plays the characters’ rage and commanding presence extremely well, but tempers it with the frailty and foolishness of age. You get the sense that this man was a force to be reckoned with, but is now unable to command himself, much less others. Jones’ interpretation apparently changed drastically in rehearsal, as he delved into Lear’s all-too-human flaws, playing him more like a king with dementia than like Mufasa.
Final thoughts
James Earl Jones would be the first to admit that Shakespeare and poetry changed his life. I would argue that the poetic qualities of his voice was what made him such a great actor. He could rumble and smash but also soothe and charm with a single sentence, and that is why I am glad that his voice is now preserved in the halls of Hollywood. Though he was a movie star, his voice was a Shakespearean through and through.
True strength is not in showing power over others, but in conquering your own fears and insecurities.
According to Branaugh, the idea behind the film was to emphasize beautiful things like tranquility and love, but preserve and heighten the danger of being hunted by a powerful warlord like the Duke
Interview with the director and cast at the Barbican
The Plot Of the Play
Historical Context
Branaugh set the film in 19th century Japan, at a time when English people came to Japan for the first time, and created small English communities in the country. I’ll discuss later that I have very conflicting feelings with this choice, but I will give Branaugh this- it does highlight the fish out of water journey that Rosalind and the other characters go through leaving their homes at court, and becoming enamored with a new country.
The Cast
The cast is full of veteran Shakespeareans and gifted Hollywood stars. Bryce Dallas Howard is charming as Rosalind, and has good chemistry with RSC actor David Oyelowo. I also enjoyed Brian Blessed’s dual role as Duke Senior and Duke Frederick. Kevin Klein is very sincere as Jaques but I wish he had a bit more fun with the over exaggerated melancholy that Jaques puts on. The overall effect of the performances is a sentimental, charming, beautiful, witty group of people who are having a fun time.
My Reaction
The cast is great, the cinematography is stunning, and the music is charming. Overall, Branaugh has done a great job of bringing the spirit of the play alive- that of a sweet, pastoral comedy about love, unrestrained by wealth or status. What I worry about though, is that Branaugh might inadvertently be celebrating colonialism. Yes, Japan is a beautiful country with a highly sophisticated and rich culture, so it makes sense that English people would be drawn to it. That does not justify the cruel way the English and Americans colonized parts of Japan, made the people mine for gold, and forced them to trade with the west. I worry that, like The Mikado, Branaugh celebrates Japan in a way that makes it seem like westerners were justified in taking so much away from it. I wish the plot had more of a “look but don’t touch” attitude to Japanese culture.
I also question the decision to cast barely any Asian actors. Given the story Branaugh wants to tell, it makes sense to cast non-asian actors as Thr Duke, Rosalind, Celia, and even Orlando, since they are the ones who come to the forest from an English-style court. But the roles of Corin, Silvius, Audry, Phoebe, and even Old Adam are people who are supposed to be familiar with the country, meaning it would make perfect sense to cast Asian actors in these roles. Frankly, there are very few well known Asian actors in Hollywood and I would love to give some of them a chance to shine, especially since Shakespeare has long been a way for actors to show their skills.
In conclusion, I can see why people like this movie and I too enjoy it, despite its questionable subtext. I don’t want to take away anyone’s enjoyment of the film, just to remind people not to be too seduced by the historical practice of taking something “As You Like It”
If you like this analysis, you might be interested in signing up for my Outschool Course on Shakespeare’s Comedies. Link down below. Share this class with a friend and you will get $20 USD off! You’ll also get $20 USD when you sign up with your link and take their first class!
The Shakespearean Student 