"ShakespeaRe-Told"
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005)

Director:

Ed Fraiman

Writers:

Peter Bowker (writer)
William Shakespeare (play)

TV Series:

"ShakespeaRe-Told" (2005)

Original Air Date:

28 November 2005 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Mis-directed love potions complicate an already complicated set of relationships.

Plot Keywords:

Love Potion | Shakespeare | Elf | Fairy | Tree Spirit

Cast

Bill Paterson	...	Theo
Imelda Staunton	...	Polly
Lennie James	...	Oberon
Sharon Small	...	Titania
Dean Lennox Kelly	...	Puck
William Ash	...	James
Zoe Tapper	...	Hermia
Rupert Evans	...	Zander
Michelle Bonnard	...	Helena
Johnny Vegas	...	Bottom
Simon Day	...	Quince
Mina Anwar	...	Flute
Ben Crompton	...	Snug
Emmanuel Ighodaro	...	Snout
Andy Williams	...	Geoff

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:12

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Bottom's first name is Nicholas -- knicker-less.

Quotes:

[advising Theo how to patch things up with his wife]
Oberon: You just go in there and you say the three magic phrases that all women love to hear: "I'm sorry", "I love you" and "You were right".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: Shooting Stars (#4.4)" (2006)

Entertaining

This is an entertaining production, which is refreshing and well-acted. If you previously didn't go for the whimsy of Shakespeare's MSN, you may well find it much more accessible in this modern version set at a kind of holiday camp (Centerparcs meets Butlins, for British readers). There is some good acting (e.g. Puck), too.

On the downside, there are some dodgy, wandering accents, and Sharon Small (who is normally great as Havers in Inspector Linley) sadly seems to flit from American, to Estuary, to Scottish. Her overdone painted face does her no favours either.

I hope the BBC will do another series of modernized Shakespeare. For those who haven't seen them, "Much ado about nothing" from the first series is also very good, but my tip is to steer clear of "Macbeth" and "Taming of the Shrew".