"Hollow Crown" on Great Performances

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 10:38pm

Shakespeare's Second Tetralogy. Tonight Richard II and it's damn good.

[Queen of the Night]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 1:48pm

I taped it, haven't had a chance to watch it. But definitely looking forward to it.

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 2:24pm

I thought the production values were excellent and particularly liked Patrick Stewart and David Suchet. I am warming up to Rory Kinnear although he is not what I think of as Bolingbroke. And although well played, I do not care for Ben Wishaw's Richard at all. He comes across as very wishy-washy so one sees his downfall as inevitable. He was good in the early scenes but seemed very one dimensional in so many of the later ones. The director's choice to emphasize the Christ imagery is unfortunate - it feels very high school drama teacher being clever. I have to admit that many years ago I saw Ian Richardson as Richard II and I doubt anyone will ever match the brilliance and subtlety of his performance for me.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 9/21/13 at 9:14pm

The ads that were running on my PBS station made no indication that this was a series of films based on Shakespeare. They made it look like a Game of Thrones rip-off. Had I known, I would have set my DVR for it.

[DeNada]

Posted: 9/22/13 at 11:09am

It's worth nothing that there are three directors for these - the first of whom was Rupert Goold (he of ENRON fame and recent wunderkind of British theatre if he could just stop pissing off everyone he works with) in what was I believe his TV debut.

The two Henry IV films were directed by Sir Richard Eyre, and Henry V by Thea Sharrock (EQUUS and THE BODYGUARD). The whole enterprise was exceptionally theatrical.

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 9/22/13 at 1:26pm

I really enjoyed it! I didn't think my PBS station was going to carry the series, but I got lucky this time. Looking forward to Henry IV part I next week.

[circusliz]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 1:31am

For those of you who missed the broadcast, PBS is streaming the series online.

Richard II is here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/the-hollow-crown-shakespeares-history-plays/full-episode-richard-ii/1855/

The remaining episodes will each go live following their respective broadcasts.

[lotiloti]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 4:18am

Hopefully, Universal will finally release it on Blu Ray. Fabulous series