The King of Texas (2002)

The King of Texas (2002)

Dir. Uli Edel

Inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear (c.1603-06) but transposed to the US State and set in the year 1842. It's not entirely faithful to the play, and the language is modernised, but it'll be instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with the text.

Patrick Stewart leads the cast as John Lear, a cattle baron with 200,000 acres of land, an ornery disposition, and three daughters. When he makes the decision to divide his substantial holdings between them, he discovers their true character.

The acting is decent, considering it's a TV Movie, but Patrick's British accent is never far from the surface, which is distracting, given that he's supposed to be pure Texan, so much so that in the early parts of the movie it felt more like he was Captain Picard LARPing on the holodeck - a feeling that was compounded by the appearance of Colm Meaney (Miles O'Brien) portraying the Duke of Albany. If you're not a Star Trek TNG fan, you might find it easier to adjust than I did.

Upstart Crow (2016–)

Upstart Crow (2016–)

18 episodes, approx 29 mins each + 3 Christmas Specials, approx 49 mins each.

In the simplest terms, if you like Shakespeare and enjoyed the format of the Blackadder TV series, then Upstart Crow is probably for you.

Written by comedian Ben Elton, it portrays the bard as a playwright struggling for inspiration and unappreciated by his family and friends.

David Mitchell is wonderful in the title role, as is Liza Tarbuck as his wife Anne Hathaway, the only one of his group that truly understands him.

To get the most from the series you'll need some pretty sizeable knowledge of Shakespeare's written works and of events in his personal life, including that of his contemporaries (e.g. Kit Marlowe and Robert Greene) and be aware of the various theories regarding authorship.

That's an unusually high level of prerequisite for a sitcom to ask of its audience, but if you have it, then you're going to have a lot more fun.

Shakespeare Stories + More Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Author: Andrew Matthews | Illustrator: Tony Ross | Page Count: 256

"Come to me, Powers of Darkness! Fill me with cruelty, so I may teach my husband how to be ruthless!"

A convenient collection of four of Andrew Matthews' retold Shakespeare works gathered together into one B-format sized volume. As far as I know there were sixteen plays similarity retold, available singly or in an attractive slipcase format; if so, then this first volume of '4 Books in One' is a generous quarter of the total number. The plays included in the collection are:

●  Macbeth
●  Romeo and Juliet
●  Twelfth Night
●  Anthony and Cleopatra

In each case, they're in a form that a younger audience will more easily understand and be able to engage with.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (c.1595-96)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (c.1595-96)

Author: William Shakespeare  |  Page Count: 120

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a confusing first read for a lot of people; it certainly was for me many years ago. It seems as if there are too many characters to keep track of, but there really isn't.

A common hurdle is that a large portion of the play focuses on two men and two women. The two men are both in love with the same woman, a woman who loves just one of the men. There's a second woman in love with one of the men that loves the first woman. You follow? That, believe it or not, isn't the confusing part.

The real head-fuck comes when the King of Faerie, Oberon, or more precisely his loyal aide, the pernicious fairy Puck, gets involved. There's a mix-up with a love potion and then everything goes tits-up. If you can see it performed on stage do so, because it really helps.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (c.1599-1606)

The Tragedy of Macbeth (c.1599-1606)

Author: William Shakespeare  |  Page Count: 128

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 

Often referred to simply as Macbeth (as on the Wordsworth edition pictured), the famous play is one of the easiest of Shakespeare's Tragedies to get to grips with for a newcomer, and of the ones I've read is my personal favourite, but not for the same reason.

It's because despite its short length it packs in a ton of good stuff, including the supernatural, prophecy, blood, murder, guilt, conflict, reversals, paranoia, insanity, metaphor, and bold commentary on gender.

Though given less time than her husband, the real star is arguably Lady Macbeth, a woman for whom ambition is so all-consuming that she willingly steps into a world of terrible consequence while fully aware that what she does is deserving of retribution. For Lady Macbeth failure is a greater sin than murder; 'bitch is crazy' in modern parlance. Her famous soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5 highlights it.

The Tempest (c.1610-11)

The Tempest (c.1610-11)

Author: William Shakespeare  |  Page Count: 128

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

Reading Shakespeare for pleasure, outside of an academic environment, takes considerable pressure off a reader. You won't be asked to give an opinion or answer difficult questions. Maybe you don't need to know what every little nuance in the text represents, or you care little about sociopolitical context and postcolonial concerns. Sometimes all you ask is a good story be told in a language that's praised for its beauty, and there's nothing wrong with wanting that.

The Tempest isn't a play that gets chosen often by people who just want to dip a toe, but it's one that I return to time and again. Many of the themes within its pages he's used before, but in a different way.

A shipwreck gets the players to where they need to be, as in Twelfth Night (c.1601–02). Someone who's been wronged seeks revenge (too many too mention). The fantastical is there, but it's less comical than his other famous work that uses it, A Midsummer Night's Dream (c.1590–96). There's still a lot of laughs to be had, however, because it does after all have elements of tragicomedy, but there's a lot of weight to it, too. It's also a romance, proving that one thing can be many if the author intends it.