Pages

Friday, 29 December 2023

My 30 favourite Shakespearean performances

 

In chronological order. 


Olivia Hussey as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1968) 
Leonard Whiting as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Laurence Olivier as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1973) 
Jeremy Brett as Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost (1975) 
Marc Singer as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (1976) 
Ian McKellen as Macbeth in Macbeth (1979) 
Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (1979)
Kate Nelligan as Isabella in Measure for Measure (1979) 
Bob Hoskins as Iago in Othello (1981) 
Michael Hordern as Lear in King Lear (1982) 
Anton Lesser as Edgar in King Lear (1982) 
Robert Lindsay as Edmund in King Lear (1983) 
Diana Rigg as Regan in King Lear (1983)
Cherie Lunghi as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (1984) 
Robert Lindsay as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1984)
Richard Briers as Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1988) 
Kevin Kline as Hamlet in Hamlet (1990) 
Ian McKellen as Iago in Othello (1990) 
Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona in Othello (1990)
Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia in Twelfth Night (1990) 
Antony Sher as Leontes in The Winter’s Tale (1999) 
Ian Hughes as Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale (1999) 
Ralph Fiennes as Coriolanus in Coriolanus (2001) 
Vanessa Redgrave as Volumnia in Coriolanus (2001)
Amy Acker as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (2012) 
Don Warrington as Lear in King Lear (2016) 
Miltos Yerolemou as the Fool in King Lear (2016)
Thomas Coombes as Oswald in King Lear (2016)
Mark Quartley as Ariel in The Tempest (2016) 
Kathryn Hunter as the Witches in Macbeth (2021) 

10 comments:

  1. Kevin Kline’s Hamlet over Mel Gibson’s?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't remember Mel Gibson's film at all, only remember Helena Bonham Carter was great as Ophelia, but I saw that around 2010 or so.
      Kevin Kline is my idea of Hamlet. That's how I interpret the character.

      Delete
    2. Forget Mel - the best Hamlet is Arnold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eont_yEGZs

      Delete
  2. All very fine. I'm very fond (if that's the right word for such a character!) of Micheál MacLiammóir's Iago in Orson Welles's film of Othello.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you seen the productions I've mentioned? I've seen 3 so far.

      Delete
    2. I've seen the Hopkins/Hoskins Othello but not the one with McKellan. The one version I watch most is probably the Olivier, which most find indefensible these days, though I think Olivier is very good. It has an excellent Desdemona in Maggie Smith and Frank Finlay's Iago is perfect.

      Delete
    3. The Ian McKellen one is flawed, I have complaints, but Iago and Desdemona (Imogen Stubbs) are perfect, just like how I imagined the characters.

      Delete
  3. David Gwillim is also a great Hal/Henry V in the BBC plays from 1979, opposite a wonderful Anthony Quayle as Falstaff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Himadri just mentioned them yesterday, when I was watching Chimes at Midnight.

      Delete

Be not afraid, gentle readers! Share your thoughts!
(Make sure to save your text before hitting publish, in case your comment gets buried in the attic, never to be seen again).