Herbert R. Coursen

I love Shakespeare. I love television. I love literary criticism. So why wouldn't I be interested in reading literary criticism of Shakespeare on television? This anthology was published shortly after BBC Shakespeare series of the 1980s had come to its conclusion, and most of the essays in the book deal with its productions. As in any anthology, the essays here run the gamut from the insightful and interesting to the banal and tedious. Particularly aggravating at times is the insistence of some of the writers that Shakespeare just doesn't work on television thanks to some innate property the medium apparently has. Oftentimes these folks would also insist that the best televisual performances were those that closely mimicked stage conventions, which I find baffling, having suffered through the McKellen/Dench Macbeth. On the other hand, there was also the occasional essay of intelligence and insight, especially into the behind-the-scenes of the BBC Shakespeare series, as well as the essays where the authors actually explained what effect something had, not simply telling me that it did (or did not) work. I really must see Jane Howell's adaptations of the first history tetralogy and Titus Andronicus now. The book also contains a very useful complete (as of 1985) listing of televised Shakespeare productions, which include credits, transmission details, and (quite interestingly) contemporary reviews from newspapers and such.… (meer)