The Illusion of Depth

It gives me great pleasure to announce that we are screening Kiss Me Kate in 3D at the Victoria Park Baptist Church on Thursday, the 26th of May Kiss Me, Kate  (the stage version had a comma; the film doesn't) is of course a re-working of  The Taming of the Shrew . Almost five decades later, 10 Things I Hate About You would also use The Taming of the Shrew as its source, and as an appropriate tribute, I present the following list. 10 Things I Love About Kiss Me Kate 10. It's Shakespeare Okay, so this is one of Shakespeare's more problematic plays, but Shakespeare definitely knew how to write dialogue, and Cole Porter is one of the very few lyricists who could stand alongside him without looking foolish. Many scenes in Kiss Me, Kate are lifted directly from the source material, and some (not all) of the more uncomfortable elements are softened by the fact that the two female leads (Lilli Vanessi and Lois Lane) are shown to be very strong, independent women who are victim...

I know I said that our current series of films was concluding last week, but I am now in a position to announce one more special bonus screening. And it is a very special one indeed. In a series that has focused on films that re-work the classics of drama and literature, there is one film that has been very conspicuous in its absence (especially if you have ever met me!). It has been absent, not by choice or design, but simply because I wasn't sure whether it would be physically possible to screen it in our temporary accommodation, surrounded as we are by scaffolding. Having now carried out a field test, I am happy to announce that our next screening, on Thursday, the 26th of May , will be Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate . In 3D. Like 10 Things I Hate About You (which we screened a few months ago) Kiss Me Kate is adapted from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . It is also very nearly the perfect film musical. Actually a musical-within-a-musical, Kiss Me Kate tells the sto...

This Thursday's film is actually a re-run. We screened it about two months ago, but thanks to a series of unconnected misadventures, many people were unable to attend. As a public service, we will be showing it once again on the 19th of May. Under normal circumstances, I would say that this Thursday's film is possibly the most esoteric I have yet shown (not least because it isn't actually a film at all) but since I have already shown it once before, I guess it's getting to be quite mainstream. Antigone  was written by the Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles in the year 441 BC, and is one of the three so-called "Theban Plays". These plays recount the story of King Oedipus of Thebes, and the first of these plays ( Oedipus Rex ) is the one that has become instantly recognisable to everyone and their mother (if you get my drift). Antigone  is the third play of the trilogy (although it was actually written first; never mind) and deals with events following the death...

  Shakespeare In Love imagines a love affair between a young William Shakespeare and a (fictional) well-born woman who dreams of a career on the stage - at a time when women were barred from such pursuits. She disguises herself as a boy and secures the part of Romeo in Shakespeare's new play, while simultaneously falling in love with Shakespeare and providing the inspiration for that same play. Tom Stoppard's screenplay is a love letter to Shakespeare and to British Theatre in general, and the finished film is marred (in my opinion) only by the casting of Gwyneth Paltrow.  Although the overwhelming majority of the cast is British, Shakespeare In Love is nonetheless a Hollywood film, and the film's producer felt it was important for at least one of the leads to be played by an American - preferably a famous American. Unfortunately for everyone (especially everyone who had to work with him) that producer was Harvey Weinstein. Much has been written elsewhere about Weinstein...

 Last month we screened Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ; Tom Stoppard's absurdist exploration of the unluckiest characters in Hamlet. This Thursday, Tom Stoppard sets his sights on Romeo and Juliet in a very mainstream and high profile film. Last week's West Side Story (which is of course a modern re-telling of Romeo and Juliet ) has been criticised by some because Maria was not played by a Puerto Rican.  As Shakespeare in Love reminds us, the original Juliet was not played by a woman . Tom Stoppard's very sharp screenplay celebrates Shakespeare and his writing without concerning itself with anything as trivial as "historical accuracy" (Shakespeare himself would have been so proud). Although many aspects of the film are accurate, the story itself is complete fiction. Yes there were two rival theatrical houses in Elizabethan England; yes, women were barred from appearing on stage (in England, anyway; the rest of Europe had no such edict); yes, Christophe...