Theater - William Shakespeare's Birthday

Eventhough this blog is less than a week old, one of my loyal readers mentioned that I failed to take note of William Shakespeare's birthday yesterday.  As a theater denizen, I naturally revere Shakespeare, and care not a whit for the endless speculation as to whether he existed, was secretly a nobleman, or was even a woman.  "The play's the thing," as he himself observed.  To the Bard's credit, he seems over the past four hundred years to have survived the depredations of preening over-actors and self-absorbed directors.  His plays and poetry show the breadth and sublimity of the English language.  Shakespeare, along with Michelangelo, Mozart and Buster Keaton, are among those few mortals who actually deserve the much-abused title of genius.  Pity the poor wretches who give up in frustration and never experience the beauty and power of Shakespeare.

To commemorate the Bard, here are two clips from Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film of Hamlet.  This film is notable for two reasons; first, it is the only film of the ENTIRE play (all four and a half hours); and second, it features one of the most all-star casts of all time (in addition to renowned Shakespeareans like Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams appear in the film.)  Take note of the backdrop too - the movie was entirely filmed in Blenheim Palace (the ancestral home of the Churchills - Winston Churchill was born there in 1874.)

The first clip is of Branagh declaiming the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy :

The next clip is of the incomparable Charlton Heston as the First Player.  (Yes, that is Sir John Gielgud appearing in the flashback)

What a shame that we've relegated Shakespeare to a sort of special study, rather than one of the pillars of our literary education.  What a cultural impoverishment!