I think that might have been a licensing issue, a sense that DC Comics might not allow the Royal Shakespeare Company to do that. But also I think Greg has a sort of radar for how things might slightly overwhelm. He was worried it would become the Superman Hamlet, that critics looking for a sort of lazy headline might slap that over it if it was too obvious, if it was too iconic and recognisable.
At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.
The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.
A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.
There will also be specially created new introductions for many of these, featuring David Tennant on Hamlet, Richard Eyre on King Lear, Janet Suzman on Wars of the Roses, Gregory Doran on the Shakespeare Gala from the RSC, Russell T Davies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mirren on As You Like It, Hugh Quarshie on Othello, Steven Berkoff on Hamlet at Elsinore, Simon Russell Beale on The Hollow Crown, and Ian McKellen on All is True.
Which productions is he proudest of? He hesitates before offering: Hamlet (2008) with Tennant, adding that it “landed”. In a phone conversation with Tennant, I ask what he remembers about it and he says: “I was terrified, but having Greg there, you always felt safe. He knew how these plays worked. The first thing we talked about was that Hamlet would be a thriller. The challenge – with arguably the most well-known play in theatre – was to see if we could pull off the trick of making the audience feel they did not know what was coming next.”
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Doran struggles to define his “process”, but one thing is crucial: he skips the traditional read-through on the first day of rehearsals. Instead, the cast spend days working through Shakespeare line by line: “There are a few rules: no one can read their own parts or comment on the interpretation of their own characters.” It is a great way to encourage collective responsibility for a production. He believes a director should not get between play and audience. This might involve “not knowing but exploring, trusting the play will reveal itself”. You need to “love the language. It’s a craft that doesn’t necessarily come naturally: you need to work at it”.
David Tennant to discuss Shakespeare at special event
David Tennant will sit down with former Royal Shakespeare Company lead Greg Doran to discuss the work of the Bard at a special event in London next month.
Continue reading David Tennant to discuss Shakespeare at special event
Cast: David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, Penny Downie, Oliver Ford Davies, Mariah Gale, Edward Bennett, Peter de Jersey, Sam Alexander, Tom Davey, Mark Hadfield, John Woodvine, Ryan Gage, Jim Hooper, Samuel Dutton, David Ajala
Release year: 2009
Genres: drama
Blurb: A prince is visited by his father's ghost, with orders to avenge his murder by killing his usurper uncle.
CYMBELINE
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Wednesday 10th May 2023
Greg Doran bows out of his tenure as Artistic Director of the RSC with this production of one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays. Set vaguely during the era of the Romans invading Britain, this play sees Shakespeare rounding up all his favourite tropes and packaging them in a dark and funny fairy tale. These…
(For those who don't know, David Tennant did an episode of Who Do You Think You Are where he held a skull and then Gregory Doran, the director, texted him saying "I just saw your audition for Hamlet")
tender moments between achilles (andy apollo) and patroclus (james cooney), in troilus and cressida, directed by gregory doran, royal shakespeare company, 2018