Review of Shakespeare: The Animated Tales - Act 3

Introduction

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), also known as `The Bard`, is widely regarded as the greatest English writer. In his 52 years, it is estimated that he penned 38 plays, 154 sonnets and a number of poems. In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted English-speaking writer and arguably the most important figure in the history of literature. Although his work was popular during his lifetime, Shakespeare has arguably become more acclaimed and has gained prominence culturally and academically since his death.

The scripts for `Shakespeare: The Animated Tales` have been adapted from the original plays by renowned Shakespearean scholar Leon Garfield and, in order to ensure that the abridged stories were faithful in both plot and language, Garfield worked closely with a panel of academic experts.

Originally released in March 2005 as a box set containing twelve plays first broadcast on BBC2 between 1992 and 1994, these are now re-released as individual discs with two plays on each.

Using a variety of animation techniques and with a recognisable cast, this British/Russian co-production accurately abridges twelve of Shakespeare`s most famous plays into 25-minute episodes.

Video

Presented in the original fullscreen ratio, this is broadcast quality with varying levels of grain and softness on each episode. Strangely for a historical play, `The Tempest` used the same stop-motion puppetry as comedies like `The Taming of the Shrew` and `Twelfth Night`, whereas `Hamlet` had a dark tone which perfectly suited the subject matter.

Audio

The DD 2.0 Stereo soundtrack is broadcast quality, which is generally very good although `The Tempest` had dropouts in volume. The voice acting is very good, especially Martin Jarvis, who narrates `The Tempest` and Tilda Swinton who played Ophelia in `Hamlet`.

There are no subtitles available.

Features

None.

Conclusion

The Reduced Shakespeare Company have been abridging Shakespeare since the 1980s, performing his complete works in only an hour and `The Simpsons` re-told `Hamlet` in about seven minutes in the episode `Tales from the Public Domain`. When this was broadcast however, it was arguably the first time that Shakespeare`s plays had been abridged for television and particularly for children. The use of the original text, albeit abridged, might make this less suited to those under the age of 11 but, for secondary age children and over, this is a good introduction to `The Bard`s` work and words.

To condense any of Shakespeare`s plays, especially `Hamlet`, into 25 minutes and still retain it as a coherent story is no mean feat but it is a challenge they more than meet.

This set would provide an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for children and if you have studied (or are studying) Shakespeare at school then there are worse crash courses or revision aids.