The screenplay from the film, revolves around mistaken identities and unrequited love, further complicated by a comic sub-plot. Shakespeare's romantic comedy has been adapted for screenplay by Trevor Nunn, for Renaissance films, responsible for "Much ado about Nothing" and "Hamlet"
Trevor Nunn is an English director. After studying at Cambridge, he won a director's scholarship to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, in 1962, where he became resident director. In 1964 he joined the RSC, becoming in 1965 an associate director and in 1968 its artistic director; from 1978 to 1986 he was its chief executive and joint artistic director with Terry Hands. Under his leadership the RSC was seen as one of the major companies in the world. His many outstanding RSC shows demonstrate an ability to create a convincing world on stage and allow individual actors to flourish. They include The Revenger's Tragedy (1966), his own adaptation of Hedda Gabler (1975), Macbeth with Ian McKellan and Judi Dench (1976), The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby (1980) and an Edwardian All's Well That Ends Well (1981). In 1981 he began his successful association with Andrew Llyod Webber, directing Cats (1981), Starlight Express (1984), and Aspects of Love (1989). The English had caught up with the Americans in the staging of musicals - a point he underlined as co-director with John Caird of the highly successful Les Misérables (1985). He became artistic director of the National Theatre in 1997, and was praised for his work with an ensemble there, in particular Summerfolk and The Merchant of Venice (both 1999). He is currently artistic director of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist, poet, and actor, generally regarded as the greatest playwright of all time.
Gr 3-5-These series titles aim to make the Bard's words accessible via free-prose adaptations. The formulaic retellings convey the plot lines of two popular comedies, but all evidence of his poetic genius is missing. Instead, modern slang expressions and/or cliches, such as Toby Belch's complaining of Olivia's "mooching around gloomy rooms" and Andrew's dancing "like a drunken flamingo," replace Shakespeare's more fluid language, trivializing his words. The characters are all included, introduced through pictures at the beginning of each volume, but all but the two main ones remain completely two-dimensional, and the relationships among them are unclear. This is particularly true in Much Ado, a complicated story with incidental characters whose purpose in the play is difficult to discern. For instance, Conrad and Borachio suddenly appear, but there is little sense as to why they are part of the plot against Claudio. The cartoon watercolor renderings, alternating between black-and-white and color, vary from quarter- to half-page in size and suggest the style used by animators. Thus, while they do reinforce the stories, there is a sameness among them, adding to the lack of character development. In fact the characters' images could be interchanged, even between plays, without much confusion. These books are no substitute either for the originals or even for Marchette Chute's classic Stories from Shakespeare (World, 1956; o.p.).-Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
This must be a case of opposites attracting, as Yale releases another duo in its ongoing annotated Shakespeare series. Here the Bard's heaviest drama is paired with one of his lightest comedies. These also include textual notes, essays by Harold Bloom, and other extras. Great for the price. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
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