ShakespeaRe-told

               I will be the first to tell you that I don’t like Shakespeare.  That probably sounds odd coming from a person who has a background in both English and theatre, but it’s the truth.  Except for Hamlet, I’ve never grabbed onto Shakespeare’s plays.  I wouldn’t say it was quite dread that I felt when I had to read Shakespeare in one of my classes (unless we’re talking about Romeo and Juliet), but I certainly did not look forward to it.  Which is why it is probably strange that I had any interest in watching ShakespeaRe-told in the first place.  All I can say is for some reason it grabbed me.  I saw a preview for ShakespeaRe-told in front of another show and something made me want to give it a try.  It could have been that the plays were set in modern day and I was curious to see what the creators did.  Or it might have been that I saw James McAvoy and I wondered what character he was going to play.  Most likely it was the two reasons put together along with others I simply don’t know.  No matter what brought me to check out ShakespeaRe-told, I’m glad it did.  Even thought all four episodes were based on Shakespeare’s plays, I found myself truly enjoying them. 

                The first play set in modern times is Much Ado About Nothing.  Set at a nightly news show, Beatrice (Sarah Parish) and Benedick (Damian Lewis) are two news anchors forced to work with each other.  They have a bad history, making working together now a horrible experience.  They constantly fight thinking it’s out of hatred while all those around them realize it’s out of love.  Determined to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love, which will greatly improve the work environment, the coworkers hatch a plan to get the two together without either figuring out they had a hand in it.  This is a tricky business, but the coworkers are certain they will accomplish what they set out to do.  It is what Beatrice and Benedick secretly want after all.

                In the meantime, there is another romance among coworkers going on.  This one is very much in the open, but it is not welcomed by everyone.  Don (Derek Riddell), a man who works behind the scenes, is in love with Hero (Billie Piper), the station manager’s daughter.  She, however, is in love with Claude (Tom Ellis), one of the other anchors.  They plan to marry, which greatly upsets Don.  In retaliation, Don creates a scheme that will lead to Claude’s and Hero’s breakup.  Don gets Claude to believe that Hero is cheating on him.  Not with just any man, but with Don himself.  Claude falls for the trick and trashes Hero at the altar, leading to devastating consequences.  It is unclear as to what the fate of anyone’s relationships will be if the truth is never revealed, leaving even Beatrice’s and Benedick’s future in question. 

                Macbeth is the second play.  This time, instead of a news room, the play is set in a restaurant.  An excellent restaurant, mostly due to the hard work of the sous chef Joe Macbeth (James McAvoy), who is there every night to make sure things run smoothly and the food goes out to the diners with perfection.  Unfortunately, the head chef, Duncan Docherty (Vincent Regan) is the one who gets all the credit, despite hardly ever setting foot in the kitchen.  For the most part Joe is okay with this.  He understands this is how a restaurant works.  Then the restaurant gets a third Michelin star.  After that, everything changes.

                Certain that her husband is not getting his due, Joe’s wife, Ella (Keeley Hawes), the restaurant’s Maître d’, gets into Joe’s ear.  She tells Joe that he is the one who deserves the fame and glory, and the only way he will get it is by killing Duncan.  Joe is horrified by this thought, but Ella has a plan.  She knows exactly the best way to kill Duncan without anyone finding out who did it.  Nervously, Joe agrees to what Ella has in mind.  He carries the plan out, despite his misgivings, leaving Duncan dead and him in control.  This control and power, along with knowing what he did to get it, leaves Joe an absolute wreck.  He is suddenly suspicious of everyone around him, even those he has known and trusted for years.  Joe is certain one of them must suspect what he has done.  Soon, Joe’s paranoia turns into madness.  Anyone that may even possibly believe in his guilt must be eliminated.  It does not matter that he does not have any proof, Joe’s madness, and his certainty that people are out to get him, make Joe not even hesitate to kill again.           

                In The Taming of the Shrew, Katherine (Shirley Henderson) is a member of Parliament.  She has been advised that if she wishes to move her career forward, it would be best if she were to get married.  Now, for some, finding someone to marry may not be a big endeavor.  For Katherine it is huge.  She has spent her life being a nasty piece of work and nobody wants to be near her.  Even her staff have a hard time being in Katherine’s presence.  It’s really only her mother and sister that can stand to be around Katherine at all.

                Then in comes Peter (Rufus Sewell).  A man deeply in debt, he has his sights on marrying a rich woman so he can clear all the money that he owes.  When his friend, Harry (Stephen Tompkinson), suggests Katherine as a wife, Peter jumps right in, much to Harry’s surprise.  Harry had not been fully serious when he brought up Katherine, but Peter is.  He goes out of his way to meet Katherine and they fall in love.  It seems as though everything will work out for both Katherine and Peter until Peter ruins their wedding day.  Then it is war, and everyone is left to wonder if Katherine and Peter will ever get back on track.

                The last play is A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Hermia (Zoe Tapper) and her family are at a luxury campground to celebrate her engagement to James (William Ash), a life-long family friend.  In the midst of the celebration, Hermia’s boyfriend, and true love, Xander (Rupert Evans), shows up.  Despite her family’s protests, Hermia and Xander run off together, leaving her best friend, Helena (Michelle Bonnard), to pick up the pieces.  It is up to Helena to make everyone feel better, even if it means helping James, who she secretly loves, search for Hermia and bring her back to him.  This is not easy for Helena to do, but she does it willingly until a moment comes along where here true feelings for James are revealed.  Disgusted, James rejects Helena, leaving her alone in the woods where Oberon (Lennie James), the king of the fairies, decides to play matchmaker.  He tells Puck (Dean Lennox Kelly), a fairy known for his tricks, to put a spell on James to fall in love with Helena.  By mistake, Puck puts the spell on Xander.  When Puck is told his mistake, instead of removing the spell from Xander, he puts a second one on James.  Now both men love Helena and Hermia is left alone.  Fights ensue, and instead of putting everything as it should be, Puck sits back and enjoys the laugh. 

                 As I said, surprisingly, I enjoyed each of these four episodes. The only one I had any major problems with was The Taming of the Shrew. For about half of the episode Katherine’s shrillness and nastiness were too much for me. Peter’s insistence that Katherine be subservient to him also grated on my nerves. Fortunately, both problems lessened as the episode went on. In fact, Peter’s subservience command turned into a joke as by the end it became clear as to who was really in charge of whom. Other than that, I really liked the modern twist on these plays. The women took stronger stands for themselves. After Claude humiliated Hero, she did not immediately take him back. In fact, it’s a question as to whether or not she ever took Claude back at all. The same thing happened with Helena. When James suddenly professed his love to her, Helena did not accept him right away. He had insulted her and it took work on his part before Helena allow him back in her life. I’m not positive, but based upon what Shakespeare I have read (which actually has been a lot), I’m pretty sure that is not how things went in the originals. In those I believe there was a lot more easy acceptance and forgiveness of extremely bad behavior. Which goes to show that if Shakespeare’s plays had more modern sentiments, I may have had more patience with them. I might not have dreaded it so much whenever one of his works came up in class. Maybe I would have even become a fan of his. I don’t know. Since the originals of all these plays were written so long ago, the answer to that can never truly be known.