The Scottish Play

[sandbender]

Robbie Collin of the Telegraph reviews the new film version of 'The Scottish play' here.

I think he liked it.

"...But the pared-down adaptation by Jacob Koskoff, Michael Leslie and Todd Louiso feels jagged and spare – the bleached, modernist carcass of the original verse – while the sheer innovation of the staging lends a flesh-creeping freshness to every familiar toss and turn of Shakespeare’s plot. Tonally, it is far closer to the fractured poetry of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land than Game of Thrones, yet the battle sequences have a serious, blockbuster beauty and heft, with thunderous, slow-motion combat backlit by blood-red sun rays, mist and smoke..."

No trailers as yet, just a few clips...

[video=youtube;zM7ErUl_FXs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM7ErUl_FXs[/video]

 

[Toddy]

English political propaganda.
Shakespear was trying to play up to the court.
The Scots had a simpler view of MacBeth…he was a very good King indeed. His reign was stable enough that he could leave Scotland on a pilgrimage to Rome, and those who wrote of his time, within living memory, said that in his reign there were fertile seasons…..that's old Earth bound superstition. If the king is the right King then the land thrives.

One of the reasons that the Jacobites were quite so sure….in King William's reign there was famine in many years. In the late 1600's it is fairly estimated that 15% of Scotland's population died of starvation…while William 11 reigned…I think he's William111 to the English

It's also said that the reason for the curse is that it's slanders a good man and his wife. MacBeth and Gruoch reigned as King and Queen…..old balance again.

The Red King didn't deserve a wordsmith's misbegotten scribblings.

M

 

[sandbender]

English political propaganda..."

Of course I knew that.

".....If the king is the right King then the land thrives..."

Which was shown to great effect in John Boorman's flawed but brilliant 'Excalibur'.

 

[Goatboy]

What Toddy you mean it wasn't reportage!?!
I'll have to re-read my history books and re-evaluate my views on Denmarks Royalty, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and stories about winter. I suppose it's just not "as you like it".
I'll get my coat...
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Toddy]

Y'know my degree is in science based Archaeology ? well there's three years of Scottish History in with my four years of Archaeology

M

 

[petrochemicals]

It's a bit like the bog bodies. Mcbeth kills the prior king and not till high Burnum Wood that shall rise and come against him shall his reign fail. He shall inturn be killed and McDuff continue the cycle.

The bog bodies are believed to be kings whose reign failed, (probably the link between Reign and rain) and where then killed in sacrifice. There was a programme on BBC4 about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03js0gf

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/h...have-been-victims-of-climate-change-1.1610891

It was known about and documented by early Irish monk, so it may have been known to Shakespeare, so he may have done a little populist twist with the names, the way he did with other plays.

 

[TinkyPete]

"Y'know my degree is in science based Archaeology ? well there's three years of Scottish History in with my four years of Archaeology

M"

Which 3 years did you pick?

Scotland isn't America you know

Could not resist when I saw this, stuck inside my office on a bank holiday

 

[Toddy]

First three were joints, I took the Archaeology to Honours in fourth

M

 

[British Red]

Which was shown to great effect in John Boorman's flawed but brilliant 'Excalibur'.

A king without a sword, a land without a king.

 

[boatman]

Good play, bad history, not unusual. The welcome for Braveheart in Scotland surely evens the score?

 

[Goatboy]

A king without a sword, a land without a king.

Donald without his trousers

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Toddy]

Good play, bad history, not unusual. The welcome for Braveheart in Scotland surely evens the score?

Oh yes, no disagreement there, and I still can't watch that film for more than about ten minutes. I have to leave the room, I really do.
I know a lot of the folks who played the extras and they still try and pass off that trashy kit as 'authentic'. I have huge rows with them over 'poetic licence' (i.e. the wardrobe mistress's, "That'll look good") versus reality.

M

 

[Goatboy]

Aye Mr Gibson was bad in a bad movie. Though surprisingly good in Hamlet. Always liked the story of Wallace, but Brainfart wasn't the story of Wallace.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[boatman]

I enjoyed Eric Linklater's Lord of the Isles but couldn't really get on with his Macbeth The King. How well regarded is his historical accuracy?

 

[sandbender]

"...Though surprisingly good in Hamlet..."

Indeed, maybe it was because he was so much younger and had not been drawn into the whole superstar thing, he was an excellent Hamlet.

 

[Goatboy]

Think it's in my top three film adaptations along with Henry V & Much Ado About Nothing.
Looking forward to seeing this new one though.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[oldtimer]

Toddy: My wife, a stickler for historical accuracy who emails corrections to authors from time to time, is a fan of Dorothy Dunnet's "King Hereafter", a retelling of the MacBeth story. I couldn't get on with it myself but I'd be interested to know what you think.

 

[sandbender]

Think it's in my top three film adaptations along with Henry V & Much Ado About Nothing.
Looking forward to seeing this new one though.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

I enjoyed those and also Ian Mckellen's Richard III, again the script is truncated and the drama is moved forward in time to a fictional fascist Britain in the nineteen thirties.

[video=youtube;pjJEXkbeL-o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJEXkbeL-o[/video]

 

[nic a char]

All kings & queens require deluded serfs

 

[sandbender]

The trailer...

[video=youtube;RgH_OnrYlCk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgH_OnrYlCk[/video]