by 8. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
The Taming of the Shrew is another play now being presented in “problem” territory. However, the Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles-led romcom 10 Things I Hate About You gives it new life with a witty, incisive transposition of Shrew’s black sexual politics to high school. All credit to director and screenwriter Gil Junger, who stays true to the architecture of the original, while giving more agency to the female characters, introducing a clever contemporary framing (Kat and Bianca’s midwife dad is dependent on teenage pregnancy). , and adding both kickass feminism ( Bianca has a right wink) and a big musical number. Who could resist bending over the ledger Can’t Take My Eyes Off You?
7. Falstaff (1893)
Audiences have always loved the corpulent, proud, licentious but charming knight (currently played on stage by Ian McKellen), but we are less awed by the two historical dramas, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and a suspense comedy, The Merry. Wives of Windsor, in which he appears. Verdi’s famous comic opera frees Falstaff from those awkward narrative trappings and gives this popular character the focused, fast-paced exposition he deserves. In addition, the entire score is suffused with inventive comic delights. But Verdi’s opera, the last he wrote before his death, also has room for pathos. The final fugue, Tutto nel mondo e burla (“Junk of the whole world”), is extremely bittersweet.
6. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
In this case the source material is much stronger, but you still have to admire Baz Luhrmann’s electric transformation. His film is that rare modern update done right: the Bard for the MTV generation. From the perfect zeitgeist casting (Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) and pop soundtrack (Des’ree, Garbage, The Cardigans) to the feverish editing that captures the urgency of his teenage lovers, it’s pure hormonal rush, and worse. . Most importantly, it provided an exciting entry point to Shakespeare for newcomers. It will be interesting to see how Jamie Lloyd’s new West End production, starring Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, compares when it opens this month. Can it find its equivalent for Gen Z?
5. Winter’s Tale (2014)
This month will also welcome the Royal Ballet’s massive revamp of The Winter’s Tale. This “problem play” is a strange schizophrenia: a half-proto-Othello, and a rabid, jealous king destroying his family; half pastoral romp, albeit one in which another power-mad monarch loses a streak – and someone gets chased by a bear. But Christopher Wheeldon’s creation makes a glorious triumph of those conflicting tones. Perhaps it helps that the ballet, as a form, is well equipped to deal with such extremes, and that the audience is used to plotting crazy fairy tales. But, crucially, Wheeldon’s piece is psychologically rich, embracing that extra step removed from reality, and the intensity of reciprocal emotion, that ballet can provide.
4. Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Tempest is not entirely a lost cause – Prospero’s “Our revels now ends” speech is a good one – but the endless capering subplots strain patience. There is no such question with Leslie Nielson’s highly entertaining sci-fi film Forbidden Planet, which features such cutting-edge characters as Robby the Robot (who makes robots like C-3PO a robot with a vibrant personality), and Bebe. and Louis Barren’s electronic soundtrack, placing Shakespeare’s outer characters into deep space. As delightful as English writer/director Bob Carlton’s campy-as-Christmas jukebox stage musical adaptation of Return to the Forbidden Planet is. Who knew that what The Tempest really needed was roller skates, green monster tentacles, and a rare appearance of Great Fireballs?
3. Kiss Me, Kate (1948)
Another answer to the predicament of staging The Taming of the Shrew in this sensitive era is: the glorious Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate instead (at the Barbican next month). It cleverly wraps Shrew in backstage dialogue – with the offstage action reflecting elements of the play’s plot, but in a sunnier way – and adds to the irresistible appeal of Cole Porter’s songs. That troubling misogyny takes a backseat to exes reuniting with Wunderbar’s waltz, gangsters pounding the punts in Brush Up Your Shakespeare, the comic Ingénue pledging loyalty, to a point, with Always True to You in My Fashion, and the company dancing up a storm in sizzling Act II opener Too Darn Hot.
2. Romeo and Juliet (1965)
Not surprisingly, the star-crossed lovers give turnips to adapters, but some offer a more sophisticated take on Shakespeare’s early career (lovely, though, the poetry here is relatively simple). The dark, passionate intensity of Prokofiev’s 1940 score is powerfully matched by Kenneth MacMillan’s 1965 version for the Royal Ballet. The supernova pairing of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev was first in charge, and recently I was inspired by Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball: their giddy heyday was maturing so much that you felt almost voyeuristic. It is an emotionally moving work in which the meeting of the two bodies reveals more than you could put into words.
1. West Side Story (1957)
The best Shakespeare adaptation, building on and far exceeding the original in art and forceful impact, is undoubtedly the stirring musical West Side Story, which takes us into a racist gang war on the streets of New York. Created by the great team of Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, it is an extraordinary combination of raw social commentary (still caustic today, as we saw with Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation in 2021) and lush, bearing romance. As evidence of the latter, take this couplet in which Anthony expresses his joy by speaking Maria’s name, and which is divinely echoed by the score: “Say it loud and music is playing / Say it softly and it’s almost like praying.”
Kiss Me Kate is at the Barbican, 4 June-14 September; barbican.org.uk. The Winter’s Tale is in rep at the Royal Opera House until June 1 (roh.org.uk). Romeo and Juliet is at the Duke of York, May 11-August 3 (thedukeofyorks.com)
