PBS, 8 p.m., E.S.T.
biweekly staring Feb. 14
Time Magazine Feb 12 1979
One of the chief complaints of the Carnegie Commission is that public
television is too dependent on British imports.
Coincidentally, PBS is about to broadcast the longest and most ambitious
British series of all, the 37 plays of William Shakespeare spread out over six
years. The series, the Carnegie Commission to the contrary, will be
public TV’s greatest monument, a fitting demonstration of what television can
be, should be and, in Britain, often is.
The series begins with Julius
Caesar, then continues with As You
Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II and
Measure for Measure,
ending April 25 with Henry VIII.
The plays are being produced by the BBC with Time-Life Television, which
is putting up more than 25% of the $14 million cost.
To keep the plays down to a maximum 2 ¾ hours, cuts have been made.
Judging from a viewing of the first four plays, however, editing has been
judicious, more the neat excision of a few lines here and there than the
slaughter of whole scenes, a violence often done to Shakespeare. With some notable exceptions, the performances range from
competent to brilliant, and a whole stable of Britain’s fine character actors
trot through the familiar minor parts: John
Gielgud as the righteous John of Gaunt, Celia Johnson as Juliet’s nurse and
Michael Hordern as her father.
The biggest surprise in the first four plays is Richard
II, which is sometimes cited as one of Shakespeare’s weaker works. Under the direction of David Giles, however, it takes on a
new meaning, becoming an almost contemporary story of power used and abused.
Derek Jacobi, who was seen last year as the hero in I,
Claudius, portrays the childishness as well as the majesty of Richard, who
tells “sad stories of the death of kings.”
No one has told them better, and Jacobi now should be numbered among the
best actors in the English-speaking theater.