Shakespeare LIVES / Shakescreen Film Club
The Petőfi Literary Museum marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death by organising a Film Club in autumn 2016 in association with the British Council, the Institute of British-American Studies of Péter Pázmány Catholic University and the Hungarian Shakespeare Committee.
The programme includes some of the most daring and unconventional adaptations. Shakespeare’s overwhelmingly rich legacy inspired not only the best filmmakers like Derek Jarman, Peter Greenaway or Roman Polanski but also other acknowledged artists like the legendary theatre director Peter Brook to undertake the task of reinterpreting the genius fortheir contemporaries.
Each screening starts with an introduction by an invited expert and is followed by an open discussion.
Entry free
Club II., 3 November | Derek Jarman's The Tempest (1979)
introduction by Dr Kinga Földváry
Jarman’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s final play is an evocative depiction of colonialism, revenge, retribution and reconciliation. Prospero (Heathcote Williams), the former Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda (Toyah Willcox) were abandoned on a remote island by the Duke’s evil brother Antonio (Richard Warwick). Twelve years later, Prospero has learnt the ‘liberal arts’; he creates a tempest to shipwreck Antonio’s ship on the mysterious island in an attempt to marry his travelling companion Prince Ferdinand of Naples (David Meyer) to his daughter, in order to restore peace between Milan and Naples. Jarman brings a punk sensibility to this production, with wild visuals and rich designs that easily conceal the film’s meagre budget.
Dr Kinga Földváry is senior lecturer at the Institute of English-American Studies, PPCU.
Club III., 19 November | Roman Polanski’s Macbeth (1971)
introduction: Prof Frank Prescott
Roman Polanski presents his nightmarish vision of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about the lust for power and its bloody consequences. Jon Finch is Macbeth, the Scottish war hero, whose insane ambition unleashes a cycle of violence. Prompted by the supernatural prophecy of three witches, Macbeth is goaded by his Lady (Francesca Annis) into slaying King Duncan and assuming his throne. Filmed in rugged North Wales, Polanski used the landscape to accentuate the visual elements of Shakespeare’s play.
Prof Frank Prescott is associate professor at the Institute of English Studies, KRE
Club IV., 13 December | Peter Brook’s King Lear (1970)
introduction: Dr Sam Gilchrist Hall
“Brook’s King Lear: ‘Where the hope grows coldest’?
Although a tale in which an old man is betrayed by his daughters and forced out into the cold of a storm could never be described as pleasant, Peter Brook's magnificent 1971 version of Shakespeare's King Lear magnifies the profoundly disturbing aspects of the original. Set in the featureless wilderness of Jutland, this film offers a post-apocalyptic vision of a world and a society completely destroyed by ambition, cruelty and jealousy – a vision, in other words, of the mutually assured destruction that was an all too present possibility for the film’s Cold War audience. In Brook’s blood stained universe, the good and the bad are slaughtered indiscriminately: 'As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. / They kill us for their sport'. And as the Kingdom crumbles, there is no possibility for redemption.” Dr Sam Gilchrist Hall
Dr Sam Gilchrist Hall is teacher at the British Council and holds a PhD in Shakespeare studies, University of London
Peter Brook directs his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. King Lear (Paul Scofield), having decided to split his kingdom between his three daughters, decides to apportion the lands according to which daughter declaims her love for him best. When his daughter Cordelia refuses to flatter her father’s ego with claims of devotion, Lear angrily gives the lion’s share of his power to her sisters, Goneril and Regan. They soon abuse this trust, and Lear finds himself emasculated and powerless. Before long he is drifting into madness, as his former empire falls apart.