Shakespeare, Film, and Kenneth Branagh

[Brows Held High intro]

[Fade to Oancitizen reading "The Arden Shakespeare: Complete Works"]

Oan: Yes, of course you need a prostitute who's heart is so golden she can convert people in one afternoon. God, fuck this play! [Slams the book, places it down, and notices the camera.] Ahh, welcome to Brows Held High. Well, April the 23rd is coming on and I'm sure you all celebrate that day with all the pomp and... Oh, what's that? You don't celebrate April 23rd? Well, you should because that's the day internationally recognized as the day William Shakespeare [Says the name in a sophisticated English accent] was born.

Oan [v/o]: William Shakespeare is of course the greatest writer in the English language. George Bernard Shaw accused his peers of "Bardolatry" for word spitting him so much. But a century later, Harold Bloom suggested that there should actually be a religion surrounding The Bard of Avon.

Oan: And why not? His words are powerful enough to be quoted by absolutely everyone.

[Cut to a clip from "Chimes at Midnight," an adaptation of Henry IV]

Falstaff: We have heard the chimes at midnight, Mister Shallow.

Oan: Everyone.

[Cut to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Menage a Trois"; Captain Piccard recites lines from Shakespeare's sonnets. This one from Sonnet 141.]

Captain Piccard: I faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes...

Oan: Everyone.

[Cut to a video featuring Tommy Wiseau in a convention; he recites a line from sonnet 116.]

Tommy Wiseau: ...on tempests, and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark.

Oan: And if you lived through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, you're probably familiar with one of the most prolific Shakespeare quoters of our time... Kenneth Branagh.

Oan [v/o]: Oh, Kenny Branagh, a fine slice of Northern Irish ham, a man so over-the-top you can never expect that there was a top in the first place.

Oan: As a director, he could get away with some of the most uncommon accesses. And as an actor, he's singularly able to put every ounce of emotion in a line... whether it deserves it or not.

Oan [v/o]: Born in Belfast, trained by the World Academy for Dramatic Arts, his debut, Henry V, earned him Oscar nominations for both directing and acting in a lead role. And from that spectacular debut, he went on to adapt five of Shakespeare's plays. They are, in order, "Henry V," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Hamlet," "Love's Labor's Lost," and "As You Like It." And yes, he was in "Othello," but he didn't direct it, so I'm not counting it.

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