Shakespeare Wallah

Synopsis: Feature film. An English troupe of actors tour post-Raj India staging performances of Shakespeare to dwindling audiences as British dominance of, and interest in, British culture fades. The film is an ironic examination and comment on British (and Shakespeare) cultural assumptions ruefully acknowledging ‘the victory of the motion picture over the theatre’. There are many sequences from the plays, selected to form commentary on the action. Plays featured are Antony and Cleopatra (II ii, IV v), Hamlet (II iv, IV v), Othello (V ii) Romeo and Juliet (II vi) and Twelfth Night (II iv).
Language: English
Country: India
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release: 1965
Duration: 124 mins

Director

James Ivory

Producer

Ismail Merchant

Cinematographer

Subrata Mitra

Screenplay

James Ivory; Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Music

Satyajit Ray

Cast

Production type: Fiction Films
Plays: Antony and Cleopatra; Hamlet; Othello; Romeo and Juliet; Twelfth Night
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: India; Raj; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); theatre companies; Colonialism; Travelling players

Notes: Estimated budget: $80,000
General: Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Liddell ran a genuine theatrical troupe who toured India, the Shakespeareana Company, whose nature, if not their precise experience, formed the basis of the film. The Shakespearian sequences in the film were directed by the Kendals.
Awards: Berlin Film Festival 1965 - Silver Bear for Best Actress to Madhur Jaffrey.
Reviews: Wayne, Valerie ‘Shakespeare Wallah and Cultural Specularity’ in Boose, Lynda E. & Richard Burt (eds). Shakespeare the Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video (London: Routledge, 1977). pp 95-102.

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Notes: The British Film Institute is a specialist non-theatric rental distributor of international fiction and documentary films on 16mm and 35mm film, as well as VHS and DVD video. The holdings are so vast that only those titles available on DVD and HD Digital are listed in full on the website, so it is worth enquiring about specific titles that might only be available for hire in other formats. The BFI has partnered with on-line platforms such as lovefilm and blinkbox to deliver a selection of films to buy or rent in digital format, and others are streamed free of charge on the BFI’s YouTube channel or as dowloadable clips on the Creative Archive section of the BFI’s own website.

Name: BFI Film Bookings Unit
Email: bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
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London
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