High School Play

Synopsis: US sitcom, created by Linwood Boomer, starring Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third-oldest of four, later five, children in the family. The show’s early seasons centered on Malcolm and the rigours of being an adolescent genius and his eccentric, although eerily normal, life; later seasons began to explore the other members of the family and their friends in more depth. In this episode Malcolm lands the non-speaking role of Changeling Boy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is quickly promoted by the director to the part of Puck when it is realised that Malcolm can understand and speak Shakespearean verse well. At one point in the episode the class engages in a heated debate on authorship.
Series: Malcolm in the Middle
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 10 Dec 2000 at 20:30 (Channel: Fox)
Duration: 30 mins

Director

Writer

Cast

Bil Rutkowski	Teacher
Frankie Muniz	Malcolm

History: Season 2, episode 9.
Reviews: Burt, Richard ‘U.S. Television’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. (p. 611, entry 2791).

British Universities Film & Video Council