To Be or Not to Be Burton

Synopsis: Jenny Lawton talks to actor Scott Shepherd about his role as Hamlet in the current Wooster Group production of the play. Based on Richard Burton’s 1964 film version, Shepherd copies Burton’s performance word for word while the film is projected at the back of the stage. In the programme, Shepherd talks about Burton’s physical interpretation of Hamlet, his verse-speaking and his relationship to Burton’s actorly ghost.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Audio; Radio
Transmission details: 23 Nov 2007 (Channel: Studio 360)
Duration: 10:00

Production type: Documentary/Educational/News
Plays: Hamlet
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: actors; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Verse speaking; Multimedia productions; Burton, Richard (1925 -1984)
Related items: Hamlet

Notes: An audio recording of the production can be downloaded from http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/11/23 (accessed 23 November 2007).
History: Wooster Group’s stage production of Hamlet premiered on October 9, 2007, at the Public Theatre, New York.
Reviews: Cartelli, Thomas, ‘Chanelling the Ghosts: The Wooster Group’s Remediation of the 1964 Electronovision Hamlet’ in Shakespeare Survey 61: Shakespeare, Sound and Screen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). p. 147-169.

This record has been viewed 633 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council