British Universities Film & Video Council

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Das Publikum Will Shakespeare

Alternative title
What the Public Wants is Shakespeare
Synopsis
Radio play based on the short story ‘Excursion in Reality’ by Evelyn Waugh (1932), adapted for broadcasting by Olga Klaenforth. Waugh’s satire on the film industry features the visionary studio magnate, Sir James Macrae (Kurt Erhardt), a man determined to remake Hamlet "from an entirely new angle." How, Macrae asks rhetorically, "can you expect the public to enjoy Shakespeare when they can’t make head or tail of the dialogue. D’you know I began reading a copy the other day and blessed if I could understand it. At once I said, ‘What the public wants is Shakespeare with all his beauty of thought and character translated into the language of everyday life.'"
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Radio
Transmission details
28 Jan 1953 (Channel: Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR))
Duration
25 mins
Availability
No copy known (12/2008)

Credits

Producer
Heinrich Koch
Writer
Evelyn Waugh
Adaptor for Radio
Olga Klaenforth
Cast
Evy GotthardtEllinor Grits
Hansi KesslerSecretary
Jörn AndersonSomon Lent
Kurt ErhardtSir James Macrae
Luscha WendtMiss Bentham
Ursula SchmoockSylvia Lennox

Additional Details

Production type
Television and Radio Drama
Plays
Hamlet
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

History
Original transmission time unknown.
Textual information
Evelyn Waugh, Work Suspended and Other Stories, Chapman and Hall, 1943.
Reviews
Source: ARD radio drama archive (Hörspiel-Archiv) at http://www.ard.de/radio/hoerspiel-lesung/hoerspielarchiv (accessed 12/2008).

Production Company

Name

Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR)

Notes
On 1 January 1956, the NWDR was succeeded by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).

Record Stats

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