My Kingdom

Synopsis
Feature film. An urban crime drama updating King Lear to modern-day Liverpool. The leader of a gang, Sandeman, decides to divide his territory after the murder of his wife in a street robbery. He would like his favourite daughter (Jo) to take control of his business, but his other two daughters claim their share of the estate. The film parallels King Lear quite closely and there are quotations and paraphrasing from Othello and Julius Caesar. The film’s epigraph credits its source ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods/They kill us for their sport’ .
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Film
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
2002
Duration
116 mins; 10,468 feet

Credits

Director
Don Boyd
Producer
Gabriele Bacher; Neal Weisman
Cinematographer
Dewald Aukema
Screenplay
Don Boyd; Nick Davies
Music
Deirdre Gribbin; Simon Fisher-Turner
Art Direction
David Endley
Cast
Richard HarrisSandeman (Lear)
Emma CatherwoodJo (Cordelia)
Reece NoiBoy, Kath’s son (Fool)
Aidan GillenDS Barry Puttnam
Jimi MistryJughinder Singh ‘Jug’
Lorraine PilkingtonTracy
Louise LombardKath
Paul McGannDean, Kath’s husband
Tom BellRichard Quick

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Plays
King Lear
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Gangster films

Notes

General
In BOOM TOWN (ITV 10 October 2001), the final episode of a six-part series on film production in Liverpool, director Don Boyd talks about his reasons for choosing Liverpool as the setting for MY KINGDOM.
Reviews
Courtney Lehmann, ‘The Postnolstalgic Renaissance: The Place’ of Liverpool in Don Boyd’s MY KINGDOM in Burnett, Mark Thornton & Ramona Wray, Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century, (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2006), pp 72-90

Production Company

Name

Close Grip Films

Name

Primary Pictures

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Tartan Video

Web
http://www.tartanvideo.com/ External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7494 1400
Fax
020 7439 1922
Address
3rd Floor, Atlantic House
5 Wardour Street
London W1V 3HE

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "My Kingdom". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av36799 (Accessed 11 Oct 2024)