Johnny Shakespeare

Synopsis: Television drama written and directed by Jim Cartwright. Johnny comes from a broken home and lives with his alcoholic, bingo-addicted gran on a housing estate. He is illiterate. He meets Diane, a drama teacher (Scacchi) who encourages him to audition for a place in the acting company her friend manages. She coaches him through his audition piece ("It has to be Shakespeare I’m afraid") choosing Henry V’s Agincourt speech. This is Johnny’s first encounter with Shakespeare; when asked if he understands the lines ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more/Or close the wall up with our English dead’ he summarises the sentiment "get stuck in, give it some", then raps a few lines. He enlists friends to read the speech for him to enable him to learn it, but when the audition comes he forgets the lines and is upset by someone remarking that he is holding the paper with the speech written on it upside down. His speech disintegrates into a rant against his family, the state, and classic drama while publicly praising Diane’s faith in him. He is offered a part nonetheless. He leaves for London with the company on a coach, and at the last minute is joined by Diane. The plays delivers a familiar narrative on the redemptive powers of a brief acquaintance with Shakespeare and the therapeutic value of acting. In this case Cartwright’s play is sentimental, flabbily written, quite implausible, acted by a bemused and uncommitted cast who give the impression of never having worked on the script together.
Series: Afternoon Play, The
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 22 Jan 2007 at 14:05 (Channel: BBC1)
Duration: 60 mins