SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Feature film. Mark Feinman (Callis) dreams that he is stranded alone on a desert island. He believes his dream to be a premonition and immediately sets up a touring theatre company with two friends. Their mission is to bring a radical reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest to unsuspecting audiences in Edinburgh, Paris and London. Mark is forced to sign up actors from an assortment of petty criminals, public school boys and burger bar workers. However, the arrival of the mysterious and beautiful Anya spurs them on to new heights for the world premiere in Soho. After a disastrous opening in London, the troupe flee to Edinburgh and Paris in search of their dreams.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

2002

Duration

90 mins

Credits

Director

James Callis; Nick Cohen

Producer

Harriet Evans-Lombe

Cinematographer

Chris Preston

Screenplay

Nick Cohen

Production Design

Tracey Ann Baines

Cast

Christopher Cazenove	Andrew Fontaine
James Callis	Mark Feinman
Julie Delpy	Anya
Steven Berkoff	Magic Bob

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Tempest, The

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); theatre companies; Untrained actors; Touring productions

Notes

General

The film is loosely inspired by an anarchic student production of The Tempest that Callis once took on tour.

Reviews

"A chaotic, self-indulgent, autobiographical luvvie vanity project... the script is truly awful; there’s an unendurably rough sound mix, and it looks like it’s been edited with a bread knife and a blindfold". Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (June 21, 2002).

"A bunch of no-hopers try to stage Shakespeare’s Tempest under a useless director in BEGINNER’s LUCK, an equally inept production which aims to wring comic mileage out of never-say-die amateurism. First feature of writing-directing team Nick Cohen and James Callis is a 90-minute train wreck in slow motion, with zero commercial potential. Derek Elley. Variety (26 June 2002).

Production Company

Name

Late Night Pictures

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets