Jonathan Miller

Synopsis
Jonathan Miller talks about his life and work. The video is divided into 48 segments (or stories) of about 4 minutes each. In Section 27 "The Good Doctor Has to Be Different’: Directing Shakespeare’ ( 3:53) Miller speaks of his first directing Shakespeare for the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company. He was influenced in his design for Julius Caesar by the works of the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico. He was criticised by the satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’ and others for ‘being different for the sake of it’; Miller maintains seeing things differently is the essence of good direction.
In section 34 (5:00) ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Miller tells what it was like directing Olivier as Shylock and why he [Miller] chose to set the play in the 1890s. Miller feels it was the first time Olivier has been given good, imaginative direction and responded to it warmly and amicably and never pulled rank.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Multimedia
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
2008
Recording date
Jul 2008
Duration
180c

Credits

Contributor
Jonathan Miller

Additional Details

Production type
Documentary/Educational/News
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Stage directing; Olivier, Laurence (1907-1989)
Related items
Merchant of Venice, The

Notes

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Web of Stories is a web-based archive ‘dedicated to collecting for posterity the stories of the great thinkers, creators, and achievers of our time.'
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How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Jonathan Miller". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av74748 (Accessed 06 Oct 2024)