Monday, December 19, 2016

Dark Goddess Review: The Hollow Crown, War of the Roses

I watched the middle installment of this epic Shakespearean made-for-tv production last night, emerging a little shaky on my feet after two and a half hours of blood and mud. I guess I have never seen a modern production company really put its back into realizing a medieval battle field before, as I usually avoid these things. But, this is Shakespeare and all, you know. . . I am going to have to watch the last one, the Richard III, now too.

Not for the faint of heart. I have seen several productions of Henry V and Richard III (although not of Henry VI), but on the stage the blood is always in the background and the verse is out in front. In this 3-part telling of the War of the Roses, a mashup of Shakespeare histories Henry VI (parts 1 and 2) and Richard III, the verse is the supporting act and the story of quick and cruel death after death is the feature. This 2016 production follows the 2013 "The Hollow Crown" that covered the Henriad, or Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. It is peopled by a huge constellation of stars, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard Plantagenet (Richard III), Sophie Okonedo as Queen Margaret, Keeley Hawes as Queen Elizabeth, Tom Sturridge as Henry VI, and Adrian Dunbar as Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.

So many cut down (literally) for so little reason. It begs consideration of the shortness of our lives, of the lack of legacy in our actions, of the unlasting nature of our existence. Like the Vikings, who have been known for their cavalier attitude toward staying alive, these characters also defy the need. I have often wondered if this "we sleep tonight in Valhalla" approach is a historical afterfact based on the need to appear brave to the survivors, or if indeed people in earlier times had less desire - or maybe just less opportunity - to live long and prosper, or at least to do that without compromise. Have our modern generations become less warlike so that we are appalled by the battle of blade and ax? Do blood feuds erupt less often and are there fewer decades of revenge? Do we accept compromise and civilization to live where we are not laws unto ourselves? Or are the Heroes of the Crown just so much bigger than life that their stupidities are as aggrandized as their deeds?

If you can stomach the routine slitting of throats, hacking of heads, and filthy hair, you can get a handle on the epic Family Feud that ran rampant over England in the 15th century. Seventy-some years of soap-opera-stupid human tragedy unallayed by any socially redeeming content, humans ridiculous and cruel in their greed for power and revenge in the laser beam of the Bard's verse. He knew and wanted us to know that there is no excuse for our madness, no mitigating circumstance to temper the nature of the beast that is man. I have to say, this production supported his efforts.




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