Shakespeare in Performance: Film

Antony and Cleopatra: The World Well Lost (1969)

Description

Part one in a series of twelve 23-minute films made in 1969 by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority. For other segments, see numbers 40, 65, 124, 162, 257, 322, 465, 488, 555, 617, and 637. The overriding goal was to relate "Shakespeare's timeless ideas and understanding of human motivations to contemporary society." The lively hermeneutics of the series sought to re-interpret Shakespeare's work from the historical perspective of the 1960s rather than of the 1560s. A background collage of striking photographs depicting modern social turmoil implicitly comments on the stage action in the foreground. The programs reflect the passion for "relevance" that so obsessed university students in the Vietnam era and that made Jan Kott's Shakespeare Our Contemporary such an important study. An extensive telephone survey revealed that only five segments in this interesting series, of which unhappily this part is not included, are still readily available for rental (apply CNU)

Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14

Production Team and Crew Overview

Company Overview

Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell