Internet Shakespeare Editions

Shakespeare in Performance: Film

As You Like It (1946, Robert Atkins)

TitleAs You Like It
Year1946
Release LocationsGB
DirectorRobert Atkins
MediumVideo
Length1 hrs, 50 mins
Play ConnectionsAs You Like It (recording)

Description

The talents of father and son made this early post-WWII Shakespeare performance possible. Robert Atkins was the director of the Bankside Players, a Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Company, which provided the actors. Ian Atkins, his son, was a trained cameraman, who could bridge the gap between stage and screen. As the first Shakespeare program to be broadcast after the suspension of television transmission during World War II, this production also deserves a special niche in the history of screened Shakespeare. Shakespeare had not been seen on British television since the 22 Apr. 1939 transmission of Katherine and Petruchio, a spinoff from Shrew. One wonders what became of all these bright young actors who participated in this historic occasion. Their names are today something less than well known, at least in North America. In 1946 of course the BBC lacked a feasible technology for preserving the program

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

Cast Overview

CastPeter Bell
CastVivienne Bennett
CastJohn Byron
CastThomas Dance
CastDavid Enders
CastClement Hamelin
CastReginald Hayes
CastPatricia Hicks
CastMary Honer
CastJohn Humphrey
CastRichard Littledale
CastDesmond Llewelyn
CastDavid March
CastElizabeth Marshall
CastOscar Quitak
CastDavid Read
CastAngela Shafto
CastIvan Staff
CastGeorgia Thorndike
CastJohn Vere
CastDiana Wilson
CastRonald Woodroofe

Production Team and Crew Overview

DirectorRobert Atkins
ProducerIan Atkins
ComposerRosabel Watson

Company Overview

Playgroup Regent's Park Orchestra

Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell