Antony and Cleopatra (1959 film): Difference between revisions

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*Keith Eden as Antony
*Keith Eden as Antony
*[[Kevin Miles]] as Caesar
*[[Kevin Miles]] as Caesar
*Laurier Lange as Lepidus
*Edward Brayshaw
*Edward Howell as Agrippa
*Keith Hudson
*Judith Godden as Charmain
*Paul Bacon as Alexas
*Beverly Dunn as Octavia
*Frank Gatliff as Pompey
*John Morgan as Menas
*Keith Hudson as Eros
*Alan Tobin as Procuecius
*Colin Eaton as Soothsayer
*Philip Stainton as Clown
*Hugh McDermott as first messenger
*George Ogilvie as second messenger
*[[Alan Hopgood]] as first soldier
*Alan Morley as second soldier
*Ken Goodlet as Enobarus
*Soula Paulay, R de Winter, Antonio Rodrigues and Albert la Guerre as Cleopatra's attendants
*Nevil Thurgood, John Godfrey and Peter Diess as soldiers
==Production==
==Production==
It was shot at ABC's studios in Rippon Lea. There were 15 speaking parts and six extras. The set was designed by Jon Peters. It was Keith Eden's first performance as a "straight" actor on TV - he was better known as a radio actor.<ref name="age"/>
It was shot at ABC's studios in Rippon Lea. There were 15 speaking parts and six extras. The set was designed by Jon Peters. It was Keith Eden's first performance as a "straight" actor on TV - he was better known as a radio actor.<ref name="age"/> There were 31 scene changes.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19590611&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Shakespeare Test for TV Techniques|date=11 June 1959|page=12}}</ref> Keith Clarke did costumes.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|title=Producer Checks Costumes|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19590611&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|date=11 June 1959|page=14}}</ref>
==Reception==
==Reception==
The critic for ''The Age'' thought the play was "not for television."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|title=Shakespeare Not for Television|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19590625&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|date=25 June 1959|page=14|last=Janus}}</ref>
The critic for ''The Age'' thought the play was "not for television."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|title=Shakespeare Not for Television|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19590625&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|date=25 June 1959|page=14|last=Janus}}</ref>

Revision as of 05:56, 2 May 2020

Antony and Cleopatra
Based onplay by William Shakespeare
Written byArthur Chipper
Directed byChristopher Muir
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time125 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
Release17 June 1959 (Melbourne) (live)[1]
8 July 1959 (Sydney, taped)

Antony and Cleopatra is a 1959 Australian television play based on the play by William Shakespeare.[2] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]

It was broadcast live in Melbourne then recorded and screened in Sydney. The ABC also broadcast a production of Hamlet at the same time, which was broadcast live in Sydney then recorded and screened in Melbourne.[4] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[5]

Cast

  • Bettie Kauffman as Cleopatra
  • Keith Eden as Antony
  • Kevin Miles as Caesar
  • Laurier Lange as Lepidus
  • Edward Howell as Agrippa
  • Judith Godden as Charmain
  • Paul Bacon as Alexas
  • Beverly Dunn as Octavia
  • Frank Gatliff as Pompey
  • John Morgan as Menas
  • Keith Hudson as Eros
  • Alan Tobin as Procuecius
  • Colin Eaton as Soothsayer
  • Philip Stainton as Clown
  • Hugh McDermott as first messenger
  • George Ogilvie as second messenger
  • Alan Hopgood as first soldier
  • Alan Morley as second soldier
  • Ken Goodlet as Enobarus
  • Soula Paulay, R de Winter, Antonio Rodrigues and Albert la Guerre as Cleopatra's attendants
  • Nevil Thurgood, John Godfrey and Peter Diess as soldiers

Production

It was shot at ABC's studios in Rippon Lea. There were 15 speaking parts and six extras. The set was designed by Jon Peters. It was Keith Eden's first performance as a "straight" actor on TV - he was better known as a radio actor.[1] There were 31 scene changes.[6] Keith Clarke did costumes.[7]

Reception

The critic for The Age thought the play was "not for television."[8]

The Sydney Morning Herald critic wrote that:

Not much of the pomp and poetry came through the rich texture of Shakespeare's language in the... production.. although as a straightforward account of love and war this Melbourne performance Was satisfactory enough. Two things helped to lower the temperature of the love and the language; first, Arthur Chipper's rearrangement of the first half of the play was quite skillful, but the cutting was on a political rather than on a passionate bias, and second, producer Christopher Muir'_s use of cameras and- lighting did little—except in a few scenes — to imaginatively underline the play's mood, atmosphere, and growing tensions.[9]

The Bulletin also gave it a bad review.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Shakespeare Dramas ABC TV Project". The Age. 23 April 1959. p. 12. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  2. ^ "A BIG NEW DEAL FOR COLOR TV". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 27, no. 7. 22 July 1959. p. 50. Retrieved 21 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. ^ "Two Productions of Shakespeare". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 June 1959. p. 17.
  5. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. ^ "Shakespeare Test for TV Techniques". The Age. 11 June 1959. p. 12.
  7. ^ "Producer Checks Costumes". The Age. 11 June 1959. p. 14.
  8. ^ Janus (25 June 1959). "Shakespeare Not for Television". The Age. p. 14.
  9. ^ "Live Antony and Cleopatra on TV". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 July 1959. p. 6.
  10. ^ The bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 1880, retrieved 23 March 2019