As the world celebrates William Shakespeare 400 years after his death, we offer our own tribute to a writer whose influence continues to reverberate.
With no other writer impacting so greatly on cinema both in terms of theme and content (IMDB lists him as the writer of 1120 titles), this succinct programme explores how a diverse selection of filmmakers past and present have adapted, been inspired by and interpreted Shakespeare’s work – from Roman Polanski’s Macbeth and Gus van Sant’s Henry IV and Henry V inspired My Own Private Idaho, to work by Derek Jarman (The Tempest) and Max Reinhardt’s 1935 release, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Vincent Price has a seat reserved for you in his Theatre of Blood, and for families, we present Disney’s Hamlet inspired The Lion King.
Presented in collaboration with the BFI. Part of BFI presents Shakespeare on Film.
In this season
Staff blog
Sounds Like Shakespeare
To celebrate Filter Theatre’s rocking rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, we take a look at the author’s impact on music over the years.
Previously in this season
Cinema
Theatre of Blood
Edward Lionheart (Price) is a classically trained Shakespearean actor who adds murder to his repertoire when he takes gruesome revenge on the vicious critics who…
Cinema
My Own Private Idaho
River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in director Gus Van Sant's haunting tale of two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams…
Cinema
The Lion King
Tricked into thinking he killed his father, a guilt-ridden lion cub flees into exile and abandons his identity as the future King in this modern…
Cinema
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare's classic about two pairs of lovers and an amateur actor who get mixed up with fairies is given the Warner Bros treatment. Hal Mohr’s…
Cinema
The Tempest
Derek Jarman's unorthodox treatment of what is generally considered Shakespeare's final play features Heathcote Williams as the magician Prospero and Karl Johnson his familiar spirit…
event
My Own Private Idaho Intro
This film will be introduced by Andy Moor, Reader in Film at Manchester Metropolitan University.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Intro
This film will be introduced by Maggie Hoffgen, freelance film educator.