There is a thing on TV ...

[amnisias]

Okay, so there is this thing on TV at the moment. It caters to a very specific taste. Imagine putting a costume drama, a rock musical and oriental bazaar in a blender. What you might get would probably look & sound a lot like Will - a William Shakespeare origins story of sorts. It's got the Elizabethan language, a rock soundtrack and punk/rock/flower-power visuals. A refreshing gender and sexual fluidity that does not require definition or explanation or is angsty. You even get a rap battle/poetry slam and a (proper) orgy - and we're only on episode 4 yet.

Will is clearly not made for the Shakespearean purists. It takes Will Shakespeare as a jumping off point, using the fact that so little of his personal biography is known to make him a blank canvas to draw on. To make it modern, surprising and unexpected. It most definitely requires suspension of disbelief on the viewers part, but if you can do that it is a very fun and engaging show at the very least. Think Romeo + Juliet or Farscape. If you could get on board with puppets in space and alien/human BDSM and find it enjoyable, this might be for you.

The trailer maybe doesn't quite capture the full vibrancy of the show, but it's the best I could find (short of vidding it myself, which is a distinctive possibility at this point.)

Watch on YouTube

I think this would be very much up Shakespeare's ally if he was alive now. He had no qualms to borrow from other people's work and make it his own. He asked his audience to beliefe in Fairie Queens and cross-dressing woman going unnoticed. He took his lisence with historic fact to serve the plot. And he was an entertainer first and foremost.

Comments

[goodbyebird]

Huh. That is... very much not the show I expected it to be. *cautiously puts on to watch list*

[brokenmnemonic]

Hmm... that sounds worth trying :)

[amnisias]

Think Steampunk Shakespeare. If that's you're thing you're gonne like this, I think. Or if you enjoy the Baz Luhrman OTT-kind of story-telling. Otherwise this might be 'a bit too much' of everything.

[amnisias]

I'd say it's very much an aquired taste. If you go into it expecting an historically acurate biopic, you're gonna be disappointment. But that's not what this is meant to be, it's just pure fun & entertainment.

[0ftgx]

Glad to hear someone else is enjoying this manic, wonderful, OTT show! I'm loving it to bits.

A vid would very cool. All that swirl of colour, action, sexualities, genders...pretty people! :)

[goodbyebird]

Considering Legion is still on my mind, "a bit too much of everything" is quite possibly exactly what I'm up for at the moment! 😉

[colls]

I haven't heard of this before now! It sounds fascinating.

[amnisias]

Manic is the right word, in all the best ways. I love how they don't take themselves (or Shakespeare) all that serious and are just having fun with it. And all the pretty doesn't hurt, either. I was amazed to find out that Laurie Davidson, they guy who plays Shakespeare, was picked out of drama school and this is his first job other than some theatre stuff. This explains why he's got that wide-eyed look down so well. ;)

[amnisias]

If you enjoy Baz Luhrmann's stuff (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge) that this might be for you, I'ts been created by Craig Pearce, a Luhrmann collaborator and directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth I & II and Masoom).

TNT does not seem to do a good job promoting it, I've only found it by accident, and most people who seek it out seem to be stuffy theatre purists who are outraged by all the sex, punk and violence. So the show isn't really reaching it's (potential) target audience, I don't think.

[jb_slasher]

Watched the trailer and, so... who's the Lestat character over here? Also: Ewen Bremner owns my soul.

[amnisias]

That would be Christopher Marlow, lovingly called Kid by most. Ewen Bremner is scarily & gruesomely good in this show. Literally. He plays Topcliffe, the queen's investigator who has many a kinks which he is not afraid to statisfy at work. ;)