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starring: Biography
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304340202
Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6304340206
Label: A&E Home Video
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Release Date: February 25, 1997
Running Time: 50 minutes
Sales Rank: 3860
Studio: A&E Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1996
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Editorial Review:
Description:
He is the world's most influential and admired writer, a man whose imaginative genius still moves us, nearly four centuries after his death.William Shakespeare's tumultuous life produced an unmatched legacy of drama and poetry. But the Bard's own story remains, for the most part, a mystery. Piece together the clues of Shakespeare's identity, from his comfortable youth in Stratford-on-Avon and his marriage to an older woman at 18 to the night of carousing that led to his death at age 52. Film excerpts, dramatic readings and location footage provide a glimpse into his little-known- life and his astonishing 20-year career as a playwright and actor.Turn back the pages of time for a remarkable portrait of William Shakespeare the greatest writer the English language has ever known.
Amazon.com:
Though Shakespeare is heralded as the world's most influential and admired writer, little is known about the man himself. That didn't stop A&E Biography from weaving together a substantial birth (in 1564) to death (in 1616) portrait from spotty documentation, historical accounts, and interpretations of the master's work itself. It won't give away all the video's surprises to reveal here that Shakespeare was born into privilege, started out as an actor, had an unhappy marriage to an older woman--in his will, he specifically left her only his 'second best bed'--and survived the death of his only son, Hamnet. Many of his most complex works came about after the death of his son, including the play named after him. Before Shakespeare died (due to an illness borne of too much pickled herring), he penned perhaps the last thing he would ever write--his own epitaph. It reads, in part, 'Blessed be the man that spares these stones and cursed be he that moves my bones.' --Jennifer Vogel
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great Teaching Tool
I'm a High school drama teacher and while doing a lesson on Shakespeare I bought this video to teach the kids about Shakespeare's life. It has a lot of great information and it doesn't dumb it down (if you get what I mean). Its not just a biography of the events in Shakespeare's life, it looks at him as a man and explores how events in his life triggered his creative process. There is a lot of great commentary from well respected scholars and classical actors and directors. Great teaching tool ... Read More
Rating: - Will's got it going on
Lots of stuff about Shakespeare out there, but this contains so much information in a condensed and entertaining format. HIgh school and college level students really respond positively. Ther are discussion questions that go along with it at the A&E bio website.
Rating:  - It's ok...
As an English teacher about to teach several of Shakespeare's works, I purchased this video in the hopes that it would provide a short history of his life. In actuality, it proved to be just that--short. I was left with many questions. Nevertheless, it is a good buy since it does cover most of the basic info and is only 50 min in length (my class meets for 45 min).
Rating:  - Informative and Helpful Resource for Shakespeare
This video by A and E contains a 50 minute biography about the life and works of Shakespeare. What is gratifying is that this is not a video that tries to portray only the good of Shakespeare, but also the conflicts and controversies that presented themselves during his time. Some controversial topics are thrown in (whether you can choose to believe or not believe), such as the possibility that Shakespeare was bisexual and the idea that Shakespeare "borrowed" material from other written fiction. ... Read More
Rating: - Maybe not.
After whetting our appetites with the observation that little is known about the man behind the plays, the A&E team provides a bland, surprisingly unengaging "5-act" biography of William Shakespeare. As the story proceeds, the producers rely more and more on quotations from the plays rather than on any "extrinsic" evidence. The result is a program that confirms what we already knew, or should have known, all along--the life of William Shakespeare is at best a mere footnote to the life of the ... Read More
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