# Outlandish statement #122: The Brits? They suck at Shakespeare. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465 "2014-07-18T16:44:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/1 "2014-07-18T16:44:30Z")
It’s true. Jeremy Irons in [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u009U1q69A) in Henry IV? He’s blasting through it. Slow down Jeremy. You’re supposed to be heartbroken. Yeah a little mad, but heartbroken over Harry. and [THIS?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAvmLDkAgAM) from Henry V? Christ Branagh, it looks like Monty Python. The music is swell enough, but…man. Try actually talking to your men instead of thinking “God I sound awesome!” So many times I see Shakespeare done by Brits and they’ve just fallen in love with their own voices and act like they haven’t done any work on what they are supposed to be saying. And Branagh’s Hamlet? Looks awesome. But Branagh ,and Jacobi ,just blast through their speeches. You know who really moved me? Heston. An American. Often when I see Americans do Shakespeare, they have this attitude of "This is really important! And I really want to get this right and let people know what is going on. whereas many Brits just fake it. “I’ll just stick to the Iambic and fuck the audience.” I’m not saying I can’t follow what’s going on. Oh I can follow it. I’m just saying that Brits are overrated at doing Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/2 "2014-07-18T17:02:34Z")
On the other hand, [this production](http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/40168-othello) of Othello was excellent, as was [this production](http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout5-coriolanus) of Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston. I agree about Branagh, however. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/3 "2014-07-18T17:12:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > On the other hand, [this production](http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/40168-othello) of Othello was excellent, as was [this production](http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout5-coriolanus) of Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston. I agree about Branagh, however. I’m going to make a point of seeing “The Hollow Crown”. I did like some of what I saw of Hiddleston. (Though his “I will imitate the sun” speech seemed lacking. It may have been an advert though and not the real thing) There’s no denying he and Irons are good actors. edit: I should point out that Jack Lemmon, an American in Hamlet, admitted he had no idea what he was doing. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/4 "2014-07-21T00:08:45Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Iand [THIS?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAvmLDkAgAM) from Henry V? Christ Branagh, it looks like Monty Python. The music is swell enough, but…man. Try actually talking to your men instead of thinking “God I sound awesome!” Well, its not a documentary, its theater. In fact it’s the ultimate theater! Personally I think Branagh’s performance of the ‘cart speech’ from Henry V to be the greatest cinematic version of anything of Shakespeare’s. I mean compare it to the (IMO) rather overly-fast, unemotional rendition by none other than [the great Laurence Olivier…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9fa3HFR02E) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/5 "2014-07-21T01:32:33Z")
The best advice I’ve ever heard about performing Shakespeare is, “Don’t make it precious.” Irons and Branaugh, in the linked clips, really do seem to be coasting along, as though the words are magical and will automatically make the scene amazing. Branaugh’s speech falls flat for me because he seems too confident that his words will have the desired effect; there’s hardly any back-and-forth between him and his men. Olivier’s version is, IMO, better. There’s a sense of the stakes, at least. That version falls flat, too, though. I still get the sense of one man speaking in virtual isolation, and the men around him are mostly window dressing. Talk to your men, Henry. Change their minds, even if you yourself don’t believe a word of what you’re saying. Hiddleston seems to know what he’s doing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/6 "2014-07-21T02:07:36Z")
It’s true. I can’t get past “greater share of honour” without my voice shaking as the masturbation becomes ever more furious. ---
**Author:** ![Meloy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Meloy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meloy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/7 "2014-07-21T04:33:49Z")
Ap ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/8 "2014-07-21T15:20:46Z")
Tom Hiddleston and Ben Whishaw are fantastic in **The Hollow Crown** , as was Simon Russell Beale, who played Falstaff. Go watch all three parts! Surprisingly, I enjoyed the delivery of Shakespeare’s dialogue in Joss Whedon’s **Much Ado About Nothing** much better than in Kenneth Branagh’s. The vast majority of the actors in Whedon’s did a really good job of making the language sound natural. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/9 "2014-07-21T16:24:11Z")
In a movie, you don’t have to declaim the dialog so the guys in the cheap seats can still hear. You can just say it. Say it like you’re a guy who’s saying something, rather than like a guy who has been given the assignment to declaim Shakespeare’s immortal words. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlandish-statement-122-the-brits-they-suck-at-shakespeare/693465/10 "2014-07-21T16:28:42Z")
It’s not “Brits.” It’s “Branagh.” Dude’s a hack.