Producing Hybrid Screen Adaptations: the Donmar Trilogy and Hamlet.
Producing Hybrid Screen Adaptations of Shakespeare draws together four Shakespeare screen adaptations, with the trilogy mounted by the Donmar Warehouse and one production by the Almeida Theatre. Wyver acted as creative producer leading close collaborations in each case between the stage teams, stage directors Phyllida Lloyd and Robert Icke, screen director Rhodri Huw and broadcast professionals. Lead outputs are: Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy: Julius Caesar (2017); Hamlet (2018). The adaptations combined multi- camera “as live” recordings of the shows with extensive post-production processes to create distinctive screen versions. The screen adaptations were widely shown on television, including BBC Four and BBC; educational streaming sites such as NT Live and Drama Online; and at film festivals. See Portfolio Booklet for documentation of research dimensions.
- Submitting institution
-
The University of Westminster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- v3yv0
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2017
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Previously, most multi-camera live broadcasts and “as live” recordings were screened with no, or minimal, post-production editing, grading and audio mixing. By contrast, both the Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy (2017) and Hamlet (2018) led to detailed research into post-production to refine and enhance the screen language. This includes, for example, the use of many more close-up shots, a shift of the screen grammar from traditional frontal, “theatrical” visual approach to “filmic” shot/reverse shot sequences. This research into a hybrid approach extended the central artistic vision of the original stage productions of both the Trilogy and Hamlet. For the Trilogy the hybrid processes facilitated a screen adaptation that balances a theatrical presentation with extended sequences in a cinematic register. Similarly, the screen version of Hamlet enhances the “interiority” of the production. The research also highlights new ways in which adaptations can employ hybrid combinations to produce “cinematic” screen versions on tighter budgets – a critical insight as audiences emerge from covid-19 lockdowns with raised expectations of high-quality work.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
