Ages of Man is a dinner-jacketed Sir John Gielgud standing on an unadorned stage reciting Shakespeare. If such an all-Shakespeare recital must differ from an all-Beethoven program by offering excerpts rather than whole works, it yet resembles it in one important way. It communicates the range and richness, above all the uniqueness of its subject. That it manages to do so, that it seems no mere Victorian display of The Beauties of Shakespeare, is tribute to the range and richness of the interpreter.
Interpreting an equally great dramatist and poet requires someone equally good at acting and speaking words. It is Shakespeare...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
