Theatre: Media

A presentation of Thirteen/WNET New York, Great Performances: Theater in America 1976

This modern retelling of William Shakespeare's final masterpiece is an exciting, mystical, and magical fantasy ... Exiled to a magical island, the sorceress Prospera ... conjures up a storm that shipwrecks her enemies, and then unleashes her powers for revenge.

Three sons return to the primitive Yorkshire mining town of their birth to celebrate their parents' fortieth wedding anniversary. During the celebration, their submerged hatreds and fears emerge from behind their model blue collar family facade.

Director Arthur Hiller (Love Story, Silver Streak), working from screenwriter Edward Anhalt's (Becket) adaptation, transforms actor-playwright Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth into a film the Los Angeles Times dubbed, "daring, outrageous, utterly provocative, endlessly ambiguous and strikingly effective.

Based on the tale from the New Testament, Herod is so infatuated with his stepdaughter, Salome, that he promises her up to half his kingdom if she performs the Dance of the seven veils for him. She performs the dance and to Herod's chagrin, requests the head of John the Baptist on a platter. In Berkoff's interpretation, the play is stripped down to its essential components, favoring simplicity in sets and props, thus highlighting Wilde's text.

A complete theater workshop on video, this two-part series covers all aspects of the art of stage performance and production. Each program is divided into easy-to-access segments that explore the details of staging a play or theatrical event - from preliminary acting round tables and rehearsals to set construction, lighting, costumes, makeup, and props. Providing more than 3 hours of instruction, this series is an invaluable resource for both newcomers to the stage and anyone wishing to learn more about producing live theater. Can be viewed using a DVD player or computer DVD-ROM drive.

Based on the real-life adventures of a traveling theater group in India during the final days of English colonial rule. They try to uphold British tradition by staging Shakespearean plays but can't compete with the wildly popular Bollywood film industry.