This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 4th June 2016.
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/
Versailles: Wednesday, BBC Two
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream: Monday, BBC One
A
gilded palace of sin full of rampant scheming and deadly betrayal, the court of
King Louis XIV should be rich fodder for an entertaining melodrama. It’s a pity
no one told the makers of Versailles
that.
Oh,
they’ve certainly put all the gory pieces in place – it’s positively caked in
sex and violence – but they’ve done so in such a self-conscious, po-faced way,
this new series achieves the unappetising feat of being boring and risible
simultaneously.
Wearing
its racy “adult” attributes on its billowing lacy sleeve, it feels like
something knocked up by a feverish teenage boy with a passing interest in
French history. There’s nothing wrong with mixing fact and fiction per se –
this is drama, not documentary – but it requires more assurance than this.
It
doesn’t help that young Louis himself comes across, not as a charismatic
strategist as intended, but as a pouting, jumped-up hairdresser. Whenever he
and his photogenic kin aren’t pontificating solemnly, they’re roistering
preposterously with citrus fruits.
Sexual congress and gratuitous murders aside
– which only seem included to keep viewers awake - Versaille is just a bunch of spaniel-haired men emoting at each
other in dimly lit rooms. It’s like a midnight gathering of the Johnny Depp
fan-club.
At
one point we were treated to a riveting discussion about tax revenues. The
supposedly dramatic closing moments – when the Queen’s new-born baby was
revealed to be black – were inadvertently hilarious. The whole thing is a tonal
misfire, oscillating uncomfortably between rampant melodrama and taking itself
very seriously indeed.
The
bland cast of unknowns are adrift with this material. They may be fine actors
in other contexts, but how can you tell as they wade awkwardly through such
clumsy dialogue? It’s a right royal mess.
It
would be much more fun in the artisan hands of Russell T. Davies. As evinced by
his suitably playful adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the former Doctor Who show-runner has lost none of his spark for mixing
comedy, fantasy and romance.
Of
course, that’s all there in the original text, but RTD (as the cool kids call
him) put his own distinct stamp on this version, but without drawing arrogant
attention to himself. After all, the play’s the thing.
However,
it undoubtedly had the feel of one of his old Doctor Who episodes. It even used members of the production team, a
pushy orchestral score from composer Murray Gold, and a woolly-hatted cameo
from Bernard Cribbins. But if any Shakespeare play requires a broad touch of
the sci-fi fantastical, it’s this enjoyably daft confection.
It’s
probably fair to say that no Shakespeare adaptation has ever contained so much
CGI (I haven’t seen Olivier’s Henry V).
The moon-lit forest looked suitably magical. It also provided further proof
that Shakey’s work is easy to understand and enjoy, even for novices, as long
as it’s staged competently.
The
standouts from a fine cast were a perfectly chosen Matt Lucas stealing the show
as Bottom, and John Hannah suggesting that he should play villains more often.
And
thank God – or RTD, whichever you prefer – that, unlike so many modern
Shakespeare adaptations, there wasn’t an embarrassing rap chorus to be found. That
was perhaps its greatest achievement of all.
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