Slings & Arrows - Season 1
by Peter Wellington
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DVD details
Actor: Don McKellar, Martha Burns, Paul GrossDirector: Peter Wellington
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 276 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: ACORN MEDIA
DVD Reviews of Slings & Arrows - Season 1
DVD Review: A gentle reminder
Summary: 5 Stars
I work in theater as an actor, writer and director and on those days when I am not very excited about the work I am doing or done that day. I will pop in the disc and watch any episode and about 5 minutes into it I feel my theatre battery recharging and my love for my chosen life powering up. This show stands as a gentle reminder that whether I am doing the right thing or not - I am doing exactly what I want to do with my lie.DVD Review: A "must see" for any current, would-be, or once-was actor
Summary: 5 Stars
This splendid series is loosely based on the Stratford Shakespearean Festival held annually in Ontario. There are parallel story lines -- romance within and across generations, corporate backstabbing, a nagging yet helpful ghost -- but the most compelling theme addresses the craft of acting. When the burned-out actor turned director instructs his Ophelia and his Hamlet, you know you're hearing echoes of theatrical truth going back to Richard Burbage and beyond, even unto the Greeks. When the stage ingenue finds it amusing that her movie star boyfriend (who took a theater gig to improve his acting cred) might have learned something from Hollywood director Ron Howard, she is reminded that "he's been around actors since he was, like, three years old."
To date I've seen only season one, and am looking forward to the others. It's sophisticated comedy with just enough drama to elevate it to a genre of its own. I can't recommend it highly enough, particularly to those who have "trod the boards." (The witty barroom song during the opening credits deconstructs "Hamlet" as well as any lit-crit you're likely to encounter!)
DVD Review: Not "Due South," but amusing none the less
Summary: 3 Stars
Bought this purely on the strength of Paul Gross, who starred in my favorite dramady of all time: Due South.
Let's just get that out of the way once and for all: Slings and Arrows is nothing like it! Frazier does not make an appearance!
That said, it's not terrible. It's better than most American TV IMHO, and I was starting to enjoy it by the 3rd or 4th episode. Of course, there are only 6, so season 1 was over just when it was hitting its stride.
Lots of dark humor and messed up, washed out characters, but you still end up liking (some of) them, and there are moments of real humor and even real redemption in there.
I'll probably get the rest of the seasons from the library though.
DVD Review: So original, so much fun
Summary: 5 Stars
This jaw-dropping series from Canada originally aired in the USA on the Sundance channel.
There are so many surprises and astonishing moments in this jaw-dropping series that I almost hesitate to tell you anything about it because part of the delight of this show for me was having no idea what was coming next.
The New Burbage Festival has seen better days. Its productions of Shakespeare are stale, the director and actors are uninspired. When the company finds itself in need of a new artistic director, a former Burbage player, Geoffrey Tennant, reluctantly takes charge despite his history (he had a mental and emotional breakdown while onstage in the middle of Hamlet, years earlier) with the company.
Economic forces are constantly at odds with art. Actors' lives are messy and dramatic. Young movie stars (think Keanu Reeves/Orlando Bloom) seek growth and legitimacy through Shakespeare. There is language and sex but if you let that put you off, you will miss moments where Tennant explains a character or an aspect of the Shakespeare play with such clarity, passion and insight that you will be staggered to think you never saw it that way before.
So much fun, so original.
DVD Review: Hilarious, intense, and completely compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
This series makes Shakespeare and the theatrical world come alive. Paul Gross is ) and has reminded me how much I loved Shakespeare long ago. The wonderful Paul Gross draws you into the world of the theatre, but it is truly an ensemble piece, with all roles played to perfection.
Description of Slings & Arrows - Season 1
Showered with awards and critical acclaim, this darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and artistic miracles that happen behind the scenes.Paul Gross (Due South) stars as washed-up actor Geoffrey Tennant, who returns to the New Burbage Theatre-the site of his acting triumph and his career-ending meltdown-to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. Believing that theatre is meant to provoke not anesthetize, Geoffrey takes on the suits who want to turn the festival into a theme park, a director who runs amuck with Hamlet, and his own demons, including Oliver-who returns to haunt him. Also starring Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, The Notebook), Stephen Ouimette (Mentors), and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall).
The title of Slings and Arrows, like many of the themes and characters in this show, comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It refers to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" that the Danish prince suffers, leading him to question whether he is to be or not... you know. It's a clever title for an inspired show about--what else?--the theatre. Set in the New Burbage Theatre Festival, a fictional Canadian Provincial theatre, a jaded, burnt-out artistic director, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), dies suddenly, and is replaced by a potential genius, his visionary prot?g? Geoffrey Tennant (Due South's Paul Gross). Geoffrey is legendary at the New Burbage for his awe-inspiring performance of Hamlet there years before, and also because he went mad and now his sanity seems to be hanging by a thread. And oh, by the way, Oliver's still hanging around as a ghost, but Geoffrey's the only one who can see him (sound familiar?), and his impulsive reactions and out-loud arguments with Oliver--including one captured while being interviewed for a news program--besides being hilarious, convince the cast and crews he's really lost it. The show details the daily activities at the festival as they attempt to mount a new production of Hamlet (starring a movie star who's all face and no talent), and in doing so it employs a huge cast of peripheral characters, including the dysfunctional acting company (rising star Rachel McAdams has a key part), scheming board members, and a neurotic theatre staff, each with their own little subplots interweaving to make one big drama.
This first-season set of the Sundance Channel program contains only six episodes, which is too bad because the series is so excellent it'll leave you wanting more. The fact that shows of this caliber are rare makes it stand out all the more. The writing is topnotch, with memorable dialogue, biting dark humor, and clever situations that continually point out how absurd real life can get. This one is a real gem, a show that demonstrates 'tis nobler in the mind to laugh at the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, rather than suffer them. --Daniel Vancini
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