Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching out on DVD March 26

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Peter Greenaway explores the romantic and professional life of Rembrandt and the mystery surrounding his most famous work of art, The Night Watch in this 2006 film, now to be released on DVD in March.


Featuring a cast led by Martin Freeman, (The Office, Love Actually) and starring Eva Birthistle, (The Children, Breakfast on Pluto) Jodhi May, (Emma, Defiance) Toby Jones, (Frost/Nixon, Infamous) and Nathalie Press, (My Summer of Love, Bleak House) Nightwatching is set in the year 1642, which marks a dramatic turning point in the life of Rembrandt, a sudden fall from grace as a wealthy respected celebrity, into a broken and discredited pauper.


When Rembrandt reluctantly agrees to paint the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia in a group portrait that will later become to be known as ‘The Night Watch’, he soon discovers that there is a foul conspiracy afoot amongst the Amsterdam merchants playing at soldiers, an insidious plot surrounding a thirst for power and wealth, undertaken with the bloodiest of means.


Determined to expose the conspirators and their plot, Rembrandt builds his accusation meticulously in the form of the commissioned painting.


Unveiling to the world what will become his most celebrated work; Rembrandt has also unleashed exacting revenge from the conspirators in question, sealing his fate in history and imminent downfall.


Hre is an extract from the movie.

South Bank Show Awards 2010

THE SOUTH BANK SHOW AWARDS 2010

FULL WINNERS LIST

Comedy – presented by Billy Connolly

The Thick Of It – BBC2  - Armando Iannucci’s dark political comedy set in the corridors of the British government.

·        Home Time – BBC2

·        The Inbetweeners – E4

Dance – presented by Royal Ballet principle Tamara Rojo

E=mc² – David Bintley – Birmingham Royal Ballet - David Bintley’s new ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, named after Einstein’s theory of relativity, with force fields of dancers.

·        Diversity – Dance Troupe

·        Limen – Wayne McGregor – Royal Opera House

TV Drama – presented by Rob Brydon

Red Riding – C4 - Adapted from David Peace’s cult noir novels, an ambitious, dark and thrilling trilogy of interlinking films set in Yorkshire in the 1970s and 80s.

·        Being Human – BBC3

·        Collision – ITV1

Pop – presented by Jarvis Cocker

Florence + the Machine - Lungs (not in attendance – acceptance speech through VT) - Her soaring, epic vocals, quirky melodies and self-contained musical world, found in her debut and platinum selling album Lungs.

·        Frankmusik – Complete Me

·        The xx - xx

Visual Arts – presented by Grayson Perry

Anish Kapoor – RA - Anish Kapoor‘s joyful mid career retrospective exhibition, including his shooting cannon, which by the end of the exhibition had fired over 20 tons of molten wax.

·        Richard Long – Tate Britain

·        Roger Hiorns – Seizure

Film – presented by Rachel Weisz

Fish Tank - Academy-award winning writer/director Andrea Arnold’s second film, Fish Tank – set in Essex, is the story of Mia, a volatile 15 year old.

·        An Education

·        The Damned United

Literature – presented by PD James

The Quickening Maze – Adam Foulds – A sympathetic and poetic exploration of John Clare’s madness.

·        Forest Gate – Peter Akinti

·        The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters

Opera - presented by Rolando Villazon

Peter Grimes – ENO - David Alden’s coruscating production of Peter Grimes.

·        Into the Little Hill / Down by the Greenwood Side – Linbury Studio – ROH2 / The Opera Group / London Sinfonietta

·        The Fairy Queen – Glyndebourne

Theatre – presented by Dominic West

A Streetcar Named Desire – Donmar Warehouse - The Donmar’s revival starring Rachel Weisz.

·        Jerusalem – Jez Butterworth – Royal Court Theatre

·        The Habit of Art – Alan Bennett – National Theatre

Arts Council England’s Diversity Award – presented by Jo Whiley

·        Julie McNamara – Playwright and performing artist.

·        Jenny Sealey – Graeae Theatre Company

·        Clean Break – Theatre, Education, new Writing

Classical Music -  presented by trumpeter Alison Balsom

Nielsen; Inextinguishable – A cycle of concerts performed by The Hallé Orchestra and The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Two leading British orchestras, The Hallé Orchestra and The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, join forces for a cycle of symphonies by arguably Denmark’s greatest composer, Carl Nielsen.

·        City of Dreams: Vienna 1900-1935 –  Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

·        Easter Reflections – The Sixteen

The Times Breakthrough Award – presented by Sir Ian McKellen

·        David Blandy – for Visual Art

·        Alina Ibragimova – for Classical Music

·        Emma Fryer – for Comedy

·        Melissa Hamilton – for Dance

·        Carey Mulligan – for Film

·        Peter Akinti – for Literature

·        Daniel Kramer – for Opera

·        The xx – for Pop

·        Lucy Prebble – for Theatre

·        Suranne Jones – for TV Drama

Outstanding Achievement Award in association with The Dorchester – presented by Sir David Attenborough

·        Melvyn Bragg

National Theatre dramatisation of Terry Pratchett's 'Nation'

Review to follow

Hamlet - a work in progress

This is a placeholder for an analysis of David Tennant's Hamlet, comparing it with other classic renditions. Meanwhile, here's a playlist of available clips, mostly based on the soliloquy, "To be or not to be".

There's also a series of clips from the Soviet film version, played by Innokenty Smoktunovsky, music by Shostakovich (these may be out of order - difficult to tell on YouTube!)

Playlist