I CLAVDIVS vs Rome
BBC4 recently repeated I Claudius so I TiVod it and have been working my way through. The story is a cracker, but...
- The sets and lighting are less than convincing.
- The acting is very, er, theatrical. It's about the most toned-down performance from Brian Blessed I've ever seen, but it's still very blocky and stagy. Derek Jacobi is good, and Sian Phillips is even better, but compared to the kind of stillness and subtlety than even the cast of Hollyoaks can muster these days, it's slapdash.
- The make-up looks shit. If you've never seen it, many of the actors have to play characters as both teenagers and pensioners, and generally "pensioner" effect is achieved by glueing some packets of crisps to their cheeks then spraying them with beige exterior emulsion and putting some talc in their hair.
- The direction is "for television" in the same way that the Jubilee boat pageant was i.e. it wasn't. Even TOWIE doesn't lurch from a wide to a close-up in a single shot. They clearly tried to shoot it in as few takes as possible to try to capture some kind of spontaneity, but the overall effect is of sitting in the middle of a play performance, rather than being immersed in the story.
- Even the theme music sounds like it's been nowhere near a record producer; like someone with a 1970s tape recorder just hit the and
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 15:05, 7 replies)

no offence but i don't think anybody is going to take theatrical criticism seriously
from somebody who watches hollyoaks and towie

you fvcking plebian
(alright alright, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 15:27, closed)

If someone can view TOWIE and I Claudius then their opinion is greater than that of
someone who only watches kewl box sets and constantly thinks of their great ideas for shows but never does anything about it. Which is probably good because in all likelihood the show they thought of would be utter bollocks.

I am off to watch "On the Buses" and that one where the neighbours constantly abuse each other. And in that context, I Claudius will always be high brow genius.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 15:43, closed)

You know what Rome didn't have?
Captain Picard with curly blonde hair.
(champagnerocker, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 18:06, closed)

I'm watching it again at the moment and I think it's great.
You dick.
( Dr Preference AjcuiVd289, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 21:09, closed)

I like that quote at the beginning of "I Clavdivs"
P.: The theater isn't what it was.

A.: No, and I'll tell you something else. It never was what it was!
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Fri 30 Aug 2013, 21:09, closed)