Richard Eyre
1) Stage beauty
Language
English
Description
Welcome to the 17th century stage, where Ned Kynaston's performace of Desdemona in Shakespeare's 'Othello' brings the house down nightly. Ned is the "most beautiful woman on the London stage". That is, until the King renounces the royal edict that only men can play women on stage. Enter Maria, Ned's seemingly loyal dresser, who becomes an instant star, leaving Ned to suppress his ardent feminine traits and make a man of himself.
2) Iris
Language
English
Description
Adapted from the memoirs of literary critic John Bayley, the film recounts his courtship of and long marriage to British novelist Iris Murdoch. The scenario tacks back and forth from the young Iris--ready to seduce one and all with her coy command of words and sex appeal--to the elder Iris--slowly giving way to the cruel erasure of Alzheimer's.
Language
English
Description
Barbara is a cynical schoolteacher who is close to retirement. Her only means of taking the edge off her desperate loneliness is writing in her journal. Sheba is a younger, attractive woman, who joins the faculty as an art teacher. Barbara watches her from afar and has nothing but caustic things to say in her diary. Barbara finds herself reaching out to Sheba. Sheba responds by inviting her to dinner at her house to meet Sheba's lecturer husband and...
Language
English
Description
Suspecting Lisa, his wife, of adultery, Peter tries to figure out why his wife had disappeared. When Lisa found out that she has cancer, she decides to leave him clues so that he could discover the affair and the secret life she had been leading and that he never knew existed. Peter sets out to track down the other man in her life.
5) The dresser
Language
English
Description
One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II, a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeare's "King Lear." Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager "Sir" who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser "Norman" must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time? And if he does, will he be able to perform that night?
Language
English
Description
The merchant of Venice: Shakespeare's comedy in which a young merchant attempts to extricate himself from an onerous contract with a vicious shylock.
The millionairess: Shaw's comedy in which a wealthy, heiress seeks romance with an Egyptian doctor who only tends to the poor.
Bed among the lentils: A dramatic monologue by a jaded, alcoholic wife of a country vicar.
Suddenly last summer: A wealthy Southern matriarch tries to influence a young neurosurgeon...
7) Daniel Day-Lewis triple feature: How many miles to Babylon ; The insurance man ; Dangerous corner
Language
English
Description
How many miles to Babylon?: Two Irishmen -- Alex Moore (Day-Lewis), a Protestant, and his childhood friend Jerry, a Catholic, enter WWI as soldiers and see their friendship tested as they experience the harsh realities of war.
The insurance man: Told through flashbacks, the story follows Franz, who recounts a mysterious skin condition he suffered as a factory worker before the First World War. At Prague's infamous Insurance Company, Franz meets Kafka...
Language
English
Description
The Hollow crown: New adaptations of Shakespeare's tetralogy of history plays comprising the 'Henriad' for the BBC's 2012 Cultural Olympiad: King Richard; II King Henry IV, Part 1; King Henry IV, Part 2 and King Henry V. The plays chronicle a continuous period in British history from the end of the 14th century to the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Together, the plays comprise a story with recurring themes of power struggles, redemption,...