TROILUS AND CRESSIDA

Troilus & Cressida (BBC 1981) – DVD Edition

// BBC Release //

Details

• DVD Region: 2 + 4 PAL (UK & Europe)
• Certificate: 12
• Running Time: Approx. 190 minutes
• Type: Fullscreen
• Originally Transmitted: 7 November 1981
• DVD Release Date: 2005
• Released By: BBC Worldwide Ltd.
• Distributed By: DD Home Entertainment
• Format: Colour PAL
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Audio: Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3

© BBC Television in association with Time-Life
~ All Rights Reserved

A Tragedie

In 1978, the BBC set itself the task of filming all of William Shakespeare’s plays for television. Renowned for their loyalty to the text, these productions brought together leading theatrical and television directors and featured outstanding performances from contemporary actors.

“Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion:
a burning devil take them!”

The bitter Trojan War drags on — the Greeks blame Achilles’ apathy for low morale, while Troy’s champion Hector challenges an enemy to a personal combat. When Cressida is exchanged for a Trojan prisoner, the conflict becomes painfully personal for her distraught lover Troilus.

Jonathan Miller directs this incisive production, balancing satire and savage farce. Shakespeare’s cynicism is unmistakable: love is mocked, and heroism becomes absurd.

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"In Troy there lies the scene. From Isles of Greece
The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed,
Have to the port of Athens sent their ships..."

Anton Lesser · Suzanne Burden · Charles Gray
Benjamin Whitrow · John Shrapnel

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Dramatis Personae

In credits order:

• Charles Gray … Pandarus
• Anton Lesser … Troilus
• Tony Steedman … Aeneas
• Suzanne Burden … Cressida
• Max Harvey … Alexander
• Peter Walmsley … Servant to Troilus
• Vernon Dobtcheff … Agamemnon
• Geoffrey Chater … Nestor
• Benjamin Whitrow … Ulysses
• Bernard Brown … Menelaus
• Anthony Pedley … Ajax
• Jack Birkett … Thersites (The Incredible Orlando)
• Kenneth Haigh … Achilles
• Simon Cutter … Patroclus
• Esmond Knight … Priam
• John Shrapnel … Hector
• Elayne Sharling … Cassandra
• David Firth … Paris
• Paul Moriarty … Diomedes
• David Kinsey … Servant to Paris
• Ann Pennington … Helen