I fell in love with Richard Chamberlain the night I saw this. If I saw it in 1974, then I was, god help us all, twelve years old. So long ago, and so different a person, and I retain a memory of it that is bright and painful, like sunlight.
"The Lady's Not for Burning" is a world-weary play about the darkness of the human soul, and about the grace that sometimes shines through that darkness and blesses the ones it shines upon.
The setting is a generic town in the generic middle ages. Jennet, a lovely woman of some property, is identified and hounded as a witch, the excuse being that the old rag-and-bones man has been found dead. The mayor of the town promises to hang her tomorrow, but just that night, he's busy with an important party. A mercenary, Thomas Mendip, who has seen too much of the world, demands to be hanged because it was he who killed the rag-and-bones man. The mayor refuses Thomas's request, and insists that Jennet must be hung on the following day. The discussion of who is to be hanged, and why, is so funny you can hurt your sides laughing, and so grim that you want to cry.
The play is, throughout, a darkly humorous portrait of the human condition. The priest who coddles his violin as if it were his only child, is utterly adrift from the world. He is unable to perform any of his proper functions as a priest, or even, really, as a human. He provides an odd counterpoint to the life and death issues that Thomas and Jennet face.
This may be Richard Chamberlain's best performance. It is intense and understated. His Thomas is grim in exactly the right ways, with his generosity and sweetness expressed in his despair, a neat trick, even for a good actor. I've seen Chamberlain in other productions, but none of those performances seem as nuanced and sharply defined as this one.
The later production, starring Branagh, is less impressive. As a general rule, Branagh is a better actor, but in this particular case, he is too arrogant. Chamberlain plays the flamboyant role of Thomas with a humility that makes the character more tragic, and funnier, and in the end, more satisfying than Branaugh's more dramatic rendition. Branaugh draws attention to himself in his role as Thomas, while Chamberlain's performance more realistically portrays what the character is trying to do, not draw attention to himself, but draw attention away from Jennet.
The spirit of this play is very similar to many of Tom Stoppard's plays. And both of them have a strong resonance of Shakespeare.
I, too, wish that they would release the PBS version of "The Lady's Not for Burning." Failing that, I wish it weren't so hard to find either of the other two productions. Surely, it's time for another production? It's such a brilliant play.
(Please note: I'm doing the plot summary from memory. I may well have some details wrong. If so, I humbly beg your pardon.)
"The Lady's Not for Burning" is a world-weary play about the darkness of the human soul, and about the grace that sometimes shines through that darkness and blesses the ones it shines upon.
The setting is a generic town in the generic middle ages. Jennet, a lovely woman of some property, is identified and hounded as a witch, the excuse being that the old rag-and-bones man has been found dead. The mayor of the town promises to hang her tomorrow, but just that night, he's busy with an important party. A mercenary, Thomas Mendip, who has seen too much of the world, demands to be hanged because it was he who killed the rag-and-bones man. The mayor refuses Thomas's request, and insists that Jennet must be hung on the following day. The discussion of who is to be hanged, and why, is so funny you can hurt your sides laughing, and so grim that you want to cry.
The play is, throughout, a darkly humorous portrait of the human condition. The priest who coddles his violin as if it were his only child, is utterly adrift from the world. He is unable to perform any of his proper functions as a priest, or even, really, as a human. He provides an odd counterpoint to the life and death issues that Thomas and Jennet face.
This may be Richard Chamberlain's best performance. It is intense and understated. His Thomas is grim in exactly the right ways, with his generosity and sweetness expressed in his despair, a neat trick, even for a good actor. I've seen Chamberlain in other productions, but none of those performances seem as nuanced and sharply defined as this one.
The later production, starring Branagh, is less impressive. As a general rule, Branagh is a better actor, but in this particular case, he is too arrogant. Chamberlain plays the flamboyant role of Thomas with a humility that makes the character more tragic, and funnier, and in the end, more satisfying than Branaugh's more dramatic rendition. Branaugh draws attention to himself in his role as Thomas, while Chamberlain's performance more realistically portrays what the character is trying to do, not draw attention to himself, but draw attention away from Jennet.
The spirit of this play is very similar to many of Tom Stoppard's plays. And both of them have a strong resonance of Shakespeare.
I, too, wish that they would release the PBS version of "The Lady's Not for Burning." Failing that, I wish it weren't so hard to find either of the other two productions. Surely, it's time for another production? It's such a brilliant play.
(Please note: I'm doing the plot summary from memory. I may well have some details wrong. If so, I humbly beg your pardon.)
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