TV Guide (November 27, 1954)

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ging interest in Shakespeare on the stage. “A four-month run,” he says, “is about the best you can get for Shakespeare on Broadway these days, but with present high costs, you can’t make money that way. I hope that TV will recreate audiences, so we can resume what used to be profitable out-of-town Shakespearean tours.” Evans thinks the Bard’s soliloquies benefit from TV. “In the theater,” he explains, “it’s much harder to convey the inner workings of a man’s mind. In TV, you can build a mood easier through camera work.” TV’s chief disadvantage, he feels, is its inability to simulate exterior set¬ tings. Otherwise, he says, TV has much the same limitations as the the¬ ater. “I doubt whether even TV can overcome Shakespeare’s shortcom¬ ings,” he opines. “On the other hand, no Shakespearean plays are too am¬ bitious in scope for TV.” Although Evans has no intention of restricting himself to Shakespearean roles in any medium, it is not unlike¬ ly that he’ll revive for TV some of the not-so-grim Shakespearean parts he’s played on Broadway, such as Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” or Falstaff in “Henry IV.” “So far. I’ve been rather cowardly on TV,” says, “The play is a study of mental confusion. Apart from its murder scene, the play’s interest lies primarily in the gradual deterioration of a man’s mind.” Pointing out that de¬ tailed planning of “every shot and camera angle” is the key to the suc¬ cess of Shakespeare on TV, Evans reports that “Macbeth,” though in ac¬ tual rehearsal only three weeks, has been in preparation since last April. “We have restaged the play com¬ pletely, giving it a much more inti¬ mate flavor,” he says. “ ‘Macbeth’ is the shortest of Shakespeare’s trage¬ dies and so, in two hours, we’ll be under no time pressure. But we’re not improving on Shakespeare. There will be no credit line saying, ‘Additional dialogue by Joe Zilch.’ ” Evans admits. “I have done only the things I did previously in the theater. I know the roles and needn’t face the problems of fresh study. I can in¬ terpret the play in TV terms, rather than worry about characterizations.” Of the upcoming “Macbeth,” he Evans, Sarah Churchill co-^ starred in TV's 'Richard II.'