Slings and Arrows

I found this terrific series by accident on The Sundance Channel. I watched the first few minutes, was completely sucked in and then ecstatic when I discovered it was an actual series and there were more episodes than the one I had just watched! For those of you out there who loved Paul Gross in the Tales of the City mini-series you must watch this show!! He is wonderfully lost and adorably manic as Geoffrey Tennant returning to a world he thought he had come to hate, but in essence loves so much he can't live without it. But he is not the only gem on this show. All the characters, although they seem like clichés at first, are in truth, impeccably written and wonderfully acted. Shakespeare lovers, or just theater lovers in general will drown in happiness when watching this look behind the curtain.

I don't have much to say about this series other than it is one of the best television series of all time! Anyone who has the slightest appreciation for Shakespeare or the theatre in general will get instantly hooked on this series, each season having one of Shakespeare's major tragedies at it's focus. Paul Gross proves himself to be one of the most underrated actors working to day as the brilliant Geoffrey Tennant, and his real life wife Martha Burns is wonderful as star actress Ellen Fanshaw. Stephen Ouimette Steals every scene he's in as the ghost of former Artistic Director Oliver Wells, and in season one there's excellent work from Luke Kirby and a pre-Notebook Rachel McAdams. If you haven't seen this series yet, go buy the DVD immediately!

This series is not only great fun to watch, but is also extremely poignant and insightful. The antics offered by the characters keep things moving quickly and maintain the entertainment, but every now and again, they slip a subversive bit of social commentary into the mix as well.

When Irwin's corporate shark quips at one point that she's always had an idea to do a musical about John Lennon's life, saying that it would have everything the modern production needs to succeed (sex, drama and familiar music) it's hard for the "Mama Mia!" marquee to not flash in the mind's eye. When Burns' young stud pronounces that he loves "serious theatre" while holding an inflatable doll in the shape of the man from Munch's "The Scream", the fundamental paradox in presenting the arts in our times hits you in the face: in order to produce, you need to sell, but it's hard to sell without selling out.

The contrast between approaches to Shakespeare used by Gross' reluctant, haunted (literally!) Artistic Director and McKellar's over the top Art-Nouveaux Director (a send up of Robert LePage, I'm sure) is fantastic, and illustrates that Shakespeare can be both artistic AND accessible. The snippets shown of the final mounted production of Hamlet are brilliant, and Gross' speeches about the meaning of the various passages in the play should be cribbed by all high school students studying it.

One hopes that Showcase, Bravo or HBO will pick this up, and even better, that a DVD release is forthcoming. Or better yet - a second series?

Go to Amazon.com right now and register your vote for "Slings & Arrows" on DVD! This series has been amazing to watch (it's starting a repeat run on Sundance Channel this Sunday night, Sept.17th) and has reminded me how much I loved Shakespeare long ago. Paul Gross is a wonder to watch and even if you aren't "into" the Bard, you will want to see his performance. All of the performances are top notch and the writing is very real. You can recognize these characters as people you know. The script doesn't allow for easy answers to the questions raised, but gives the characters complexities that I have not seen in a mini-series before. It is smart, well observed and funny as hell! Amazon is looking for "votes" to gage interest in production of a DVD of the first series. I urge you to go there now! You will definitely want to watch this show over and over again.

I'm amazed to see no comments about Slings and Arrows. It was simply the best thing I've seen on television in the past few years. Every now and then something comes along that changes the way you look at television. Maybe it's The Prisoner, or Twin Peaks. This year for me it was Slings and Arrows. Easily the best thing to come out of Canada since Atom Egoyan and The Kids In The Hall, it's so well written, acted, and edited, that it blows shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Carnivale out of the water. That's asking a lot, considering there are very few well written television shows anymore. It's not just well written, it's hillarious from start to finish. It's great to see Rachel McAdams getting a good role for once as well. Perhaps destined to play the dumb blonde highschool teen, she shines in this role - obviously she's meant for better things. The same could be said about every other member of the cast. This series is simply perfect, from start to finish - dying to see how this gets received abroad or when it'll see a DVD release.