"Actor: Finbar Lynch"

• A Midsummer Night's Dream | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £5.98   |  Saving you £4.01 (67.06%)   |  RRP £9.99

  With its clearcut "play within a play" narrative and simple contrasts between the human and spirit worlds, A Midsummer Night's Dream has long been a popular introduction to Shakespeare, and Adrian Noble's 1994 RSC production reinforces why. It's a colourful and physical presentation (the latter explains the PG rating), portraying character confrontations with often reckless abandon. The ploy of giving the whole play the appearance of a child's dream is a neat touch that doesn't quite work, as the child himself, Osheen Jones, can have only a minimal amount to do on stage. Casting the main actors in dual roles works well. Alex Jennings is secure as Theseus and Oberon, but Lindsay Duncan all but steals the show as Hippolyta and Titania; her amorous encounter with Bottom, given with gusto by Desmond Barrit, has a lewd quality that Elizabethan audiences might have appreciated. Despite his dreadful 1980s hairdo, Barry Lynch is animated as Puck, while Emily Raymond's plaintive Helena is the pick of the lovers. Howard Blake turns in a sensitive and atmospheric score. On the DVD: The 16:9 anamorphic picture reproduces excellently in the widescreen format, Dolby Surround sound vividly conveying the spatial realism of Noble's staging. No subtitles, which could be a drawback, but the 12 access points divide the 99-minute production into educational-sized chunks. Sensibly edited, and imaginatively directed, this production ought to have wide appeal. --Richard Whitehouse

• King Lear | DVD | (20/03/2006) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Adapted from the acclaimed 1997 production by the Royal National Theatre Ian Holm stars as the tragic monarch King Lear; wise headstrong but blind to his weaknesses. Proposing to divide his kingdom between his three daughters Gonreil Regan and Cornelia Lear devises a test for his offspring to convince him of their suitability and compassion for rule. As the scheme unfolds Gonreil and Regan's true colours emerge uncovering a vast conspiracy of greed lust for power and cruelty

• Mind Games | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A former nun turned criminal profiler is called in to investigate the horrific ritualistic murders of two middle aged women. Her unorthodox approach means that she has to deal not only with solving a murder but also winning the trust of her sceptical colleagues.

• To Kill A King | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £9.74   |  Saving you £8.25 (45.90%)   |  RRP £17.99

  With Tim Roth as Oliver Cromwell and Dougray Scott as Sir Thomas Fairfax, the film explores how the love and loyalty between two of the most fasicnating figures of the English Civil War turned to betrayal and political intrigue.