"Director: Adrian Noble"

• A Midsummer Night's Dream | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £4.94   |  Saving you £11.05 (223.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This magical new film adaptation of Shakespeare's best-loved comedy takes your imagination on a voyage of discovery. Set in a contemporary landscape immersed in vibrant colour RSC Artistic Director Adrian Noble makes use of stunning special effects to create a fresh inspiring and hugely entertaining Shakespearean spectacle. The wonder of Shakespeare's delightful comedy masterpiece is brought to life by the talents of the world famous Royal Shakespeare Company. We are drawn into a world of magic fantasy imagination romance and love; where fairies mix with lovers and players and everything is not quite what it seems. The introduction of a new character The Boy adds a new dimension as we enter into his fantasy dream world one midsummer night. With the perfect balance of traditional influences and modern interpretation A Midsummer Night's Dream is an intoxicating and passionate cocktail.

• Mrs Lowry & Son | Blu Ray | (20/01/2020) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This is the beautiful, delicate, intimate and amusing story of the brittle but vital relationship between L. S. Lowry - one of the greatest artists of the 20th century - and his bedridden, unhappy and controlling mother. Engrossing and entertaining, Mrs Lowry & Son offers up a veritable masterclass in acting, with Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Spall spellbinding as a mother and son separated by art and ambition. Lowry (Spall), not yet established as an artist, works as a rent collector, walking the streets of Salford, mixing with factory workers and observing the town closely. In the evenings, he takes art classes and paints until the early hours of the morning. He is resolutely loyal and well-mannered towards his bitter mother, Elizabeth (Redgrave), who tries to dissuade her bachelor son from pursuing his artistic ambitions and never misses a chance to tell him what a disappointment he is to her. Adrian Noble's wonderfully observed film gently reveals how Lowry's snobbish mother is the obstacle preventing him from fulfilling his artistic ambition, as he desperately tries to create something that might make her happy. This lovely film is punctuated by delightful moments of humour, as it depicts the impact a bitterly obsessive mother had on one of this country's greatest artists

• 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

• Macbeth | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-6.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Andrea Gruber Roberto Aronica and Lado Ataneli star in Verdi's early operatic masterpiece Macbeth - filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in High-definition. EMI Classics continues its collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera with a new production of Verdi's richly haunting opera Macbeth as part of this season's 'Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition series'. For the first time in 20-years the Metropolitan Opera presents the first of Verdi's three operas based on Shakespeare in a stylistically eclectic grimly effective and at times intriguingly playful production (New York Times) by English director Adrian Noble making his Met debut. At the time of composition Macbeth was unique. Not only was it considered both musically and dramatically bold but it was the first opera that can truly be described as Shakespearean. It was the first that altered operatic conventions to serve the play rather than converting the play into traditional operatic formulas. After 35 highly successful years as Music director of the Metropolitan Opera a relationship unparalleled and unique in the musical world today James Levine conducts Verdi's haunting score with tension and a type of brutality that this chilling work commands.

• Mrs Lowry & Son | DVD | (20/01/2020) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A