Shakespeare's way with words

Forsooth. The second story of the new series of Dr Who, “The Shakespeare Code” has now passed. Our revels have ended. And, verily, I enjoyed it greatly, good sires and damsels.

My fellow blogger Timewarden has recently talked about a tendency in the new Dr Who for recycling and how he felt the story wasn’t desperately original. I hadn't really noticed this to be honest, but thinking about it now I can see what he means. In Seasons One, Two and now Three of the new show, the first three stories have followed a similar pattern - albeit in slightly different running order: one story set on modern day Earth, another during some period of Earth's past, and another in Earth’s future...true enough! There's nothing wrong with having stories set in these time periods but for variety's sake thy should be spread out better throughout the season. And next series they should go for something totally different. I also feel that we’ve had way too many Earth-bound stories now and we really need to see the Dr journeying further into outer space and visiting other planets. Russell T Davies however does not seem to share the same view.

Anyway, getting back to “The Shakespeare Code”, well, I loved it!!

The period recreation was excellent – brilliant sets with lots of Tudor timber frame buildings (a style I adore) that reminded me of “The Visitation”- not to mention my own home town of York. The whole thing looked like it cost an arm and a leg to make and hoorah to the Beeb for investing proper money and resources into the show. Then again, having a genuine reconstruction of the Globe on hand must have helped with conserving funds a little. The Globe itself was well utilised and was of course integral to the action of the episode. Some other scenes in the story were obviously CGI / matte shots (the panoramic views of Elizabethan London for example) but still looked impressive.

BUT! One thing that bothers me…Why and how did the Dr and Martha blend in so seamlessly? In particular Martha? Surely with their modern day attire and demeanour they stuck out like a sore thumb, but no-one seemed to notice or comment on this, which I found pretty hard to believe. As a young, fashionably dressed young black women, Martha was surely something of an anachronism. Now I’m no historical expert (in spite of having done “A” Level Early Modern History and half a History degree many moons ago, ahem) but exactly how many black people were there in 16^th-17^thEngland? Very few, I’d hazard. As if to anticipate the audience’s thoughts, we actually had Martha comment on the fact that she didn’t really “fit in” and then – hey presto! – a couple of black women servants suddenly appeared in front of her walking down the street, to counter this. Mmmm. Perchance this was rather contrived, my liege?

And did no-one think a 20^th Century Police box looked slightly out of place in Elizabethan England? Surely the stuff of witches?

Getting back to the story, it was well-paced (whilst having room for a fair number of slower, "contemplative" bits) and there were lots of good scenes. There was some great dialogue and I loved the use of rhyming couplets, very contemporary:

Witch: Upon this night the work is done,
A muse to pen Love’s Labours Won.

There was some excellent witty banter and knowing Shakespearean in-jokes:

Dr: All the world’s a stage.
Shakespeare: Mmmm, I might use that.

Shakespeare: To be or not to be…oh, that’s quite good. Maybe not…a bit pretentious.

As for Dean Lennox Kelly’s portrayal of Shakespeare, I wasn’t completely sold on it - there was something about his accent which didn't quite work for me. However he definitely looked the part and gave it his best shot, investing the character with appropriate gravitas. I also liked the strategy of making him more down to earth and normal, rather than some kind of snooty RSC luvvie (the popular and inaccurate public image of Shakey), exemplified best when the Dr and Martha hear him yell at the Globe audience “ Shut your big, fat mouths!” – not quite the words of genius they were expecting from the so-called Bard.

Christina Cole as the lead witch was a great villainess and attractive with it – she had a real presence and menace without slipping into pantomime theatrics. The witches themselves were well-realised, even if their make-up did look a little fake and stagey (was the budget being held back for other monsters/effects later in the season?) I also liked the revelation that the words of Shakespeare’s play would act as a code to free the Witches’ power, although the idea of a portal through which aliens could invade wasn’t very original e.g. the Gelth in “The Unquiet Dead”.

The relationship between the Dr and Martha continued to entertain, with some good dialogue between them:

Dr: When you get home you can tell everyone you’ve seen Shakespeare.
Martha: Then I could get sectioned.

Martha’s flirty moments with Shakespeare were also amusing and well-played. Shakey’s “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day” sonnet to Martha was touching and then nicely shot to pieces when Martha informed him that he had bad breath.

It was also nice to see Martha looking genuinely excited and awe-struck at being transported to another time – she really did seem to be enjoying herself and relishing every moment, just as Rose did in the early days. I’m just slightly wary that like Rose she’ll get blasé about it all a later point. One hopes not.

And the Doc's comment about 57 academics punching the air when Shakey revealed his potential bisexuality was very funny and knowing...

The Queen Elizabeth I cameo at the end came as a bit of a surprise and like the Dr, I'll be interested to find out what her problem is! The final shot of the arrow firing into the TARDIS door was a great closing moment.

For me this story was the equivalent of what “Black Orchid” was to old Dr Who – a lovely little historical gem. I found the whole thing a positive delight. So far, so good!

PS Thanks to Timewarden, some of whose photos I have pilfered. Regards, sire...