Sonnet 138 -- Trevor Nunn coaches David Suchet for master class

This is a chunk of archival gold from British television, circa 1979. As part of an "in-studio master class" on speaking Shakespeare, Trevor Nunn takes actor David Suchet through building a performance out of Sonnet 138

[@rodwendilain]

I love David Suchet and this is completely brilliant!

[@khi590]

David Suchet has a rather erotic voice...I love it ...Quite something hear him reciting Shakespeare..... And I love his Poirot acting.....Everything he manages rather perfect...

[@purpledanny1958]

Suchet's voice is so charming!

[@ikonkaar]

A masterclass in expressing the sonnets. Brilliant!

[@beverlyfletcher4458]

What a treat. I saw DS in the RSC production of Troilus & Cressida and its stayed in the memory. TN - an absolute genius in interpreting Shakespeare. Thanks for posting such a gift for us.

[@SB-sg4em]

I wish they'd do something similar to this again. May be with Rupert Goold and a few of our current prominent Shakespearean actors (Adiran Lester; Kenneth Branagh; David Tennant; Mariah Gale; Maggie Smith, etc). There's an old video of Peter O'Toole, Orson Welles at a roundtable discussing Shakespeare, it's so insightful. Would love to see that done again as well.

[@markdisney260]

That Peter-Orson interview is wonderful. O'Toole had just finished Lawrence of Arabia (hair still blond) and it's obvious that Welles is in love with him. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ6wkmZueL92ibc

[@jcfbell3001]

suchet is like, wow...i don't understand a word of shakespeare, until someone like him reads it...inflection is everything

[@iomediastudio]

Tone of voice and meaning, facial expressions, body language and analysis of characters...

[@user-ue6ir7ty5k]

👍👍👍👍👍👈 полностью соглашаюсь!!!!

[@Zero0791]

It's so weird to see Suchet in something other than a Savile Row suit and with a mustache. He played a wonderful Poirot.

[@914Rocky]

The best. The quintessential Poirot.

[@patriciajohn8196]

Right!? And who knew he was this sexy gorgeous

[@DreamControl]

what a treasure! Thank you for sharing it with us :o)

[@thomassimmons1950]

Love David Suchet!

[@JD-jc8gp]

David Suchet has the patience of a saint.

[@914Rocky]

This is fascinating. Both the acting and directing were sublime.

[@sandracr21]

I just love this!

[@sutherlandjoan]

Yes, many thanks! David Suchet is now playing "The Last Confession" at the Royal Alex in Toronto, Ontario and I'm going to try to get there for it.

[@Talis7212]

Even this early on, David is a master

[@annamaree93]

We watched this in my Shakespeare Acting Class. This is fucking brilliant.

[@mollitoff]

Thank you so much!

[@justintai8725]

Brilliant, very insightful.

[@cbrusharmy]

Simply amazing

[@johannetinggraf7237]

THANK YOU!

[@TootightLautrec]

WOW, WOW, WOW. I love this!

[@imwatching2960]

Amazing!!!

[@robertbarton5731]

Beautiful

[@tonisessentials9297]

evoke much ? My goodness! love it 😍

[@dokaduka]

Soo many details and subtleties to pay attention to. I think I d SIMPLY forget my lines.. ;)

[@missbabyice]

It's funny because David Suchet DOES play a university lecturer who's a bit suss in 1992, in 'Oleanna' by David Mamet. And looks like he'd do a good job.

[@oolala53]

I loved everything except the pauses in the early versions. Glad most of them were gone by the end. But I wouldn’t expect less. This sonnet seems like one of the more obvious to deliver, but no less satisfying.

[@mirhaneimarlija5333]

Are there more videos like this?

[@agnesdeque]

@rodwendilain Tout à fait d'accord avec vous.Moi aussi j'ADORE David Suchet

[@CymbalRush]

I wish I WAS a university professor!

[@annaelsebarbelgoldbeck-low3659]

very fond of that ...

[@simonedevlin7710]

Double entente c'est magnifique

[@patriciajohn8196]

❤😍🥰

[@mokiemori]

Is that Patrick Stewart sitting in a chair beyond where the two are speaking together between about 2:00 - 3:00?

[@jmacleve]

Yes, if this is the same masterclass I've seen before -- Ian McKellan might be here too (although that could be a different video).

[@josephburke4322]

@John Carpenter That's just not true. Shakespeare's plays aren't card houses that topple down from the slightest mistake. Certainly, the best performances are true to the pentameter, but minor errors in an actor's speech will never bring the whole thing crumbling into ruin.

[@skraidantysprotezai9007]

💝

[@davidlevesque9137]

Liked him as Poirot

[@bazcuda]

It's difficult to listen to such things now without immediately hearing Stephen Fry's and Hugh Laurie's parodies of them in "A Bit of Fry and Laurie"..... mark it for me, lovelet....mark it 😂

[@Herblay63]

I think Fry had Trevor in mind...

[@bazcuda]

@@Herblay63 Definitely! 🤣

[@Lytton333]

".. That was great David.. but now I want you to imagine that you're an ice-cream seller who has lost all passion for his cornets.. Then we'll move on to Hamlet on roller-skates.."

[@914Rocky]

Hard to believe that’s Poirot. What an actor.

[@user-ue6ir7ty5k]

😊 вкуснятина!!!!!!!

[@humanbeing4893]

who else watching in Shakespeare RN

[@KevinKindSongs]

The last reading feels better BUT I don't think the ending couplet would be written as measured, civilized resignation, acceptance, but furious/angry, spiting? frustration. The impossible question of whether S-speare wrote from his personal experience just lies out in the void....lol. It feels real but the best art always does.

[@davidlucey1311]

So strange to see DS so young

[@ItWILLbeWONDERFUL_THERE]

1979. Ten Years before the man would be...King? Okay, Poirot.

[@garethsmith3036]

1:32 she is smitten

[@iluvpepi]

David Suchet ❤️ I wonder if he is part French.

[@iluvpepi]

@AMT Thanks I will.

[@iomediastudio]

Therefore I lie (in bed) with her / and she with me... [an older man and young wife] and in our faults, our lies, (false) we flattered be...

[@KevinKindSongs]

Huh, older Oxford Don as the voice of the Sonnets!? I don't get that at all.... Remember S-speare was the ONLY Tudor literary light that DIDN"T go to university.

[@pmo1983]

@adamjenson4500 Your comparision is flawed- You chose the hardest musical profession I can play guitar. I would be able to replace most guitarist in most rock bands. I wouldn't be able to replace Vai or Satriani etc I can talk. I would be able to replace Keanu Reeves. I wouldn't be able to replace Jacobi or Sher etc A highly trained and skilled actor is the same as a highly trained and skilled musician.

[@totm2001]

This is such crap. A perfect example of the way in which 'directors' try to make themselves important, even essential to the process of acting. It's ridiculous. In the first instance, Suchet gives a beautiful, natural, unmediated reading of the text. It rings with clarity, with truth. It comes from his instinct, effectively from his heart, and from many years of experience with 'verse'. He knows how to let the text speak for itself, simply by speaking it. In this way, the text 'reveals' itself to him as he speaks it. And what he says is unique, for one time only, never fixed, eternally alive. And then, Trev gets all clever, imposing his narrative speculations on the spontaneous reading of the text, and the result is a confused actor, congested, blocked, and playing externally, 'out there', rather than intimately, 'in here'. The verse will reach across the gap and find the audience. You don't need a superimposed dramatic context.The actor should simply 'allow' the verse to do the work. Worst of all, there is a shameless pretence that this process somehow 'releases ' the text, 'frees' the actor. But it's bollox. You don't free an actor by imposing upon him from outside. Too much 'clever Trevor'.

[@dorrenes.missdthetruthtell5342]

EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION!

[@KevinKindSongs]

Man what vocal richness and depth! I didn't know. I hear the sonnets very differently from the slow, measured, stentorian readings. I hear them as very fast, edgy, winching. As would be a frustrated, neurotic, manipulative young man....

[@hildalynch741]

Oh for fuck's sake it was better the first time round !!

[@IanMcGarrett]

I'm not really convinced by Trevor Nunn's direction. It all struck me as tedious and over analyzed and striving to insert a supposed double meaning where none truly existed. The net result was a bit arch and coy for my taste. So much better if he had just told David Suchet to give it a bit more oomph, let the actor act.

[@shrimpee502]

How do you play "oomph'? How does one act "oomph"? Nunn's direction was specific. Specificity does not rule out the possibility of bad direction. I appreciate that you phrased your objection subjectively. Indeed, your taste may or may not be correct but it's certainly not difficult for me to see how someone could find this reading coy and arch. However, I object to the assumption that actors can be directed to be brighter, bolder, better, more specific, full of humor, and charismatic on command. Nunn provided Suchet with need. "Why does my character need to say these words at this moment?" is an essential question for any actor. It's not enough to know what I am saying as an actor. I must also know why I am saying it. It's possible that Nunn chose what to you and others may appear a bit extreme or "over-analyzed", as you put it, to prove an educational point. To be clear I am not taking issue with your personal response to the piece. However, I feel that Nunn's method was correct. The method he used could potentially contain a hundred variables all resulting in very diverse readings. Some of which we all might like or dislike. Nevertheless, his method was sound and effective.

[@shrimpee502]

@AMT I understand your opinion. Thanks for sharing.

[@danremenyi1179]

Wow! What a waste Poirot was for David Suchet?

[@TueSorensen]

Where the hell are all the Shakespeare productions starring David Suchet?? Why is that giant talent wasting himself on almost nothing by Hercule Poirot??? It's so tragic.

[@jonathanmelia]

Tue Sorensen I saw Suchet play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the age of 13, directed by John Barton. He did loads of stuff at the RSC in the 1970s and 1980s, including playing Iago opposite Ben Kingsley’s Othello. But Poirot called, and he started making shitloads of dosh.

[@loveitloveit122]

have you heard him read our beautiful BIBLE?☺💕