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TV Show Reviews
Review of "Will" 7/15/17 by
Suzanne
Airs Mondays 9/8c on TNT
This is the story of William Shakespeare's life, with a
punk rock attitude. Don't expect a PBS-style of historical
drama. It's very anachronistic, using music and other
elements that were definitely not around during the 1500's
when Shakespeare lived.
Not much is known about
Shakespeare's life, so that's probably why the creators of
this show figured that they could do this show and just make
up whatever they wanted. Sure, why not? We do know that
Shakespeare was married and had three children, which is
true in this show as well. In the show, he leaves his family
to travel to London to become a playwright, and he meets a
beautiful blonde woman as well. Also, his family is secretly
Catholic, and the English Protestants at this time are
torturing and killing Catholics, apparently.
What
this show does well is entertain, and it's a fun Summer show
to watch. It also really makes the Bard and his plays come
alive and become more accessible to younger people. It
really gives you some idea about what the plays might have
been like back when they were original performed (within the
fictional framework, of course).
The fabulous Colm
Meaney plays the theater's owner. I would say that all of
the actors do a good job, and most of them are very
attractive as well, especially Will, Kit Marlowe, and Will's
friend Richard.
MORE INFORMATION:
TNT Explores
the Raucous World of Young William
Shakespeare in the New Drama Will
Two-Episode Series Premiere Airs on
Monday, July 10, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
TNT is about to take viewers back in time
to Elizabethan England to tell the wild,
rowdy story of young William Shakespeare in
the brand new drama series Will.
Newcomer Laurie Davidson
plays the title role in this period drama
told in a bold, contemporary style and
played to a modern soundtrack that exposes
all of Shakespeare's recklessness, lustful
temptations and tortured brilliance. Also
starring are Olivia DeJonge
(The Visit), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting),
Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine), Mattias Inwood
(The Shanara Chronicles),
Jamie Campbell Bower (The
Twilight Saga), William Houston
(Sherlock Holmes), Lukas
Rolfe (Grantchester),
Max Bennett (The Hollow
Crown) and Jasmin
Savoy Brown (The Leftovers).
Will is slated to launch on
Monday, July 10, as a two-episode series
premiere at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) across
TNT's U.S. platforms.
As Will opens, a young William
Shakespeare (Davidson) has just arrived onto
the punk-rock theatre scene in 16th century
London. It is in this seductive, violent
world that his raw talent faces rioting
audiences, religious fanatics and raucous
sideshows. Attracted to Will's naïve genius
is Alice Burbage (DeJonge), the talented,
beautiful and rebellious daughter of James
Burbage (Meaney), the carpenter whose vision
led him to build the first theatre in London
since Roman times. Despite being the
daughter of an impresario, Alice is
forbidden by society from pursuing a career
in the theatre. Her brother Richard Burbage
(Inwood) is innately talented as well, but
too much in love with himself and prone to
overact. But a chance encounter at the
theatre leads him to team up with Will in
what would soon become the greatest
actor-writer partnership the world has ever
seen.
Rounding out Will's cast of
characters are playwright, poet and
chief Shakespeare rival Christopher Marlowe
(Bower) and wealthy and notorious law
enforcer Richard Topcliffe (Bremner).
Will, which is produced by
Turner's Studio T, comes to
TNT from executive producers Craig
Pearce (Romeo + Juliet),
Golden Globe® nominee Shekhar Kapur
(Elizabeth), Alison Owen
(Elizabeth) and Debra
Hayward (Love Actually).
Vince Gerardis (Jumper),
Howard Braunstein (The
Informant!) and Louise Rosager
also serve as executive producers on the
series. The pilot for Will was
written by Pearce and directed by Kapur.
About TNT
TNT, a division of
Turner, is one of cable's Top 5
networks with young adults and home to
cable's most popular slate of original
series, including
Animal Kingdom,
Good Behavior,
The Last Ship,
The Librarians,
Major Crimes and the upcoming
Will, Claws, The Alienist
and The Race Card, among others.
TNT is also the cable home to popular shows
like
Arrow,
Grimm,
Supernatural,
Hawaii Five-0,
Bones and
Castle; primetime specials,
such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®,
the iHeartRadio Music Awards and
the AFI Life Achievement Award; and
championship sports coverage, including the
NBA and the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
Championship.
Turner, a Time Warner
company, creates and programs branded news,
entertainment, sports, animation and young
adult multi-platform content for consumers
around the world. Turner brands and
businesses include CNN/U.S., HLN, CNN
International and CNN.com, TBS, TNT, TCM,
truTV, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult
Swim, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report,
FilmStruck, Super Deluxe, iStreamPlanet and
ELEAGUE.
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necessarily reflect the opinions of The TV MegaSite or its other volunteers.
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Page updated 7/15/17
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