#whobtsshakes

Behind the Scenes of The Shakespeare Code (Part 7)

Excerpt from CultBox interview with Dean Lennox Kelly - by Cameron K McEwan - 24 April 2013

We caught up with Doctor Who's William Shakespeare, actor Dean Lennox Kelly, yesterday at the launch of new BBC One drama Frankie in London. Discussing his 2007 episode of Doctor Who, 'The Shakespeare Code', Kelly told CultBox "It was amazing. Amazing. A lot of fun to work on - especially on The Globe stage. But I think I could have done a better job with that. I look back on it and I think, I could have done something a bit more." He recalled, "It's quite intimidating, acting with David Tennant... especially [with] his energy as The Doctor. Really, he's like a train. He just absolutely drives it. You really just have to keep up with him. When someone is [so] absolutely confident in himself and his choices and what he's doing - it's hard. Slightly intimidating. But fun, he's a lovely fella." Many commented on his portrayal of the Bard in Gareth Roberts' story, comparing him to a rock star, the former Shameless star told us. "The director would say to me, 'Think Liam Gallagher with the mind of a genius!' Woah! What a direction that is! He was a celebrity rock star, wasn't he? I wasn't doing a biog, was I? [laughs]" Looking back on his short involvement in the show, Dean was enthusiastic and appreciative of the attention he received (and still does). When news of his casting broke, fans were quick to contact him, he revealed. "Doctor Who is extraordinary. Even when I got cast, I started getting fan mail. I hadn't even done it yet, I was getting fan mail. You know, I nearly had a little figurine made. That close but it just didn't happen. Would have been amazing, a little figurine!"

Behind the Scenes of The Shakespeare Code (Part 6)

Excerpts from Benjamin Cook’s set report from DWM #382

Earlier in the shoot, Gareth [Roberts, writer] visited the set and felt “kind of numb, really.  Everything felt like a weird dream,” he says, “like it was happening to someone else, and then there were moments when it hit me - ‘Bloody hell, this is my Doctor Who!’ Whenever I’ve visited the set, I’ve been impressed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the crew. I was at the Series Three wrap party the other night, and the general atmosphere was ‘can’t wait to start on Series Four!’  Well, I’ve worked on other shows where it was ‘thank God that’s finished, I was about to kill again!’ But not here.”

“If you’re doing something set in the year 80 squillion, you have to be endlessly creative,” considers Doctor David, “but I don’t think that let Gareth off the hook, cos a historical setting still has to be believable. It has to be something that we recognize. The whole of London is a character in this one. It’s a great script - in some ways quite an old-fashioned slice of Doctor Who, but I don’t mean that in any way derogatorily. You can imagine Tom Baker being in it, can’t you? If it’d been easy to write, we’d all be knocking out Doctor Who scripts!  But you need someone as talented as Gareth to get it right.”

Behind the Scenes of The Shakespeare Code (Part 5)

Excerpts from Benjamin Cook’s set report from DWM #382

DWM quizzed David and Freema (separately, of course - no conferring!) to determine who knows the most about the Bard. They get one point for completing each famous Shakespeare quote, and one more for naming the play.  [more questions/answers can be found in Part 4]

Q: For never was a story of more woe / Than...

DT: “Hang on, you have to get this in the right order. 'For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.' Romeo and Juliet” (2 pts)

FA: “’Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.’ From Romeo and Juliet. Yes!  I hope you’re keeping score.” (2 pts)

Q: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is...

DT: “’...the green eyed monster.’ Othello” (2 pts)

FA:  “Can I have a clue?  [DWM points at our eyes.]  'It is the green-eyed monster.’ Yes! Woo!  Othello!”  (2 pts)

Q: O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful, wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that...

DT: “’...most wonderful’? I do recognise it. It must be something like Twelfth Night. [DWM: It’s from As You Like It] I’ve done that play! Not that scene, though, I should point out. That’s my lame excuse. How embarrassing.” (0 points)

FA: “’...more wonderful’? [DWM: No, it’s ‘...out of all whooping!’] It’s gonna be something that I’ve never seen or read, so let’s go with... um, is it A Winter’s Tale? I do recognise it. (0 points)

Q: If you prick us...

DT: “’...do we not bleed?” From The Merchant of Venice.” (2 pts)

FA: “’...we will bleed.”  No?  Which play?  Give me a clue [DWM: The one with the Jewish merchant.] Eh? [DWM: ‘A pound of flesh?’] A pound of flesh? A Tale of Two Cities? [DWM: That’s a Dickens novel, Freema.] Oh no! (0 pts)

Q: All the world’s a stage...

DT: “’And all the men and women merely players.” From As You Like It.” (2 pts)

FA: “I know this one. Is it from Romeo and Juliet? No, wait. Wait!  Ohh, see what you’ve done - you’ve made me lose all confidence.  ‘All the world’s a stage / And something something players’...?  (0 pts)

Q: We are such stuff / As dreams are made on: and our little life / Is...

DT: “’...rounded with a sleep.” That’s The Tempest.”  (2 pts)

FA: “Is that from A Midsummer Night’s Dream? No? You haven’t got one from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, have you? Ohh!  “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on and our little life / is but a fantasy?”  (0 pts)

Final Score: David got 16 out of 20, Freema got 6 out of 20

David says: “I’m devastated that I got some wrong at all! I should have got that As You Like It one right; I was in the bloody play!”

Freema says: “I’ve really shamed myself, haven’t I?  It’s unfair, cos David’s done loads of Shakespeare. I hope my old English teacher doesn’t read this.”

The Shakespeare Code - Behind the Scenes (Part 4) Excerpts from Benjamin Cook’s set report from DWM #382

DWM quizzed David and Freema (separately, of course - no conferring!) to determine who knows the most about the Bard. They get one point for completing each famous Shakespeare quote, and one more for naming the play. 

Q: To be or not to be, that is the question...

DT: “’Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' - Hamlet”  (2 pts)

FA: “’Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well’? Um - it’s from Hamlet.” (1 pt)

Q: And thus the whirligig of time...

DT: “Oh bum. ‘And thus the whirligig of time draws on, um...’ That’s not right. It’s that kind of thing. [DWM: ‘And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.’] “I was close, though! Is it from Macbeth? [DWM: Twelfth Night.] This is terrible.”  (0 pts)

FA: “Is that from A Midsummer Night’s Dream? I’m not even going to pretend that I know. My God, I’m awful. I bet David got them all right.” (0 pts)

Q: Friends, Romans, countrymen...

DT: “’...lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.’ Julius Caesar.”   (2 pts)

FA: “’Friends, Romans, countrymen, um, listen up!” Ha! It’s from... ooh, is it Julius Caesar? Yes? It is? Put that I said that with conviction.”  (1 pt)

Q: By the pricking of my thumbs...

DT: “’Something wicked this way comes.’ That’s Macbeth.” (2 pts)

FA: “It rhymes? Um - ‘By the pricking of my thumbs / I’ll end up smacking those big bums.’ Ha ha!”  (0 pts)

Final Score: David got 16 out of 20, Freema got 6 out of 20 

Thank you to everyone who shares set photos!!