The Hollow Crown

Watch The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare's History Plays Preview on PBS. See more from Great Performances.

The Hollow Crown begins with Richard II, airing September 20 on PBS.

First Impressions

I went to see Impressionism mainly because I wanted to see Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen. Mr. Irons plays photojournalist Thomas Buckley who works at an art gallery owned by Katharine Keenan (Ms. Allen). Their individual stories as it relates to the artwork that Keenan is not particularly keen on selling, are told in flashbacks.
Mr. Irons was charmingly comic and sardonic, and yet I got a sense right away that there was a world of pain underneath. While he was subtle, Ms. Allen seemed to be overplaying her role. I couldn't see why Thomas could possibly be attracted to Katharine.
The cast includes Marsha Mason, Michael T. Weiss---TV's The Pretender (who didn't stop for photos or autographs and merely said to our small group of Stagedoorers, "you're all still here? and walked away) and Andre De Shields who stole the show for me. I also enjoyed the beautiful artwork being projected onto the stage during scene changes.
I wasn't overly impressed by the play. The writing didn't seem to be up to par with the acting. But I'm still glad I got to see the two leads. None of them came out through the stage door by the way. The door kept opening and I kept seeing glimpses of Ms. Allen on the stairs talking to someone. But it wasn't until almost a half an hour later that someone told us that if no one's come out by now, no one will be.
Aaron Lazar stopped for one autograph and walked away. Boo! Thankfully, I saw all the cast members of God of Carnage at their stage door, signing autographs and taking photos. I only was able to take a photo of Jeff Daniels walking away and the top of James Gandolfini's head from where I was standing. I should have just left the Schoenfeld stagedoor and trooped to the next door theatre.