Alert readers of Bardfilm will have noted that there's a fair bit of Shakespeare in the American version of The Office.
But what, they ask, about the BBC Office—the original Office—the truly groundbreaking Office on which the American Office was based? Do you mean to tell me there wasn't any Shakespeare in that masterpiece by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais? After all, we know about all the Shakespeare in Extras, the later show written by that great comedy duo. You helpfulully informed us about Patrick Stewart's Prospero and the one-man Romeo and Juliet . . . and we've even know about that little bit where Ricky Gervais' character talks about the possibility in acting in a Shakespeare Retold version of King Lear. And all that's lovely. But what about the BBC Office?
Honestly, there's not too much Shakespeare in the original Office. When I've watched the show, I've noticed just a few incidental reference to Shakespeare, the most memorable being the way David Brent introduces Tim Canterbury to the documentary crew. But there are others. Here's what I found:
We have, then, part of a quote from Gertrude ("the lady doth"), a list of Shakespeare plays as possible answers to a trivia question, part of a quote from Hamlet ("the rub"), another partial quote from Hamlet ("cruel to be kind"), Shakespeare's name mentioned, and a dance we can imagine being performed by Caliban when he sings "'Ban, 'Ban, Caliban / Has a new master: get a new man. / Freedom, hey-day! Hey-day, freedom!"
Admittedly, that last one is a bit of a stretch, but when I next direct The Tempest, that dance is absolutely going in.
Even though there's not much beyond incidental Shakespeare in the show, I recently watched the interviews made with the actors after the show had completed its full run (including the specials) and found more. In the clip below, the show's creators liken the romance of Tim and Dawn (to American audiences, that's the rough equivalent of Jim and Pam) to the romance of Romeo and Juliet:
And that, roughly, must have been what the entire series was about. It's really a derivative of Romeo and Juliet. Fascinating.
Links: The Film at IMDB.
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(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
In this bonus for those who have scrolled down this far, we offer Keith introducing himself:
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