Concept and creative process
Titles for Shakespeare's ‘The Wars of the Roses’ adapted by John Barton in eleven parts, and performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company under Peter Hall and John Barton's direction. This production had had a highly acclaimed run on the RSC stage in 1963 and was directed for BBC Television in 1965 by Robin Midgley and Michael Hayes. It was filmed on the stage at Stratford-On-Avon using a multi-camera set up, resulting in a much more fluid filmic result with a greater variety of shots and even the use of hand-held cameras for the battle scenes. In this respect the production was a forerunner of today’s recorded theatre productions which are regularly streamed to cinemas and homes throughout the world. This was an especially important income stream for the major theatres in 2020-2021, when they were forced to close their doors to audiences because of the Covid19 pandemic. The opening titles of the TV production were deliberately simple bold sans serif captions, superimposed over the stage set, visible through an open grille/curtain before it was raised.