This review was also written by Brittany Frederick.
I love Acorn Media, and judging by the amount of high quality TV DVDs they keep putting out, they love me too. At least, I was definitely feeling something akin to love after watching their latest release, Slings & Arrows. I’d been meaning to watch that show for a while before I discovered it was coming out on Blu-ray, and the new release gave me all the excuse I needed. And it was wonderful.
I read my first Shakespeare play when I was eight. Okay, it was extremely condensed, but “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” quickly became one of my favorite stories. Similarly condensed versions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “As You Like It” were also some of my favorites. I hadn’t dared to touch any of the more heady plays; “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” and “King Lear” were certainly not on my to-read list.
So when I popped in my copy of Slings & Arrows that I received from Acorn, I knew I was onto something special. Not only because it gave me a look into the plays themselves, but it made the characters who performed the plays equally engrossing. It was like looking through a window into another window; not only was I being treated to the fantastic Shakespearean stories that formed a major part of the show, but I was also being treated to the interesting characters that were actually part of the show!
Paul Gross plays Geoffrey Tennant, and boy, does he. American audiences might know Gross from his role in the short-lived Eastwick, but they should know him from this Canadian gem of a series. Tennant is loony and serious at the same time, and he never gets old as the focal point of the show. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to even try, thanks to a fantastic supporting cast that includes Stephen Ouimette as the ghost of Oliver, his predecessor as the head of a theater. See? It has ghosts! It’s Shakespearean!
Of course, it’s not all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. It’s actually a really tightly written comedy. I like to think of it as Arrested Development + Shakespeare, because it’s just as witty, if not wittier, than that keystone of sitcomedy. It’s mixed with healthy amounts of emotional drama, though, so you won’t feel weary after a long session with the series. You’ll feel like you’ve been on one of those rollercoaster rides of emotions: you’ll cry one minute and laugh the next. Is that cliche? It doesn’t do the show justice.
Fans may remember that the complete series was released on DVD in 2008. Is it worth the double-dip? Not exactly. While the Blu-Ray version does have a superior audio and video quality, the only new special features are three commentary tracks (Season 1, Episode 1 with Bob Martin, Mark McKinney and Susan Coyne; Season 2, Episode 6 with Graham Harley and Michael Polley; and Season 3, Episode 6 with Paul Gross, Martha Burns and Peter Wellington). The commentary tracks are a worthwhile listen, but I can’t see spending an additional $60 (at least at Amazon as of this date) for them and the upconversion. If you haven’t bought the series yet, however, Blu-Ray is definitely the way to go.
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