In celebration of 400 years since the publication of Shakepeare’s First Folio comes a reimagining of his work for 2023
inVerse: poetry.reimagined
Tom Baker, Eliza Butterworth, Cerys Matthews, Crystal Clarke and Amber Anderson narrated short films from BAFTA-nominated film maker Jack Jewers
“Everything that has been happening to us in the past few years of upheaval – mass disease, concerns about immigration, protest, conflict in Europe, a growing desire to challenge authority and speak truth to power – was also happening in 1623 when the First Folio was published.
In 1623 English migrants were going in boats across the sea to build a new life in North America. There was an outbreak of plague. Europe was entrenched in the Thirty Years War. And the ongoing explosion of trade, immigration and diplomacy meant that news of global events would have reached Shakespeare’s ears faster and faster. Just as today the 24-hour news cycle has us feeling our global neighbours are closer than ever, so it must have felt for Shakespeare 400 years ago.
Now, as then, society is deeply divided. The parallels are uncanny and Shakespeare’s words are fresher now than ever before in their ability to speak powerfully to our own contemporary lives.”
— Jack Jewers, Director
As part of the celebrations for Folio 400, the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio in 2023, BAFTA nominated film maker Jack Jewers has taken six of Shakespeare’s most popular speeches and poems and reimagined them for the 21st century. Each film uses Shakespeare’s 400 year old words as a lens through which to navigate the world in which we live today.
Themes explored in the films range the war in Ukraine, to social justice protests and the impact of COVID. With uncanny parallels between our lives now, and life in 1623, these poignant film shorts demonstrate that Shakespeare’s words have never been more relevant as we find ourselves moving from pandemic to global conflict. Despite centuries of change our very human experiences of loss, joy, grief and compassion remain the same.
Jack Jewers’ innovative approach to film-making for this original shorts collection saw him send a speech from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, along with a portrait of Shakespeare, into space, in the film short “Lovers and Madmen” narrated by Tom Baker (Dr Who). The text and portrait were attached to a weather balloon and taken to the earth’s upper atmosphere, with Tom Baker’s narration accompanying stunning visuals of Earth’s horizon against the black void of outer space.
In the film short “St Crispin’s Day,” Jewers remotely directed Ukrainian civilians in bomb-stricken Kyiv, with the powerful footage providing a striking new interpretation of Shakespeare’s rousing “Band of Brothers” speech from Henry V, performed here by Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, A Town Called Malice).
Written 400 years ago “The Strangers Case” is an intensely moving speech is an impassioned defence of refugees that rings as true today as it did in 1517. The film short uses real footage of refugees at sea and is voiced by Crystal Clarke (Sanderton, Empire of Light) with a stunning central performance from actor Yasin Morad who came to the UK as a refugee.
In “All the World’s A Stage”, Jewers invited international university students to narrate the famous speech from As You Like It in their first languages, as an exploration of British multiculturalism in the face of ever-changing immigration laws, and as a celebration of the universality of Shakespeare’s words.
For the film short “They That Have Power to Hurt” musician and BBC presenter Cerys Matthews narrates Sonnet 94. Traditionally seen as a love poem, here Jewers uses Shakespeare’s words to explore a rising sense of unrest and the tension between activists and law enforcement all over the world, as well as illustrating the power and complexities of protest movements.
Taken from The Tempest, “Our Revels Now Are Ended” narrated by Amber Anderson (Emma, Peaky Blinders) deals with themes of loneliness and isolation caused by the pandemic – but also the feeling of liberation and celebration that reuniting with loved ones brought when lockdown ended.
About the films
All The World’s A Stage
Shakespeare text: “Seven Ages of Man” speech from As You Like, Act II Scene VII
Narrator: Students at the University of Creative Arts in Surrey
The opening film is as straightforward a communication of the overarching theme of this series that there could be. Here are young people from all over the world – almost every continent – who have come to the UK to study. All of them reciting the same passage, written over 400 years ago, but in their own language. Because Shakespeare is, was, and always will be, for everyone.
Jack Jewers says: ”The way we made this film was such a wonderful reflection of its theme around inclusivity and multiculturism. Essentially, we set up a pop-up studio at a university with a large population of students for whom English was their second language and invited those students to come along and recite this passage. These young people were genuinely passionate about this speech. They knew it. They knew it in English, and in their first language. They wanted to be part of this project. And I think that comes across in the film. Even 400 years on, Shakespeare still has something to say to the young people of today.”
Production notes: Filmed in a studio with international drama students at the University for Creative Arts in the UK. The speech is presented in a lively and ultimately poignant mix of Greek, Bulgarian, Armenian, Yoruba, Chinese, Portuguese and Estonian.
The Stranger’s Case
Shakespeare text: “The Stranger's Case” from unperformed play St Thomas Moore
Narrator: Crystal Clarke (Sanditon, Star Wars)
Written 400 years ago for a collaborative play called Sir Thomas More, this intensely moving speech is an impassioned defence of refugees. Voiced by Crystal Clark and with a stunning central performance from Yasin Morad who came to the UK as a refugee, it rings as true today as it did in 1517.
Jack Jewers says: “I first worked with Refugee Rescue back in 2021 and have been haunted by the footage they shared with me ever since. When I discovered this speech, widely believed to have been written by Shakespeare, I immediately wanted to combine the two. I hope it brings attention to the horrors faced by people who seek safety in the UK, forced to make dangerous crossings as a result of complex and unwieldy refugee policy. Working with Yasin was incredible; after he watched the footage for the first time, he said, quietly: “This is how it was for me.” It was a powerful moment for us all, and I think his performance, along with Crystal’s stunning narration, makes this a very special film.”
Production notes: Yasin Morad, the dancer featured, is himself a refugee whose own experience mirrors that of the refugees shown in the film.
Our Revels Now Are Ended
Shakespeare text: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” speech from The Tempest, Act IV Scene I Narrated by: Amber Anderson
Hauntingly narrated by Amber Anderson, this film paints a chillingly beautiful portrait of the isolation of life during lockdown – and the feeling of liberation when it was over.
Jack Jewers says: “When I look back on the early days of the pandemic, what comes back to me in an awful, horrifying rush is the sense of isolation that we all felt. Not just having to stay in our homes, but also in the images that we saw, whether on TV or when we did leave the house to get shopping, or for our daily walk. People alone. Distanced. Separated. Again and again, solitary figures, not touching. Not touching. It has never occurred to me until then how often we touch – holding hands, hugging hello and goodbye, a supportive hand on a shoulder, a delighted touch of an arm when somebody makes us laugh.
And having all of that gone overnight was... horrific. Losing the comfort it brings, of that silent support and solace that only comes from human touch. It has a power that I think we had all forgotten, and that’s what this film highlights. And ultimately, it celebrates it, too. It celebrates the shift, the moment when things started to open up and we were able to re-emerge and touch each other again. Reveling in reconnection. In the healing power of human touch. And in how it rounds out our lives, from beginning to end. For the short time we’re here, we seek out connection, over and over again. And to have that back again has been truly magical.”
Production notes: The second of the “found footage” episodes, made from a mixture of news footage, stock footage and Jack’s own specially-filmed material, and narrated by Amber Anderson, best known for her roles in Emma (2020) and as Lady Diana Mitford in Peaky Blinders.
St Crispin’s Day
Shakespeare text: “St Crispin's Day” speech from Henry V, Act IV Scene III
Narrator: Eliza Butterworth
Set to the St. Crispin’s Day speech, and movingly performed by Eliza Butterworth, the film short draws a line between the bravery of the Ukrainian people and Shakespeare’s rousing words of courage from Henry V – the most famous battle cry in all of fiction.
Jack Jewers says: “At first glance it could seem a strange choice to soundtrack images of the devastation in Ukraine with what is essentially a battle cry, King Henry rallying his troops on the eve of war. But what has always struck me about Henry V – and, quite frankly, most other artistic interpretations of great wars – is that it only ever talks about the soldiers. What we don’t get to see are the people left at home. The partners, the children, the older people. And they are, lest we forget, fighting a war of their own. With this film, that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to show those people, the ones we don’t see celebrated, on their own battleground. One that is so strikingly familiar to us – a petrol station, a coffee shop, a supermarket. Places you and I go every day, now reduced to rubble. The resilience of the Ukrainian people has astonished me. Ultimately, the St Crispin’s Day speech is a battle cry, yes. But there is more than one way of fighting a battle.”
Production Notes: The film employed an innovative production method, with Jack Jewers remotely directing a local journalist, Lydia Huzhva, who filmed the striking images on the ground in Kyiv, in September 2022. Eliza Butterworth was one of the breakout stars of Netflix’s smash hit The Last Kingdom, playing fan favourite Lady Aelswith, and is currently starring in A Town Called Malice on Sky Max.
They That Have Power To Hurt
Shakespeare text: Sonnet 94
Narrated by Cerys Matthews
Voiced with spine-tingling power by Cerys Matthews, this ‘found footage’ short turns a traditional love poem into a critique of violence and police corruption.
Jack Jewers says: “Protest has been an incendiary issue over the past 18 months, with impassioned feelings on both sides. As a filmmaker, I tend to see the world in shades of grey, and so the black-and- white rhetoric around protest both troubles and interests me. The film doesn’t seek to answer these questions but rather to provoke discussion. The footage – which is a mixture of shots taken from protests from around the world, material I set up and shot myself, and ‘found footage’ – doesn’t flinch from acknowledging that protest can be a violent act. As, inevitably, is its policing. My aim here is to call into question that black-and-white thinking inherent in protest - the idea that there is a “bad” side and a “good” side. Whatever you see when you watch it – whether it’s the people fighting for justice against an authoritarian state, or agents of the law attempting to quell violence and chaos – I want to challenge that perspective and ask people if there’s something more to it. Something more nuanced. The last line of this sonnet speaks to that: Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds... at what point does “being on the right side of history” become wrong?”
Production notes: One of the “found footage” films in the series using material compiled from a variety of sources. It combines clips that were specially-filmed with actors; video shot by Jack Jewers at actual protests in London and New York, stock footage, and news footage. Musician and presenter Cerys Matthews narrates Sonnet 94, which is traditionally seen as a love story, but Jack reinterprets here as something darker.
Lovers And Madmen
Shakespeare’s text: “More strange than true” speech from A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, Act V Scene I Narrated by Tom Baker
A young woman enters an art contest by trying to send a portrait of Shakespeare into the air. At first she fails spectacularly, but then succeeds better than she ever could have imagined... This whimsical and charming season-ender is narrated by Tom Baker. Best known for his much-beloved portrayal of Doctor Who from 1974-1981, he is a much-loved national treasure with one of the most recognisable voices in the world.
Jack Jewers says: “This film was the first one I conceived of but by far the most challenging to make. But in a good way. It pushed me to the limits of what I thought would be possible. I had this image in my head: a portrait of Shakespeare -- the universal playwright, whose work I truly believe speaks to everyone – backgrounded by space, with earth’s curvature in the background. What more fitting way to celebrate the universality of our human experience, and how it has been captured for 400 years by these wonderful words, than that? Once we had the technology sorted to actually send the portrait into space, the rest of the film’s story became a bit of a reflection of that whole process: the artist, fueled by passion and determination. The frustration of creativity thwarted. The power of perseverance. And the absolute joy of finally seeing your ideas come to fruition. These are themes that speak to everyone. Most importantly to me, this last film is about hope. It’s about not giving up, even in the face of adversity. And after all, isn’t that what we as a world have done for the past few years?”
Production Notes: The ending to the film, in which the portrait of Shakespeare is taken up to space and floats above the planet, was filmed for real, with no special effects. It involved sending a camera up on a weather balloon with a GPS tracker. The space flight was carried out with the help of a team from Sent Into Space, a company of engineers from Sheffield.
About Jack Jewers
Jack Jewers is a filmmaker and writer. Passionate about telling stories in all media, his body of work crosses film, TV, and digital. His short films and web series have been shown in and out of competition at dozens of film and web festivals, including Cannes, New York, Washington D.C., Marseille, Dublin, and London’s FrightFest.
The first series of inVerse was released to critical acclaim in 2021. Jack has won several accolades for his film work, including an award from the Royal Television Society and a nomination for Best Short Film by BAFTA Wales. He has been invited to speak about his work at several major film and TV industry events, including Series Mania in Paris. Jack has also worked in advertising.
Jack’s numerous short films as director include the ground breaking Shalom Kabul, a dark comedy based on the true story of the last two Jews of Afghanistan. In 2014 he developed and directed Night School, based on the popular young adult novels. It remains one of the highest-profile British web series to date.
Away from the cinema in all its forms, Jack has a deep interest in literature and history. His debut novel, The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, was named one of the best historical fiction books of 2022 by The Times. He is co-chair of the Moon Queen Media Group, which includes the TV and film production company, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and award-winning indie publisher, Moonflower Books.
He lives near London with his wife, the author Christi Daugherty.
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