BuzzFlash Reviews

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Warning for lovers of the theater, Shakespeare, and witty scripts, "Slings and Arrows" is highly addictive!

We found this three-season, award winning Canadian series at our local independent DVD rental store and took one of the discs out on a lark. And, apparently, like countless fans before us, we became addicted.

It's hard to describe what is so enjoyable, witty, clever, dramatic, sardonic, high-brow, low-brow, and moving about this drama based on a foundering Shakespearean theater company (very loosely based on the famous Stratford Shakespearean Theater Festival in Ontario.)

Widely acclaimed in Canada, "Slings and Arrows" is smart, classy, a tribute to the theater and the impingement of financial pressures on the current state of drama. It gets stronger as the series progresses and ends its third season with a most unlikely tribute to the passion of actors and actresses to create great theater no matter what the circumstances or who is in the audience.

The script writing is terrific and asks nothing more of the viewer than to relax and enjoy -- and the forays into Shakespeare are just enough to remind us of the great value of the Bard and to those actors and actresses who keep his work alive.

There's a fiendishly clever relationship of the three main characters that sews all the episodes together, with a little bit of their history unfolding at times as the series progresses. Yes, it's a drama within the world of drama, but few television programs, if any, have offered such a delightful tribute to the sacrifices made by thespians.

It might be a bit risky to say that "Slings and Arrows" is a cross between "The Office" and the style of "Masterpiece Theater." This is contemporary, intelligent, sophisticated television programming that never forgets that the most basic requirement of theater and drama is to engage and entertain.

The New York Times:

"Don't be lazily put off by the subject of Shakespeare or the show's nine Gemini nominations. (The Geminis are Canada's television awards, and unlike the Emmys they typically go to dispiritingly worthy endeavors.) "Slings & Arrows" is consistently engaging, and it's often painful and gorgeous. The passion and sincerity of the characters, actors who won't do commercials and directors who resist corporate sponsorship, come to seem commonplace, in the Canadian way. And the tears - the viewer's tears - will be real."

"It might not sound promising in a pitch meeting - a show about bitter, middle-aged Shakespeareans - but "Slings & Arrows" is charming and complex and lovely."

"To be or not to be, that is the question, eh?" A hit on the Sundance Channel, this quirky Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theater troupe, exposing the high drama and scorching battles that happen behind the scenes. Paul Gross stars as Geoffrey Tennant, the passionate but unstable artistic director of the New Burbage Theatre Festival. Haunted by the ghost of his predecessor (Stephen Quimette), he struggles to realize his creative vision while handling touchy actors, a jittery general manager (Mark McKinney), a pretentious guest director (Don McKellar), and his own tempestuous romance with the festival's leading lady (Martha Burns). The backstage bedlam mirrors the onstage angst as Geoffrey directs three of Shakespeare's masterpieces -- Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear -- one in each season. Guest stars include Rachel McAdams, Colm Feore, Sarah Polley, and renowned Stratford Festival actor William Hutt in one of his last performances. The seven-disc set includes all 18 episodes plus an all-new bonus disc with a featurette, cast and crew interviews, and on-set footage.

-- From the Studio

18 episodes, 7 discs

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE cast interviews, bloopers, deleted and extended scenes, photo galleries, production notes, trailers and song lyrics. Plus exclusive bonus disc: "A Look Behind the Scenes" featurette, more cast and crew interviews, and on-set footage.


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