In the Bleak Midwinter

Kenneth Branagh's small black and white comedy, released in America as A Midwinter's Tale. Joe, an out-of-work actor, decides to stage Hamlet at Christmas to save a village church from closure. The company he can assemble is a disaster: an alcoholic actor, another who will not speak to anyone on stage, a designer who wants to build the set himself, and an Ophelia who reinterprets the part continuously. They rehearse in the church and nobody is being paid. The subject is not Hamlet but the desperation of the acting profession: everyone is out of work, everyone is chasing a chance, and everyone believes getting on stage is worth it. Branagh was known at the time for his Shakespeare adaptations, and the film was read as him mocking his own circle. Michael Maloney plays Joe, Richard Briers the old actor and Joan Collins an agent. It runs under ninety minutes. A pleasant discovery for anyone who likes comedy about theatre and British ensembles. For a viewer expecting a Shakespeare adaptation, the film barely shows Hamlet at all; the whole matter is the rehearsals.