Shakespeare and Covid Drama in This England (Winterbottom, 2022)

Agnieszka Rasmus

doi:10.18778/2083-8530.29.09

Authors

Agnieszka Rasmus University of Lodz, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.29.09

Crossmark check for up

Keywords:

Shakespeare, adaptation, Branagh, Covid, Richard II, Johnson, This England, casting, reception

Abstract

This article considers the significance of different Shakespearean allusions in a political docudrama miniseries This England (2022), directed for Sky by Michael Winterbottom and scripted by Winterbottom and Kieron Quirke. The action focuses on the first crucial months in England after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, offering a panoramic view of the nation under duress as a newly formed government, with Boris Johnson at its helm, mishandles the crisis. The article seeks to explain the presence of multiple Shakespearean references, from the title alone, through numerous direct quotations to the casting of Kenneth Branagh as Johnson. Shakespearean traces play a pivotal, though confusing, role as they both critique the actions of the government and its leader by offering an ironic framing device while increasing the viewer’s sympathy for its central protagonist via the presence of a Shakespearean celebrity.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Agnieszka Rasmus, University of Lodz, Poland

Ph.D., teaches at the Department of Studies in English Drama, Theatre and Film, Institute of English Studies, University of Lodz, Poland. Her research focuses on transnational cinema, seriality and adaptation. She is the author of Filming Shakespeare, from Metatheatre to Metacinema (Peter Lang, 2008) and Hollywood Remakes of Iconic British Films: Class, Gender and Stardom (EUP, 2022). She has published widely on Hollywood remakes and Shakespeare in popular culture.

References

All Is True. Kenneth Branagh. Sony Pictures Classics, 2018.
Google Scholar

Bennett, Owen. The Brexit Club: The Inside Story of the Leave Campaign’s Shock Victory. London: Biteback Publishing, 2016.
Google Scholar

Blackwell, Anna. Shakespearean Celebrity in the Digital Age. New York: Palgrave, 2018.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96544-4

Brexit: The Uncivil War. Toby Haynes. Channel 4, 2019.
Google Scholar

Cooke, Rachel. “Michael Winterbottom’s This England is Odd and Oddly Repellent.” New Statesman. 28 September. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2022/09/michael-winterbottom-this-england-review-drama-odd-watch. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Crowl, Samuel. Shakespeare at the Cineplex: The Kenneth Branagh Era. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003.
Google Scholar

Culbertson, Alix. “Dominic Cummings Claims: Boris Johnson Was Writing Shakespeare Book Instead of Dealing With Covid.” Sky News. 12 November 2021. https://news.sky.com/story/dominic-cummings-claims-boris-johnson-waswriting-shakespeare-book-instead-of-dealing-with-covid-12467178. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Dalton, Ben. “Michael Winterbottom Says: Boris Johnson Series This England Not Revised After Partygate Revelations.” Screen International. 17 August 2022.
Google Scholar

Doherty, Thomas. “Brexit. Thinking and Resistance.” Brexit and Literature: Critical and Cultural Responses. Ed. Robert Eaglestone. London: Routledge, 2018. 181-196.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351203197-18

Einav, Dan. “This England, Sky Atlantic Review: Boris Johnson Pandemic Drama is Both Premature and Dated.” Financial Times. 28 September 2022. https://www.ft.com/content/8a432a17-6ced-403a-8fa1-aac30de132cb. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

English, Beth. “Review: This England.” The Student. 15 October 2022. https://studentnewspaper.org/review-this-england/. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Fabiszak, Jacek. “Appropriating Biography: The Hybrid ‘Face’ of Shakespeare in Branagh’s All is True.” Adaptation and Beyond: Hybrid Transtextualities. Eds. Eva C. Karpinski and Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak. London: Routledge, 2023, n. p.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003435839-6

Fletcher, Alex. “This England Review Kenneth Branagh’s: Boris Johnson Drama is Not What You’re Expecting.” BT. 30 September 2022. https://www.bt.com/tv/drama/this-england-review. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Goodall, Jane. “Boris Johnson Outside In.” Inside Story. 25 October 2022. https://insidestory.org.au/boris-johnson-outside-in/. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Hamlet. Kenneth Branagh. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996.
Google Scholar

Hatchuel, Sarah. A Companion to the Shakespearean Films of Kenneth Branagh. Winnipeg: Blizzard Publishing, 2000.
Google Scholar

Hawkins, Helen. “This England, Sky Atlantic Review: How Boris’s No 10 Got Covid Wrong.” The Arts Desk. 28 September 2022. https://theartsdesk.com/tv/england-sky-atlantic-review-how-boriss-no-10-got-covid-wrong. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Henry V. Kenneth Branagh. Renaissance Films, 1989.
Google Scholar

Hilton, Nick. “This England Review: Sky’s Covid Drama Should Be Avoided Like The Plague.” The Independent. 29 September 2022. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/this-england-reviews-boris-johnson-carrie-kenneth-branagh-b2177726.html. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Hodgdon, Barbara. “Shakespearean Stars: Staging of Desires.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Ed. Robert Shaughnessy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 46-66.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521844291.004

Holl, Jennifer. “YouShakespeare: Shakespearean Celebrity 2.0.” Shakespeare/Not Shakespeare. Eds. Christy Desmet, Jim Casey, and Natalie Loper. New York: Palgrave, 2017. 203-219.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63300-8_12

Kaptur, Paweł. “‘This Sceptred Isle:’ Reflections on Shakespeare and Brexit.” Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny 68.4 (2020): 562-573.
Google Scholar

Knight, Sam. “The Man Who Brought You Brexit.” The Guardian. 29 September 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/29/daniel-hannan-the-man-who-brought-you-brexit. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Langworth, Richard M. “Churchill’s Memorable Allusions to Shakespeare’s Richard II.” The Churchill Project. 23 November 2019. https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/richard-ii/. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Lanier, Douglas. Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Google Scholar

Lanier, Douglas. “ShakespeareTM: Myth and Biographical Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Ed. Robert Shaughnessy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 93-113.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521844291.006

Lobb, Adrian. “This England: Does Kenneth Branagh Let Boris Johnson off the Hook?” Big Issue. 28 September 2022. https://www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/this-england-does-kenneth-branagh-let-boris-johnson-off-the-hook/. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Lynskey, Dorian. “This England Can’t Be Neutral.” UnHeard. 28 September 2022. https://unherd.com/2022/09/this-england-cant-be-neutral/. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Macbeth. Justin Kurzel. See-Saw Films, 2015.
Google Scholar

Makaryk, Irena R. “Introduction: Theatre, War, Memory, and Culture.” Ed. Irena R. Makaryk and Marissa McHugh. Shakespeare and the Second World War: Memory, Culture, Identity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. 3-21.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442698376-003

Mangan, Lucy. “This England Review: So Sympathetic to Boris Johnson It is Absolutely Bananas.” The Guardian. 28 September 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/28/this-england-review-so-sympathetic-to-boris-johnson-it-is-absolutely-bananas. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

McCahill, Mike. “Michael Winterbottom’s COVID-19 Drama This England, with Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson, Flatlines: TV Review.” Variety. 7 October 2022. https://variety.com/2022/tv/reviews/this-england-sky-tv-review-1235395907/. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Moreland, Alex. “This England Review: Kenneth Branagh Drama Makes a Thorough Case Against Boris Johnson, If Not Brilliant TV.” National World. 28 September 2022. https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/television/this-england-review-sky-atlantic-kenneth-branagh-boris-johnson-3860376. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

O’Neill, Stephen. “Finding Refuge in King Lear: From Brexit to Shakespeare’s European Value.” Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance 19.34 (2019): 119-138.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.19.07

Rasmus, Agnieszka. “What Bloody Film is This? Macbeth For Our Time.” Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance 18.33 (2018): 115-128.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.18.08

Rasmus, Agnieszka. Filming Shakespeare: From Metatheatre to Metacinema. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008.
Google Scholar

Ross, Tim. “Boris Johnson: The EU Wants a Superstate, Just as Hitler Did.” Telegraph. 15 May 2016. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/14/boris-johnson-the-eu-wants-a-superstate-just-as-hitler-did/. Accessed 13 August 2021.
Google Scholar

Rowat, Alison. “Review: This England (Sky Atlantic).” The Herald. 28 September 2022. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/22736801.review-england-sky-atlantic/. Accessed 13 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Roxborough, Scott. “Johnson’s Chaotic Early Reign Dramatized for TV.” DW. 28 September 2022. https://www.dw.com/en/this-england-boris-johnsons-chaotic-early-reign-dramatized/a-63266925. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

This England. Michael Winterbottom et al. Sky Atlantic, 2022.
Google Scholar

This is England. Shane Meadows. Film Four, 2006.
Google Scholar

Travers, Peter. “Kenneth Branagh Embodies the Bard in Mesmerizing All Is True.” Rolling Stone. 9 May 2019. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/all-is-true-movie-review-kenneth-branagh-832318/. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Vaizey, Lord. “‘Brilliantly Realised’: Lord Vaizey Reviews This England.” The House Magazine. 29 September 2022. https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/lord-vaizey-this-england. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Wilkins, Christina. Embodying Adaptation: Character and the Body. New York: Palgrave, 2022.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08533-8

Williams, Stacy. “All Is True: Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench in Exclusive Behind the Scenes Clip.” The Mirror. 24 January 2019. https://www.mirror.co.uk/film/true-kenneth-branagh-judi-dench-13898471. Accessed 16 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Williams, Zoe. “Kenneth Branagh is Boris Johnson! Brace Yourself to Relive the Pandemic with This England.” The Guardian. 16 September 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/16/kenneth-branagh-is-boris-johnson-brace-yourself-to-relive-the-pandemic-with-this-england. Accessed 17 August 2023.
Google Scholar