Getting back into the blogging saddle again, so amongst other things, we're doing this again! However, there is a sad reason for this week's choice. Today we all received the terrible news that legend of stage and screen Dame Diana Rigg has passed away aged 82. She has had a huge, notable career; in recent years she gained a whole new legion of fans for the part of Oleanna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, however she first became a household name thanks for her role of Mrs. Emma Peel in The Avengers. Taking over as Honor Blackman had departed the role of Cathy Gale, she instantly became a true icon of a character, not least for her fashions. (Fun fact comics fans; one particular episode of The Avengers, A Touch of Brimstone, was a big influence on The Dark Phoenix Saga in the X-Men, down to the outfit Rigg wore). She then followed that up with her role as Tracey in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; not just a Bond girl though, this was the one that 007 actually fell in love with, and with Rigg in the role, you can believe why. The ending of OHMSS still knocks me for six to this day, it's my favourite of the whole series. She had a whole bundle of great roles over the years, including a few wonderfully OTT turns, like in The Great Muppet Caper and Evil Under the Sun. To pay tribute to her, I'd like to reference a personal favourite of mine, one where it's clear she's having the time of her life in the part; 1973's Theatre of Blood...
Theatre of Blood is perhaps the culmination of Vincent Price's entire career; in his part of a Shakespearean actor never given the critical respect he thinks he deserves, you might think it's a mean-spirited portrayal of Price himself, but it's a bit more multilayered than that. Price was an actor that was often given stick for being a bit arch and hammy at times, but those that criticise that are often missing the point; the characters and films in question meant that the approach was the correct one. Vincent was perfectly capable of reigning it in and going straight when the role called for it (look at Witchfinder General for a perfect example). As in this film, his character Edward Lionheart gets to show over the course of his dastardly scheme that he does have a tonne of acting talent, his style was a feature, not a bug, not a thing to be criticised. So in this one, we get to see him have a whole lot of performances for the different disguises Lionheart entails, really highlighting Price's range perfectly, including one truly sad moment (the flashback to the day of his supposed death) where he brings some genuine pathos. Add in a lot of nods to other aspects of Price's persona, such as him also being an art critic and a gourmet chef, and it's an ideal tribute to one of the greats not just of horror films, but films period! BTW, there was a stage play version of Theatre of Blood in the mid 2000s; it didn't do very well, partially because in that version, the Lionheart character is a just plain bad actor, which really misses the point of the story.
But it's not just a one man show. This has an incredible cast of the cream of British acting talent at the time, many of whom took the roles because they really wanted to work with Price. You had the likes of Michael Hordern, Dennis Price, Eric Sykes, Jack Hawkins, Diana Dors, Joan Hickson, Madeline Smith; it's an embarrassment of riches! What's more, they all get the joke of the film perfectly, they get the arch nature of the story, and the many, MANY gags direct from Shakespeare himself. They also really help the horror aspect too; the cast playing the victims really sell the fear of realising that they've walked right into Lionheart's trap, and what he intends to do to them, giving the death scenes one hell of a punch. Of course that's helped a great deal by the fact that this has a surprisingly large level of well-done gore for the time too; you have a scene where Arthur Lowe, Captain Mainwaring himself, gets his head cut off, and that head gets a quite a bit more screentime afterwards!
The cast member that I want to highlight though is Diana Rigg; she plays Edwina Lionheart, and like everyone else she gets the gag perfectly (the fact that she was theatrically trained, and had played Portia in the film version of Julius Caesar probably helped!). She gets a lot of fantastic scenes, including several great disguises of her own; there's an extended disguise scene where she really does seem unrecognisable even though you see her face clearly, and it's all in the performance. Plus there's a great reveal late in the film that acts as a nice reference to a recurring trope in Shakespeare too. It really feels right to give her the co-lead credit, as whilst it's Price's film, Rigg adds immeasurably to it. She was one hell of a talent, who will be missed. Interestingly, she was still working right up until the end, and we are yet to see her final film; Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho was meant to be released early this year, but thanks to the pandemic, her last feature will be released posthumously next year. With Halloween approaching, I heartily recommend checking out Theatre of Blood if you haven't already, or haven't in a while, it will be perfect October viewing and an ideal tribute to Diana. I heartily recommend the Arrow Video blu ray of it, not least for it having a commentary by some famous fans of the film, The League of Gentlemen. Incidentally, I saw it on the big screen once at an event organised by the League, including a screening of their Christmas special. And of course Diana Rigg was in one of Mark Gatiss' Doctor Who episodes, The Crimson Horror, and was wonderful in that too! RIP Dame Diana, and to play us out, here's the genuinely quite beautiful theme from Theatre of Blood...
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