Shakespeare

Hit drama Landman will be heading on hiatus as the second season finale drops this Sunday, so what should die-hard fans check out next?

Landman season two is coming to an end this weekend with what’s shaping up to be a jaw-dropping finale.

After Tommy Norris (played by Billy Bob Thornton) is fired from his role as M-Tex President by his boss Cami Miller (Demi Moore), he faces an impossible decision now his purpose in life is unclear for the first time in years.

Thankfully, Tommy still has his unpredictable ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), loyal daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) and ambitious son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) to support him.

But will their dysfunctional dynamic prove too much to handle in this precarious stage of the landman’s career? Find out today (Sunday, 18th January).

As the hit drama’s second season comes to an end, let’s count down five must-watch Western series fans should check out during the wait for the confirmed third outing.

5. Yellowstone – Paramount+ and Netflix (UK)

A list of the best modern Westerns wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of Sheridan’s most iconic series to date, the Kevin Costner-led ranch drama Yellowstone.

While it’s safe to assume most fans of Landman will already be caught up on the Dutton family saga, they may not be aware that the first four seasons of the global phenomenon are currently streaming on Netflix in the UK.

Plus, the thrilling story is set to continue this year with both Marshals and The Dutton Ranch hitting Paramount+, following John’s son Kayce (Luke Grimes), his daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) as they continue his legacy.

While the series’ reputation has somewhat dwindled in recent years, the earlier seasons received acclaim from fans and critics alike. One 10/10 IMDb review raved: “Yellowstone stands as a modern Western masterpiece, a gripping tale that transcends the genre’s conventions, and at its core is the formidable Dutton family.

“Taylor Sheridan’s creation is a compelling blend of family drama, political intrigue, and breathtaking landscapes that make it a must-watch series.”

4. Dark Winds – AMC+ (US) Netflix (UK)

This lesser-known drama is a darker thriller set in the 1970s that follows three Navajo Tribal Police officers investigating chilling conspiracies. It stars Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, and Jessica Matten, in addition to The Office’s Rainn Wilson in the first season.

Based on the novels by Tony Hillerman, Dark Winds is perfect for Western fans who want something a little different after Landman. Not only does the period setting offer plenty of nostalgia for older fans, but the exploration of Navajo culture as well as its subtle supernatural horror makes it stand out among other recent titles.

The first season of six episodes are currently available on Netflix in the UK, which one fan on IMDb described as “well written, well acted, well paced. Two episodes in and I’m hooked.”

Someone else gushed in a 10/10 review: “I really loved the 2 seasons of this show. Suspenseful, gripping storyline and great acting.”

3. Deadwood – Paramount+ (UK) HBO Max (US)

One of the most iconic period Westerns of the 21st Century, the hit HBO drama Deadwood is still fondly remembered for its three seasons of cutthroat cowboy drama and a stark, unsanitized portrayal of the Old West.

Iconic performers such as Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif and many more starred in the thrilling series, which is currently available on Paramount+.

One fan made a bold claim: “Every aspect of the series was perfect. From the setting, cast, acting, writing, and just the entire idea of what this show is. I think most people who have had the opportunity to enjoy this show would say this is maybe the most beautifully written drama since Shakespeare.”

While another said: “This is one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. The acting is just incredible.”

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2. Lawman: Bass Reeves – Paramount+

Sticking with the period theme, this riveting historical drama set just after the American Civil War follows iconic star David Oyelowo as Bass Reeves, one of the first-ever African American Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi river.

After his escape from slavery, Reeves becomes a legendary lawman in Arkansas whilst balancing his responsibilities to his family. An A-list cast feature alongside Oyelowo, including Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid and one of the final performances of Hollywood legend Donald Sutherland.

One positive IMDb review called it “Another great show from Taylor Sheridan!”

They went on: “Well, I was looking forward to seeing Bass Reeves and it didn’t disappoint! A top-notch cast did a great job bringing the characters to life. The locations and cinematography were fantastic and it had a sense of grit that many western series don’t.”

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1. Ransom Canyon – Netflix

This recent Netflix drama is a more subdued offering for Landman fans who stick around for the heartfelt family drama rather than Tommy’s cartel clashes or violent drilling disasters.

Starring Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly, this romantic-drama is centred around another land dispute, similar to Yellowstone, but focuses on the burgeoning relationship between a grieving rancher and a longtime family friend, the owner of the local dancehall.

However, the sudden appearance of a mysterious drifter with a secretive past threatens to throw their community off its axis. While the stakes aren’t quite as high, fans have all agreed Ransom Canyon is well worth a watch.

One IMDb user promised in a 10/10 review: “If you’re a fan of emotionally rich dramas like Yellowstone and Virgin River, this show is about to become your next obsession. While it begins with a slow burn, give it an episode or two and you’ll be completely hooked.”

Landman season 2 concludes Sunday, 18th January on Paramount+.

There’s something refreshingly 19th century about Patrick Page’s traveling Shakespeare seminar, “All the Devils Are Here,” which opened Thursday at BroadStage in Santa Monica.

The show, a touring tutorial he created and performs solo, allows Page the opportunity to animate with barnstorming crackle a rogue’s gallery of Shakespearean scoundrels. Villains come quite naturally to this stage veteran, who might not smack his lips when impersonating evil, but he certainly doesn’t stint on the flamboyant color. An American Shakespearean who can hold his own with the Brits, he combines mellifluous diction with muscular imagination.

Page received a Tony nomination for his performance in the musical “Hadestown,” in which he played Hades, ruler of the underworld, with a sexy, tyrannical malevolence and a voice so deep it resonated as darkly as Leonard Cohen’s. And he’s had prior success creating outlandish villains on Broadway with the Grinch and, from “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” Norman Osborn/Green Goblin.

But Shakespeare has long been a touchstone. He’s dedicated himself to the work, as was evident in his triumphant turn in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2023 production of “King Lear” in Washington, D.C., directed by Simon Godwin. The producers of which had the good sense to stream worldwide for all of us outside the nation’s capital who wanted to experience the thunderclap of Page’s Lear.

Godwin, the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company and an associate director of the National Theatre in London, leaves little distance between Page and the audience in his staging of “All the Devils Are Here.” The direct-address simplicity of the production serves the fluidity of Page’s performance. The actor transitions from talking about the characters to becoming them with just a shift in his posture and vocal tone.

Proximity is the point. Shakespeare’s bad guys, with a few notable exceptions, are quite like you and me, which is to say they are human. Their worst deeds are the product of desires and fears that aren’t foreign to any of us. We might not be capable of atrocities, but in our dreams we’re all occasionally raving lunatics, giving vent to feelings we keep buried away in the light of day.

Page makes the tendentious claim that Shakespeare invented the villain, then walks it back to explain exactly what he means. His thesis is that Shakespeare early in his playwriting career followed the prevailing models of villainy. These vicious and vindictive antagonists tended to be outsiders, Jews (in the case of Christopher Marlowe’s “The Jew of Malta”), Moors (such as Aaron the Moor in Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”) or the physically deformed (most notably, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who first appeared in Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” and proved to be such a hit that he was given his own play, “Richard III”).

We get a taste of these Machiavels, who have none of the misgivings about vengeance that will plague Hamlet. Page portrays them without much introspection. They tell you what they’re going to do and then they bloody well do it. They can be scathingly ironic, alert to every hypocrisy that corroborates their cynical worldview, and even seductive in a perverse, power-mad way.

For these reasons, they are, like the arch-villains of “Batman,” the most entertaining characters in their stories. This lawless crew shares dramaturgical DNA with the vice figures from medieval morality plays, personifications of sinfulness who would confide their schemes to the audience and make theatergoers their co-conspirators in a riveting game that obviously left its mark on a young Shakespeare.

Iago, one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains, is an updated version of this stock character. Page consults Martha Stout’s book “The Sociopath Next Door” to understand the character’s lack of empathy and remorse. But then he enacts the scene in which Iago subtly poisons Othello’s mind into believing that his wife is having an affair with a handsome lieutenant. Sociopaths like Iago may be an empty shell of evil, but they can also be ingenious manipulators. Shakespeare put all his understanding of human nature into Iago’s brainwashing master class.

But before Page reaches Iago, he spends time with Shylock from the “The Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare humanizes the Elizabethan stage stereotype of the villainous Jew by giving Shylock ample reason for wanting to get back at his Christian persecutors. Marlowe treats Barabas in “The Jew of Malta” as a farcical demon, but Shakespeare has Shylock ask, “Has a Jew not eyes? … If you prick us, do we not bleed?”

Yes, Shakespeare is having his cake and eating it too. But Page’s portrayal, perhaps the most complete in his gallery, makes a convincing case of the playwriting leap forward.

From “Hamlet,” Page gives us Claudius on his knees praying for pardon he knows he doesn’t deserve. (“May one be pardoned and retain the offense?” he asks himself, already knowing the answer.) Here we see that even the most sealed-off conscience can be invaded by second thoughts.

Lady Macbeth has no such qualms when she’s summoning evil spirits to unsex her in “Macbeth.” She knows conventional morality is a liability and begs these forces “to stop up the access and passage to remorse” so that nothing will impede the murderous plot that’s brewing within her.

To establish the right note of terror on a fog-strewn set by Arnulfo Maldonado that resembles the private chamber of a writer or madman, Page begins with Lady Macbeth’s chilling incantation. He returns to the tragedy later in his survey after guilt has alienated the Macbeths from each other and they find themselves trapped in a nightmare of their own making.

King Lear mournfully wonders, “Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?” Shakespeare can’t explain evil, but he can look at it directly. And what he sees, Page argues, is our own reflection — humanity, in all its fractured and flailing self-destructive foolishness.

The case Page smoothly makes is a convincing one. He is a pliant enough actor to daub each portrait with just enough psychological color. It’s not easy to do justice to such complex roles in quick succession. The genius of these troubling characters is embedded in their full dramatic contexts, requiring more than rhetorical flourishes and vocal modulations to bring them to life.

But by collectively presenting them in such a vivid and intelligent manner, Page urges us to see these devils for what they are — an inextricable part of our collective story, as any perusal of the day’s political headlines will disturbingly attest.

CHUCKLE Brothers comedy great Paul Elliott says he wants to show that all the world’s a stage — by appearing in Shakespeare plays.

The funnyman, 78, who received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for his charity work, said he would love to play parts in the Bard’s repertoire given a chance.

But alas, poor Paul — famed for his “To me, to you” catchphrase with late brother Barry — admits he might struggle to learn all the lines.

Asked if he had any ambitions to do Hamlet, Paul said: “To me, or not to me, that is the question?

“I doubt very much I’d be able to learn those lines, but if it was offered, I’d have a go.”

One role he knows he does not stand a chance of getting is as the next James Bond.

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He said it would be more like “the retired James Bond, at my age”.

But despite a Shakespeare play appearing to have neither rhyme nor reason it would be another chance for him to expand his acting range.

He played a gangland enforcer in last year’s crime flick Fall To The Top and said that he “jumped at the chance” to do it.

Paul said: “I thought, ‘well, that suits me down to the ground.’ I used to bully Barry around in Chuckle Brothers. Why not go one step further?”

The Chuckle legend also works as a club DJ and sells personalised videos to fans for £40 each on shout-out website Cameo.

Paul and Barry, from Rotherham, South Yorks, made almost 300 episodes of ChuckleVision for the BBC from 1987 to 2009.

Barry died of bone cancer in 2018, aged 73.