Shakespeare Revealed

Shakespeare Revealed is the most recent of a number of porno adaptations of Shakespeare, including West Side, In the Flesh, and A Midsummer Night's Cream (all on DVD). Paul Thomas produced Shakespeare Revealed, and it bears his signature. In many ways, it is a redoing of Thomas's 1980s' two part Romeo and Juliet, only this time the acting is much better, the talent, hotter, and the storyline less interesting.

This is a thoughtful, meta-theatrical story about a woman named Julie (Renee LaRue), cast as Juliet for a performance of Romeo and Juliet that opens in less than a week, who has stage fright. One of the interesting aspects of the film is the way that sex scenes turn out to be Julie's flashbacks, in some cases nightmares, in others a dream come true. LaRue moves toward the latter as the film progresses through the help of her friend and roommate (Dascha) and by dropping the mercenary director (Oscar) for the guy playing Romeo (Michael J. Cox).

Hence, by the performance, Julie is able to overcome her stage fright, and dressed only in a white bustier with breasts exposed, she is able to deliver an applause drawing performance. In moving toward romantic love and Julie's self-confidence as an actress, and by not representing the final scene, this revision of Romeo and Juliet falls in line with a long series of others which turn Shakespeare's tragedy into a comedy. This is done rather lamely, however, as in the final scene, we hear applause but see empty chairs in the audience. Also, the actresses are nearly naked, and their costuming is unexplained.

Apart form the sex, which I will get to in a minute, viewers interested in Shakespeare have something to watch here. There actually is a lot from the balcony scene and form the aubade scene when Romeo and Juliet awake after a night of fucking. Wylde Oscar, as the director, has a rather unusual interpretation of the play, namely that "Juliet is the high bred bitch coming into her first heat. The men in the play are the dogs in the neighborhood, fighting to see who has sex with her first. Romeo is the street cur. His breeding doesn't match Juliet's pedigree." In focusing on these, he is a bit like Mercutio in the play, and, if crude, it's a welcome corrective to high school interpretations which gloss over the bawdy puns and the fact that Romeo and Juliet actually do have sex.

There is a fair amount of movie to sex ratio, more than your average porn her. Some of the camera work is thoughtful here, and the soundtrack works as well to set the mood. At the beginning, Romeo and Juliet go in and out of focus as they read their lines. The first scene is set up well as a disruption of Julie's ability to remember her lines, is with Dascha and a hunky guy. Dacha, a beautiful Czech blonde who graces the cover of the video, takes charge, and this scene is the best of the film. She gives a hot blowjob on her knees, and then the two have sex on a scaffold, where Dascha does a bit of her famous squirting. In the next scene, La Rue and Oscar go it as they rehearse the end f the Capulet ball where Romeo and Juliet first speak to each other (in the form of a sonnet). Oscar is really great throughout this film, both as performer and camping up his role as exploitative, uncaring and unromantic director. Scene three is with Oscar and two blonde women, Chennin Blanc and McKayla (who stars as Puck in Stuart Canterbury's porn adaptation A Midsummer Night's Cream) in a three-way. McKayla is especially hot at the end of the scene, where she invites Oscar as the three masturbate themselves, to come on their asses. She is quite lewd. In the next scene, we have a lesbian number with Dascha and la Rue. It's pretty good.

And the final scene is with Cox and La Rue, on stage alone as they rehearse the aubade scene. This scene has some actual romantic feeling in it. In general, the performers kiss frequently, something you don't usually see in porn.

The technical quality of this film is very high. The lighting is uniformly excellent, the camera work great, and the editing also good. The all-blonde female talent is also good. LaRue has a nice boob job, and is kind of a big girl, heading toward Anna Nicole Smith country, but in good shape. She looks much better out of clothes than in them. Michael J. Cox also gives a convincing performance as a sensitive guy. At one point Oscar asks him if he is a "homo" because he does seem to have enough desire for Juliet. Too bad the screenwriter did not take up the issue of Mercutio's gayness in Shakespeare's play. All in all, this film is watchable both as a feature and for the sex scenes. There are five phone sex ads at the beginning of the film.

The special features on this disc include only multiple angles and nine animated chapter stops. The other Vivid extras also apply, including the "Meet the Girls," "Blondes," "Anal," and "Threesomes" film clips found on their other DVDs. It's got the usual, horrifically clumsy navigation system typical of Vivid. I do credit Vivid, however, for packing the DVD with as much stuff as can be fitted on the format.