"7 Ages of Man" from "As You Like It" (Nicholas Pennell)

Shakespeare's "7 Ages of Man" speech by the melancholy Jaques from the play "As You Like It".

Jacques' famous lines about the Seven Ages Of Man which begin, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players," is performed here by Nicholas Pennell from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Ontario (1983 TV), filmed before a live audience.

this clip begins with Orlando's line "Then but forbear your food a little while," (Act II, scene 7, line 125 of The Arden Edition)

Andrew Gillies ... Orlando
Mervyn Blake ... Adam
William Needles ... Duke Senior
Nicholas Pennell ... Jaques
John Novak ... Amiens

Commentary By Henry Norman Hudson:

Such a division of human life into certain stages or epochs as Jaques makes, II, vii, 142-165, is found in Greek, Latin, and later Hebrew literature. In some Greek verses attributed to Solon, the life of man is divided into ten ages of seven years each. Proclus is said to have made the distribution into seven ages, "over each of which one of the seven planets was supposed to rule. . . . Hippocrates likewise divided the life of man into seven ages, but differs from Proclus in the number of years allotted to each period."-— Malone.

Fourteen periods are given in the Mishna, the body of the 'Oral Law' of the Jews redacted in the third century; and in the Midrash, the Hebrew exposition of the Old Testament made between the sixth and twelfth centuries, the division is into seven periods. A poem upon the ten stages of life was written about the year 1150 by the great Hebrew scholar and exegete Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, the Rabbi ben Ezra of Browning's poem.

In Arnold's Chronicle, a famous fifteenth century miscellany, is a chapter entitled "The vii Ages of Man living in the World." Henley thinks that Shakespeare took his hint for the famous passage from some of the pictorial representations of the theme which were popular in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. But what Shakespeare found neither in old woodcuts nor in mediaeval lore are the terse expression, supreme artistry in description, and peculiar Jaques cynicism shown in the emphasis put upon the unlovely aspects of human life in each of the seven ages.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• As-You-Like-It
• William-Shakespeare
• literature
• theater
• Jaques
• play

[Celtjew]

This is the production that turned me into a Shakespeare fan. The copy that I made off TV wore out. I bought a commercial VCR copy, but now I don't have a working VCR player.

So please post more! (Or, if it is on DVD now tell me where I can find it.) Thanks.

[ShakespeareAndMore]

Films for the Humanities currently sells this production on DVD for $149.99 $USD. When, or if, the CBC Shop Online offers it, they'll charge $24.95 $CAD....I'll post the whole thing (eventually) if the copyrite hounds don't get this clip removed...

[mktoronto]

God I miss Nicky Pennell.

[rudradesignbbsr]

made an animated attempt at the 7 stages of man

[rudradesignbbsr]

Reminds me of "As you like it" i read at school.. a video reference then would have surely helped..was really difficult remembering all the lines

[ShEpArd489]

@ShakespeareAndMore 149.99$ ? poetic injustice !

[piglettoes]

GREAT recital! I only internet was available to me when I was in highschool... ; I could have done such a better job with my "All the worlds a stage" recital!

[17lianne]

I've been looking for video of this speech and this is the one I found best,the others made me laugh,snort on the other hand!

[petergmo63]

Nicholas Pennell was a remarkable English actor who settled in Stratford, Ontario in the 70s and played an enormous range of Shakespearean roles with great success. He was greatly loved by audiences there and his sudden death in 1995 was a great shock. It's wonderful to have at least one of his performances preserved on video but sad to think so much of his work was never recorded.

[nebuly1]

Celtjew: When I saw this production on CBC it turned me on to the Stratford Festival, and for a few great years I was able to go there every fall and stay with relatives and see 10 plays in two weeks. Never saw this live, but saw Nick Pennell in quite a few productions, and met him a few times. Wonderful actor, and I love his handling of this scene.

[12ladyk]

One of Nicky's finest perfomances, it still brings a tear to my eyes even after all these years. I was blessed to have seen this performance live. I miss him still.

[drpedics]

I bought this when I was in Stratford for 30$