Next (1990 film)

Next is a short film created by Aardman Animations. Its full title is "Next: The Infinite Variety Show."[2]

Next
Directed byBarry Purves[1]
Written byBarry Purves
Based onPlays of William Shakespeare
Produced bySara Mullock
CinematographyDave Alex Riddett
David Sproxton
Edited byHelen Garrard
David McCormick
Music byStuart Gordon
The Hautboys
Production
company
Release dates
28 November 1990 (UK)
14 December 2002 (Olomouc Animation Film Festival, Czech Republic)
7 June 2003 (Worldwide Short Film Festival, Canada)
Running time
5 min
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

William Shakespeare auditions for an undetermined role in front of a bored Peter Hall with references to his play in under five minutes.[3]

Cast
  • Barry Purves - Will, a poor player (animation)
  • Roger Rees - Peter, a Producer (voice)

Production

The film was commissioned by Channel 4 as part of a 5-part series of Aardman animations called "Lip Synch": Creature Comforts (1989), Going Equipped (1990), Ident (1990), Next (1990) and War Story (1989).[4]

Peter was voiced by Roger Rees[5] and is reading one of Hall's books. The halo indicates that he represents Saint Peter, and that Shakespeare is auditioning to get into Heaven. The film references all of 37 Shakespeare plays.[4]

A clip of this short was shown in the 2003 documentary Animated Century.[6]

Critical reception

On imdb, Next received a rating of 7.3/10 from 188 users.[2]

References
  1. BFI
  2. "Next (1990) - IMDb". imdb.com. 17 December 1990. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  3. Puppet thespian: Barry Purves, keeper of the flame-BFI
  4. BFI Screenonline: Next (1989)
  5. "Next – Barry JC Purves".
  6. The Animated Century-Rembrandt Films
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