Rent Draw on Sweet Night (2015)
2.4 of 5 from 50 ratings
1h 26min
- General info
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- Synopsis:
The Elizabethan era saw a glorious flowering of English musical and literary creativity, the like of which has never quite been replicated by any other generation. At the heart of all the musical activity, English composers were lapping up the work of the Italian madrigal school and whilst the great William Byrd supped briefly before moving resolutely back to the church, others such as Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye gorged themselves in the alliance of poetry with single voice contrapuntal ensemble writing. Wilbye, more than anyone, seemed to be able to compose music that is almost tactile in its sensuousness - music that in many ways sounds modern and timeless. Whilst we know something of Wilbye's day to day life as a musical servant of the Kytson family at Hengrave Hall, we know nothing of his love life. But it is surely inconceivable that someone who wrote with such passion did not express that passion in more physical ways. That at least is composer and filmmaker Tony Britten's conceit and in following this thread he has allied his modern score with Wilbye's glorious music to underpin some beautiful performances from an exceptional cast. - Actors:
- Mark Arends, Doon Mackichan, Sophia Di Martino, Christian McKay, Ania Sowinski, Nicky Henson, Simon Butteriss, Milanka Brooks, Terry Molloy, Mary Lincoln, Simon Wilding, Simon Masterton Smith, Emily Youngs, Bryony Fraser-Burn, Tamsin Lewis
- Directors:
- Tony Britten
- Producers:
- Katja Mordaunt
- Writers:
- Tony Britten
- Studio:
- Capriol Films
- Genres:
- Drama, Music & Musicals
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Reviews (1) of Draw on Sweet Night
A Very Special Experience of Drama and Music - Draw on Sweet Night review by CV
The life of John Wilbye is imagined and dramatised through his own musical madrigals. He was resident composer to a wealthy family who appreciated music and particularly that of Wilbye. Not much is known about his uneventful life but a story is created by threading together the texts of his own wonderful madrigals, mainly concerning thwarted and unrequited love, and relationships are imagined and enacted with the few females he encounters in his effectively incarcerated existence. The piece is extremely well acted and the dialogue is pure Shakespearean with tantalising coded and ambiguous meanings in many speeches. My favourite characterisation was that of John Dowland, another eminent musician of the time, a lute player and composer of lute songs, who makes his mark in the drama. The whole drama is accompanied by Wilbye's melancholic yet beautiful madrigals; 'Draw on Sweet Night', the eponymous madrigal, is reckoned by many music-lovers to be the greatest small vocal piece composed by anyone - its genius is in its simplicity. This film is a most special musical and dramatic experience: watch it if you would like something like Shakespeare with music.
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