Benedict Cumberbatch reads a notoriously grumpy Irish playwright's letter of complaint
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- In July of 1905, after attending a performance of Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, renowned playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw wrote a letter of complaint to The Times.
On November 16th 2023, Benedict Cumberbatch joined us at the 10th anniversary edition of Letters Live, in association with Montblanc, at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall.
© George Bernard Shaw, 1905
I just had a look an actual recording of G.B. Shaw and found how amazing Benedict Cumberbatch's impression is. His performance is as entertaining as it is acurate.
I did the same thing, I had a sense that he was impersonating Shaw so I wanted to compare. He nailed the voice and the mannerisms perfectly!
Apart from the accent which is laughably wrong? How is it a good impression?
Benedict has given ten years of joy doing this..he has given the world an insight into how important it is to keep the power of literary correspondence alive in this ever changing world..we rely on it to connect, express our feelings and emotions without the written word we leave very little of our true self behind when we depart this mortal realm…Benedict is the best when he reads George B Shaw.. he captures the true polemicist and contentious rhetoric that Shaw had…Shaw is up there with the best including Galileo…and Benedict is up there with the best of the best…..Choose Love ..always.❤️ 🇦🇺🇦🇺
Benedict really is one of the greats, i could listen to him for hours i hope he make another audiobook sometime ❤
He and Stephen Fry co-narrating an audio book... It'd be an orgasm for the ears
@@iffracem oh yes, i love Stephen voice too, or maybe an audiobook with Ben & Tom Hiddleston after all their friends
Someone give this awesome person a hoard of gold as a grand prize for reading a hilarious letter. I truly appreciate the witty letters of George Bernard Shaw on social conventions.
Did you learn NOTHING from the hobbit movies???? DONT GIVE BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH A HOARD OF GOLD!
@@they65 What I meant to say is to give a hoard of Golden Books for him to read to children. That way it will inspire children to read more books and foster a love of books.
I was curious so I looked up old videos of George Bernard Shaw to hear how he spoke and moved, his mannerisms. I suspected right away that Benedict isn't just reading what was written by the great playwright, he has BECOME Shaw!
He's nailed his voice and mannerisms so well it's a bit eerie, but wonderful!
@@kristenrosales2919 Great save! 😂 Well done 🎉
@@they65 hehehe I was thinking that when I saw your comment! ^^
This is so good. The way Benedict makes GB Shaws letter come alive is amazing.
What a master narrator 👏. And who better to read someone's writings who is just as eloquent.
Benedict Cumberbatch is the most talented artist I ever saw. I enjoy every peace of acting and reading he has made and will ever made.👍🏼
My late grandfather, at my grandmother's insistance, required us all to dress formally for dinner at weekends and when we dined at home with guests. (He died when I was 16, and the rule lapsed except on special occasions). My late mother used regularly to complain that it took her ages to dress for such dinners, but every male simply had to "dress as if he was being strangled by a bat". 🦇
🥰😍🤩😘
"Now, I want you to tell all your friends about me."
"Wh--who ARE you?
"...I'm Blackwell."
We were there and enjoyed a fantastic evening. Thank you to all the readers,
Wow! What a treat!
For a second I thought you were there in 1905 😅
Bernard Shaw esteemed himself a wit. He came into collision with a higher authority in the form of Winston Churchill, it went something like this, after Shaw had written a new play:
GBS: Please find herewith tickets for the 1st night of my new play, bring a friend, if you have one.
WSC: Cannot attend the 1st, will attend the 2nd, if you have one!
This sounds like the genesis of several Monty Python sketches.
He has been my favorite actor for a long time, he could read the phone book and make it sound interesting. ❤
BC has always been in my telephone book catagory.
The phone book is always a comment on Letter Live so is Terms and Conditions..I’ve used it on Matt Berry numerous times in the past…it must be catchy…but do they still make phone books that’s the question..everything is online now.🤔🤔🇦🇺🇦🇺
I'd never heard of this event until a few days ago, looked on the site for new dates and found that there was an event that very day. Damn, too late to get tickets! I must watch out for the next event - they're brilliant!
The English language composed and presented with mastery of both arts. At least one of these is underappreciated these days.
Benedict Cumberbatch ❤
Here for him only 💖
HAHAHAHA At first I was like "This guy sounds like a karen"... and then the punchline where you realize that he wrote this whole thing to a place that got bitchy with him over wearing a blue tie once! *Chef's kiss*
Beautifully performed as usual. Benedict Cumberbatch always delivers.
All while wearing the most beautiful velvet jacket ever made..
Amazing how much acting can be put into the reading of a letter
Being a vegetarian in the England of 1905 cannot have been easy.
"There's roast beef, roast lamb, roast pork and roast ham"
"What's the vegetarian option?"
"Roast chicken"
What is that from? 😂
@@magesalmanac6424 loosely based on ISIHAC Christmas Carol (Google is your friend, or it might be on TH-cam)
For the wealthy it actually was very easy, as vegetarianism was in vogue in Victorian times and carried through to modern spectacularly well with the addition of Indian cuisine.
this one gave a great speech of the day
Mr. C. is truly a special superb actor!
My favourite actor, just brilliant ❤
Shaw was such a crank. I love him!
At nine o’clock the opera began at eight 😅
Parenthetic comment
I'm sure there must be a comma after nine o'clock, thus making the sentence quite correct and intelligent to the ear.
I wonder what GB Shaw would have written about Lady Gaga's meat dress?
Or Bjork swan dress?
I don't know why this reminded me of something Erma Bombeck wrote about Madonna in the 80s when she was constantly in the news for some dumb reason, because she couldn't stand it if she wasn't center of attention.
I think someone asked Erma what her opinion of Madonna was and she responded with,
"Will someone PLEASE notice her so she'll go AWAY!?"
Benedict is ❤ and Benedict reading Shaw is the perfect combination ❤❤❤
Hello, so nice to listen and watch. I would like to recite in the same way and be able to read beautifully out loud.
Most wonderful letter! When people were still literate and could communicate without loling f u's, SMH or other abbreviations. I knew the meaning of every single word and had not to look any up on a 'current slang' webpage, which I frequent nowadays.
Well-brought by the handsome man.
Why did I think the first line was part of the letter for a minute lmao
I suppose getting GBS himself to read it would have been too complicated for the organizers however Mr Cumberbund makes a decent fist of it.
"Even that lady stopped short of a whole seagull." I had to pause the video to recover.
Is that a impression of Victor Meldrew because it is perfect for this letter :D
hi, thank you for the upload... please conitune uploading more clips... espicallly if it includs bc
I mean...he wasn't wrong about the offenses of putting birds on hats. Some of those populations have yet to recover
Absolutely faultless accent and pacing of this reading. Benedict is bloody fantastic!
I'm so used to seeing Cumberbatch on screen that I forgot how incredible he is at voice acting
As another Irish vegetarian I can only applaud and envy my compatriot's wit - and also, that's a great imitation right there!
Benedict really outdid himself. Jolly well done!!
shaw makes some solid points
I love George Bernard Shaw - and he makes a good point. Gentleman's fashion was very restricted - still is.
Aren’t the eccentric Artists the most enjoyable.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🌺💜🌺🌺🇦🇺
So good, just came across this ..mustt have been hiding...
That was FAB!
Very like Professor Higgins
"Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait!"
I love his voice, and have enjoyed his reading these letters. Makes me wish I were a man lol.
So much grumpy🥰
Brilliant
We gotta get this guy in a Vincent Van Gogh biopic, look at him
He actually did a documentary about him back then, Google it
Fair point.
GBS. Man, he could write.
A letter written the year after the RSPB got its royal charter - methinks that is no coincidence.
It's actually not what he reads, it's how he reads that makes the difference. 😊
wow ...what an obvious observation 🙃
Yeeeees
George Bernard Shaw in fact had an Irish accent (mentioned by people like G. K. Chesterton who met him in person).
I'm more bothered by Oscar Wilde always being played as an English man.
I love him!
❤❤
Very good! (Although GBS’s voice sounded more Irish than that).
And what do you learn from this? That the Victorians had to put up with influencers too.
Men's evening dress is/was cheap‽ Am i missing some sarcasm on Mr. Shaw's part?
Yes
@@Roheryn100 Good.
I think I'm with Mr. Shaw on this one. Bird bodies and parts should not be used as decorations. Ewww
And apparently people were mad at him because he was wearing a blue tie!
He needs to read a story about all different species of penguins
9.5/10, not enough penguins.
He looks like he's playing Dr. House
The Frumious Cumberbatch.
I think Shaw has a point. Dead birds? Dead bird... parts?
Funny, when it said Grumpy Irish Playwright....
sounds like it could be written by Beckett
señor Caruso jajaja
Feels like he rushed through this one.
"A lady came and sat conspicuously in my line of sight" what in the incel weaponized autismverse...
hmmm... i'd very much like to hear benedict cumberbatch read a letter written by shaw complaining about his experience at the theatre when he went to see beetlejuice and sat behind lauren boebert...
just sayin...
G.B. Shaw reminds me of Bilbo Baggins if he were thrice as salty
Sounds like Gaga
GB Shaw did not sound like this though, he has given him a British accent. If you listen to recordings of him he sounded much more Irish.
Ironic that BC is wearing a jacket that does not fit and gapes at the neck.
Why is he giving Shaw an English accent though? A very strange interpretation as Shaw had a pronounced Irish accent.
Reminds me a lot with Stewie Griffin 🙄
What the hell accent did George Bernard Shaw had? It sure as hell didn’t sound Irish…
Isn't AI a thousand monkeys with a word processor, upgraded from a typewriter, for the modern world? Not sure what the God reference is about though.
What an ill-fitting smoking jacket. The gaping collar is truly distracting and unseemly. For a man of means, there is no excuse for such a sartorial atrocity.
At least it's not a dead bird.
Benedict cant do accents though. GBS was an IRISH man. Not a doctor in a raunchy English hospital show from the 1950s. Also his American accent in Dr Strange was atrocious
I can't speak for Irish, but as a born and raised American, I personally noticed nothing wrong with his American accent as Dr. Strange. We do have a variety of accents.
He may not have gotten Shaw's very light Irish accent, but he did very much get his style and spirit.
@@AlexArthur94 OK where? Which part of the USA does Cumberbatch's Steven Strange hail from? Dude sounds like a weatherman whose been practising his non regional dialect
@@shanegaming7743 Relax, man. I'm pretty sure a lot of Americans don't have an easily noticeable regional accent, except perhaps to an expert. If you can readily and accurately tell where in this country someone's accent comes from when they don't have one of the more extreme accents (Southern, New York, Boston, etc), then you're pretty good at that.
@@shanegaming7743New York apparently