Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the great William Shakespeare reading in the modern actors mumbled way "To be, or not to be".How appropriate on the occasion of his 450th Birthday today 23 April 2014.
"To be or not to be..." is the opening phrase of a soliloquy in the "Nunnery Scene"[1] of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
It made me laugh out loud when I heard this on BBC Radio 4's IPM programme today and they got Nigel Havers do this mumbled recital to demonstrate the problem.
The BBC have received complaints about actors mumbling their lines in their "Jamaica Inn" drama series here's an article from the Telegraph Newspaper about the issue.
The number of viewer complaints over the audibility of BBC One television drama series Jamaica Inn has escalated, with the second episode seeing a decline in ratings.
A total of 252 people complained after the second episode on Tuesday, following the 546 who complained after Monday night's opening episode.
Episode two drew an average audience of 4.5 million, down on the 6.1 million who tuned in for the first instalment.
The three-part adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel concludes later.
The BBC apologised on Tuesday, attributing problems viewers had understanding the dialogue to "issues with the sound levels".
Some viewers said they had to use subtitles to understand the actors' apparent "mumbling", which one complainant said "was the worst [ever] heard in a TV drama".
Comedian Al Murray and Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis were among those to voice their displeasure on Twitter.
In a statement, the BBC apologised to viewers and said it would be "adjusting the dialogue levels in episode two and three to address audience concerns".
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Tuesday, director Philippa Lowthorpe said she was more "sad" than angry that the sound issues "may have disturbed a few people's enjoyment".
Set in 1821, Jamaica Inn tells of a young woman, played by former Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay, who gets mixed up with smugglers in Cornwall.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2013
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
Here's a virtual movie of the great William Shakespeare reading in the modern actors mumbled way "To be, or not to be".How appropriate on the occasion of his 450th Birthday today 23 April 2014.
"To be or not to be..." is the opening phrase of a soliloquy in the "Nunnery Scene"[1] of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
It made me laugh out loud when I heard this on BBC Radio 4's IPM programme today and they got Nigel Havers do this mumbled recital to demonstrate the problem.
The BBC have received complaints about actors mumbling their lines in their "Jamaica Inn" drama series here's an article from the Telegraph Newspaper about the issue.
The number of viewer complaints over the audibility of BBC One television drama series Jamaica Inn has escalated, with the second episode seeing a decline in ratings.
A total of 252 people complained after the second episode on Tuesday, following the 546 who complained after Monday night's opening episode.
Episode two drew an average audience of 4.5 million, down on the 6.1 million who tuned in for the first instalment.
The three-part adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel concludes later.
The BBC apologised on Tuesday, attributing problems viewers had understanding the dialogue to "issues with the sound levels".
Some viewers said they had to use subtitles to understand the actors' apparent "mumbling", which one complainant said "was the worst [ever] heard in a TV drama".
Comedian Al Murray and Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis were among those to voice their displeasure on Twitter.
In a statement, the BBC apologised to viewers and said it would be "adjusting the dialogue levels in episode two and three to address audience concerns".
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Tuesday, director Philippa Lowthorpe said she was more "sad" than angry that the sound issues "may have disturbed a few people's enjoyment".
Set in 1821, Jamaica Inn tells of a young woman, played by former Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay, who gets mixed up with smugglers in Cornwall.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2013
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
