Midwinter's Tale, A

The drama. The passion. The intrigue. . . And rehearsals haven't even started.

This is a manufactured on demand disc that was created using a DVD-R disc. It should play in all standard DVD players.

To be or not to be? To act or not to act? They're the same question to Joe, a struggling (read: jobless) actor whose every sinew and synapse cries out to perform - and to soften the blow of not landing a part in the mega budget sci-fi movie. So in the stalwart (read: desperate) tradition of actors everywhere, Joe vows to put on a show, a special (read: even more desperate) version of the greatest play in the English tongue. Writer/director Kenneth Branagh serves up a Hamlet on wry with this salute to dyed-in-the-wool and often woolly-brained thespians. Michael Maloney plays Joe, maxing out his credit cards and wits to realize a dream. Does he succeed? With Richard Briers, Joan Collins, Nicholas Farrell, Absolutely Fabulous alumna Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha and more joining Maloney, one thing's certain: the show must go on.