| Next | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Barry Purves[1] |
| Written by | Barry Purves |
| Based on | Plays of William Shakespeare |
| Produced by | Sara Mullock |
| Cinematography | Dave Alex Riddett David Sproxton |
| Edited by | Helen Garrard David McCormick |
| Music by | Stuart 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 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Next is a short film created by Aardman Animations. Its full title is "Next: The Infinite Variety Show".[2]
William Shakespeare auditions for an undetermined role in front of a bored Peter Hall with references to his play in under five minutes.[3]
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]
On imdb, Next received a rating of 7.3/10 from 188 users.[2]