Duration 1:18:18. A videorecorded version, issued on VHS, of Glover's one-man theatrical production of Beowulf in two acts. The video is not a film of a live performance before an audience, but is a studio recording. It maintains a spirit of live performance by using long, continuously filmed segments (I count a total of 9 action cuts), captured by three positioned cameras whose footage is edited together for best angles, isolations, etc. The production includes a few simple lighting effects and props as well as basic camera dynamics such as zooms and turns.

As the 1983 video credits and the title page of the 1987 book version both indicate, the performance text was adapted by Glover chiefly from the translations of Michael Alexander and Edwin Morgan. The paragraph below, based on examination of the 1987 book, presumes that that 1987 text accurately reflects the nature of the performance script that Glover began using in 1981 and filmed a performance of in 1983.

Glover's version is considerably shorter than the original, as he limits it for the most part to the monster-fighting storyline. After choosing the parts to include, Glover's general procedure is to lightly adapt Alexander's 1973 translation, usually changing Alexander's wording only slightly (such as to smooth a transition where some lines are omitted), but also working in occasional lines and phrases from Morgan where Glover found these particularly striking. For example, at Beowulf ll. 96-97a, Glover uses Morgan's "Loaded the acres of the world in the jewelwork / Of branch and leaf" instead of Alexander's "furnished forth the face of Earth / with limbs and leaves"; at Beowulf ll. 112-14a, he selects Morgan's "Kobolds and gogmagogs, lemures and zombies / And the brood of titans that battled with God ages long" in lieu of Alexander's "ogres and elves and evil shades— / as also the Giants, who joined in long / wars with God"; and at Beowulf ll. 162b-63, Glover gives Morgan's "what man's knowledge / can map the gliding ground of demon and damned?" in place of Alexander's "Men know not / where hell's familiars fleet on their errands!" In all, Glover's prologue section—which extends to l. 193 of the poem—follows Alexander closely with 5 or 6 interjections of Morgan's wording, and this proportion seems consistent throughout.

[unfinished business: although the 1981 performance is not accessible, I can collate the 1987 book with the 1983 video to see if there are any changes or discrepancies.]

Not in MO2.

BAM.