Publisher's Synopsis
Triple set of costume dramas. The multi-Oscar winning 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998) is set in late 16th-century London, where the theatre's most promising young playwright, Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), is suffering from writer's block. Rose Theatre owner Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) is desperate that Will's new play - tentatively entitled 'Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter' - be finished, while a new cast member, Thomas Kent, is equally eager to make his stage debut. Kent has a secret, however: 'he' is actually Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), merchant's daughter and fiancé of Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). Adopting a disguise to enter a trade forbidden to women, matters become complicated when Will falls for her in her more conventional garb. In 'Marie Antoinette' (2006), Marie (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis but, to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. 'Vanity Fair' (2004), is an adaptation of Thackeray's satirical masterpiece about the constant battle for wealth and social success amongst the aristocracy of the early nineteenth century. In a society growing rich on the wealth generated by an expanding empire, Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon) is the ambitious daughter of a poor family, who will let nothing stand in her way in her attempt to climb the social ladder. Taking a position as nanny to the children of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins), Becky insinuates her way into the family's favours and into London society, eventually marrying Crawley's eldest son Rawdon (James Purefoy). When Rawdon proves to be a gambler and a drunkard, Becky wastes no time in approaching the influential Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), in the hope that he will help advance her position. But will Becky Sharp come to regret the ruthlessness of her agenda, and can she keep climbing the social ladder forever?
