{"id":1324,"date":"2018-09-07T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2019-03-14T10:07:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T14:07:49","slug":"hamlet-fall-tour-week-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/hamlet-fall-tour-week-5\/","title":{"rendered":"“Hamlet” Fall Tour — Week 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Grace Andrews<\/strong><\/p>\n

The aftermath of our showing last week has brought one word to all of our attention \u2013 simplicity. We have pushed far in creative exploration of this story \u2013 and now it is our job to tell the story with the most truth and clarity possible, and bring it to America with pride!<\/p>\n

Often, the solution to this is to simply do less. As an actor, it is hugely tempting to be interesting. In doing so, occasionally we move further away from the truth of simply being able to stand and speak, and let the text soar uncluttered.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

From L to R: Ben Eagle, Grace Andrews, Wendy Morgan.<\/p><\/div>\n

At the airport, I touched base with Wendy Morgan (Gertrude, Rosencrantz, Horatio and Lucianus) and Ben Eagle (Claudius, Francisco, Gravedigger) to ask them where their heads were at as we embarked on the next stage of our adventure.<\/p>\n

Wendy Morgan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

G \u2013 How do you feel about Gertrude?
\nW \u2013 I\u2019m still in a process which won\u2019t end, so I don\u2019t feel I\u2019ve arrived at anything I\u2019m totally happy with yet, but I feel like I have a good base to kick off from. Although actually, last night, I completely questioned what I was doing, and thought hmm, but then I thought, no \u2013 maybe I am on the right path.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 What have you found your main challenge to be so far?
\nW \u2013 I\u2019d say – waiting. Normally if a situation is uncomfortable I might want to resolve it, but I\u2019m trying to wait and allow it to be uncomfortable, and not rush into save everything, just allow, and trust everyone is alright, I suppose.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 And what has been your main joy?
\nW \u2013 Being with everyone and working on this play, in the way we\u2019re doing it, and taking it on tour to America, and being able to talk to students about this process.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 What do you prioritise when working on Shakespeare?
\nW \u2013 The structure of the verse and the prose \u2013 The Form.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 How do you feel about your role within this company?
\nW \u2013 Every single Shakespeare part I would love to play. I feel like there\u2019s literally no small part in Shakespeare, as it\u2019s all part of this big piece of music. So yeah, I\u2019m so grateful to be playing Gertrude, who\u2019s quite difficult in the underwritten way she is, but I\u2019m also playing Horatio, amongst others, so that really is quite a rounded experience.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 Anything to add?
\nW \u2013 I\u2019m honoured to be a part of this project, for many reasons, particularly because my teacher was Peter Hall, and he gave me all that I know, and I\u2019m honoured to be able to share that.<\/p>\n

Ben Eagle<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

G \u2013 How do you feel about Claudius?
\nB \u2013 Ooh, he\u2019s a good-looking chap, ha. He\u2019s the villain of the piece, but equally to knowingly play a villain is not a helpful way to approach a character. I\u2019d like to find the truth in him, and why he does what he does.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 What have you found your main challenge to be so far?
\nB \u2013 Working with such talented actors, and trying to match their phenomenal talent, of course.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 And what has been your main joy?
\nB \u2013 My biggest joy, is after five weeks of turbulence, and pleasure and creativity, we have a version of Hamlet<\/em> which is now clear and succinct, and I hope a pleasure to perform and a joy to watch.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 How do you feel about taking this play to the USA?
\nB \u2013 Well America is a very interesting place, and I think Hamlet<\/em> throws up so many different themes and arguments, that each individual audience, no matter where you\u2019re from, will draw something different from it. But it\u2019s not up to me to make that decision. I\u2019ll try and say the words like I mean them, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 What do you prioritise when you speak Shakespeare?
\nB \u2013 On this project, I have been encouraged to use the verse more, which can be extremely useful. It\u2019s not something I immediately go to. I try to find the sense in the line, which is interesting as I think the sense definitely comes from the verse. That\u2019s been a learning curve for me. I want to make the words mine, despite the fact that they are sometimes archaic and it\u2019s poetry – a heightened language, my aim would be to make it as naturalistic as possible.<\/p>\n

G \u2013 Anything to add?
\nB \u2013 It\u2019s been a joy so far, and I can\u2019t wait to perform to the American students and faculties. When do we get paid?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Grace Andrews The aftermath of our showing last week has brought one word to all of our attention \u2013 simplicity. We have pushed far in creative exploration of this story \u2013 and now it is our job to tell … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47489,360075],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actors-from-the-london-stage","category-hamlet-fall-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1326,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}