When William Shakespeare first penned the famous quote that begins, “All the world’s a stage…” in the 16th century he would have had no idea that more than 400 years later they would be taken literally with the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’s world tour of Hamlet.
The tour, which began on April 23 this year and is slated to hit 205 countries in two years, made its way to Guyana last week.
The Globe Theatre is internationally-renowned and is built very close to the original site of Shakespeare’s theatre in London. It is a direct replica of the original and some of the bricks from the older building were excavated and used in the modern one.
Throughout the year the theatre puts on various Shakespearian plays. So with more than 30 plays by Shakespeare, just why did the Globe Theatre choose to perform Hamlet?
“In my opinion it’s one of the most universal stories,” said Naeem Hayat, who plays Hamlet. He went on, “It has so many themes that are relevant to human beings everywhere. If you have to take a play to every country in the world and you’d like to take the story that can really relate, I think Hamlet has that; it’s about family, politics, intrigue, death, love…it’s about everything.”
Fellow cast-member Thomas Lawrence, who plays four of the play’s characters, added, “It really is one of the most iconic of the plays; as we find as we go throughout the world many people are familiar with the words even if they haven’t read the play.” He went on, “There are few plays that can sustain a company for two years and Hamlet is one of those…There’s something about Hamlet that you can use again and again.”
While Naeem is fortunate enough to play just one character, most of the other members are not as lucky; for the world tour, 12 cast members play interchanging roles in the production – a job actress Jennifer Leung said could be both daunting and beneficial.
“It’s a really good way of keeping the play fresh and always on our toes because you can’t really switch off at any moment when every line is, you know, really relevant to what you’re doing either when you’re reacting to it or you’re gonna be doing it the next evening,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer also plays four characters and, interestingly, she shares two of these characters with Thomas. Thomas explained that, due to changing roles, the show could be performed with as few as 8 performers.
He further said that the troupe’s task is a unique one because the actors are not only changing characters but also changing relationships onstage between the cast.
“It really is a test of memory,” Naeem added. “Every now and again you do forget who you’re playing…I think all of us can do a one-person show of Hamlet. Maybe we’ll try that after this,” he joked.
The troupe’s stop in Guyana marks the beginning of the third leg before the play heads off to Trinidad and Tobago. Before coming here, the theatre had visited 49 other countries in about 6 months including Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, the US, and Poland.
As expected from so many cultures, the responses to the play have been very different.
“Generally the reception has been good,” Thomas explained. He continued, “What’s interesting is how audiences respond. In some countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, they’re very quiet throughout the performance and they show their appreciation at the end, standing ovations that would go on for way longer than we’ve ever received. Whereas, in contrast to that, in some islands of the Caribbean they’ll be really verbal, commenting on somebody being killed, and you’ll hear the audience calling back at us.”
He went on that these responses are his favourite as they closely resemble the reactions of the audiences “back in Shakespeare’s day”.
For Jennifer, her personal highlights included playing in Kiev, Ukraine on the eve of the country’s 2014 presidential elections; the candidate who was eventually elected, Petro Poroshenko, was at the show. “So, he was watching Hamlet a couple of hours before being elected president so that was really special,” she stated.
When asked about the low points of the tour thus far, Jennifer jokingly said, “Low points? Probably working with Tommy and Naeem.” She went on, “There are hardly any low points but…as can be expected of a tour that takes you through a lot of places in a very short amount of time, sometimes you do get tired; you can get some very long travel days and I think the trick is really to pick ourselves up at the end of that.”
She further explained that, on a tour of this magnitude, fatigue happens more often but knowing that the audiences are looking forward to witnessing the play is a great motivator, particularly in cases where patrons would walk from long distances to watch the cast perform.
“It’s always good to be aware that we really have to be energetic and really attack it when we’re tired,” Jennifer said.
Naeem explained that being energetic and receiving energy from the audience in turn is something necessary for connecting with the patrons, particularly as his role as Hamlet. “Another thing I found is humour, how universal humour is. No matter where you go across the world, humour can be a really binding force. I really underestimated that,” he said.
Be unique
The Globe Theatre cast encourages aspiring actors to identify what makes them unique and work on that.
“You can give general advice on what you think might be good for a young actor or an aspiring actor to do but it all comes from your own experience,” Naeem said. He went on, “The one thing that I would say, that is coloured by my own experiences, is to follow your impulse…Cause that’s what I did…cause if I thought about it too much, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here…trust what you want in that moment.”
Thomas explained that actors do not necessarily have to be trained; though he along with Naeem and Jennifer all attended drama school, he noted that many of his favourite actors never did. He advised aspiring actors to “take as many opportunities without being too selective.”
In Jennifer’s case, acting was not her initial choice; she shared that she had pursued a degree in politics before taking the stage for the first time.
“I didn’t really notice that many Asian actors…being cast in Shakespeare’s play so I actually never went into the audition thinking, ‘Oh yea, I can be someone they’re looking for.’ I went in just for the experience so getting the job was a big, big surprise but also a real privilege for me…There’s nothing straightforward about me being here.” Naeem, too, had no interest in Shakespeare until his teens; working with the Globe Theatre on the Hamlet world tour is actually his first job since leaving drama school last year.
“I saw a pretty terrible production of Macbeth…and I just had to admit that I did not love it, that I did not understand what anybody was saying; everybody is wearing very strange clothing. So I didn’t really understand it,” he stated. However, with the aid of a dedicated English teacher, his interest subsequently grew and he decided to take up the opportunity to pursue acting.
“I think it’s really true that you have to follow your instinct and be true to who you want to be,” Jennifer said. However, she added, be realistic. “I came from a view where I thought the acting world was harsh, that it’s competitive. There’s no guarantee that you will be seen. I know this sounds quite harsh but it’s realistic,” she said. She continued, “I remember when I decided that I wanted to go full-time, not as an extra-curricular activity, my parents sat me down and said, ‘Jennifer, you do realize that only about 8% of actors in London are working full-time on a wage that sustains them?’ and I was like, ‘uh, yea.’ The statistics were not in my favour but if it’s something that you love to do, give it a proper go. Have in mind how competitive it is but also know that if you set your mind to doing it, you can probably do it.”
Thomas added, “Anything creative, you need to identify what makes you unique. It’s a hard process but once you relax and find out what makes you unique, that’s a valuable thing rather than trying to emulate what you see.” He went on, “Keep up the faith…acting’s a hard thing to do.”
