whishawnews:

You’ve revisited some shows several times. Is it because you have new ideas about them?

I directed Hamlet in 1970, and then in 2004 I went back to it to recapture things I had done as a teenager. That first time, I assumed Hamlet was a university student; it says so on every page. But when I came to do it professionally everybody assumes you ignore those things and that it’s fine to have a 40-year-old actor playing Hamlet because his career has reached his pinnacle. [Nunn’s leading man, Alan Howard, was actually 33 in 1970.] It’s a strange theatre tradition built on the idea that you need a great tragedian to play Hamlet and therefore you see Gertrude near her 60th birthday and the ghost with a big white beard. All of that is nonsensical.

The moment that you say Hamlet is a university student, then Gertrude is 39, Claudius is 42 and Hamlet’s dad was 44 and died inexplicably in his prime. Hamlet discovers this affair while still believing he was part of an incredibly happy family. It derails and deranges him. In 2004, I did it with a boy called Ben Whishaw, who was just 23 and had only recently finished drama school. It was extraordinary.

— Trevor Nunn interview, American Theatre, 2 February 2016

1. amadmanwithapen reblogged this from captaingrahamcr
2. madbutgloriouspond reblogged this from markcampbells
3. captaingrahamcr reblogged this from markcampbells
4. markcampbells reblogged this from whishawnews
5. lilybarthes liked this
6. cocythe liked this
7. atreides reblogged this from tobermoriansass
8. tinker-tanner liked this
9. indigoforiver liked this
10. seikima2 liked this
11. zuzuscrush reblogged this from whishawnews
12. widmerpool2014 reblogged this from whishawnews
13. gold-hatted-lovers liked this
14. shatterproofwhimsy reblogged this from whishawnews
15. sarahin liked this
16. zielenna reblogged this from tobermoriansass
17. freegladelancer reblogged this from jackmarlowe
18. onacloudpine reblogged this from likeniobe
19. anoshebettadont liked this
20. fodrrse liked this
21. callmesirkay liked this
22. theladyofni liked this
23. allyourfavsaretrans reblogged this from tobermoriansass
24. thalia1832 liked this
25. tobermoriansass reblogged this from spacesweepers
26. zamudios reblogged this from thecoppercow
27. lydiadeetz liked this
28. emrysmerlyn liked this
29. bagera69 liked this
30. leavesdancing reblogged this from letalkingmime
31. anonymous-scapegoat liked this
32. leavesdancing liked this
33. td1571 reblogged this from aconissa
34. sadieb798 liked this
35. letalkingmime reblogged this from aconissa
36. letalkingmime liked this
37. twilight-cowboy liked this
38. twilight-cowboy reblogged this from aconissa
39. ocean--master reblogged this from aconissa
40. ocean--master liked this
41. whishawnews posted this
42. Show more notesLoading...