I Am HamletGrove Press, 1990 - 209 pages What goes through a man's mind when he is playing Hamlet? How does Shakespeare's best-known play actually work, from the inside? Steven Berkoff is an actor, playwright, and director with an extraordinary talent for conveying powerful ideas and emotions. His production of Hamlet, in which he took the title role, began in Edinburgh in 1979, went on to the Round House in London, and toured throughout Europe for the next two years. The company completed its final performance as guests of Jean-Louis Barrault at his Rond Point Theater, where the audience gave the production a tempestuous ovation. During the tour Berkoff kept a journal and recorded the workings of the play from the director/actor's point of view. On the basis of that diary Berkoff has created an intensely personal analysis of the play with a line-by-line examination of the text and the way he approached it in his production. His detailed observations show how his imagination covers a wide range of human experience--from love and death to the nature of marriage and the messianic fervor of Hamlet. I Am Hamlet not only reveals the mind of a fascinating actor and director at work, it is also a singular encounter with a part that "touches the complete alphabet of human experience" and that every actor feels he is born to play. |
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Page vii
... directors too . For whatever reason , and there are many , Hamlet is the accumu- lation of all our values and beliefs . In him are set out the rules for the perfect human , the perfect rationalist , plus the adventurer , all rolled into ...
... directors too . For whatever reason , and there are many , Hamlet is the accumu- lation of all our values and beliefs . In him are set out the rules for the perfect human , the perfect rationalist , plus the adventurer , all rolled into ...
Page viii
... director . The first and usual fear besetting actor / directors is how to imbue the cast with a faith in their ability to do both tasks . If I faltered would their faith in me , and their resolve in the play , weaken ? How to start ? I ...
... director . The first and usual fear besetting actor / directors is how to imbue the cast with a faith in their ability to do both tasks . If I faltered would their faith in me , and their resolve in the play , weaken ? How to start ? I ...
Page ix
... director / actor's point of view . I wanted to show a line by line examination of the text and how we dealt with it in terms of the production , so in effect what follows is a production diary . It was a fascinating task for me but I ...
... director / actor's point of view . I wanted to show a line by line examination of the text and how we dealt with it in terms of the production , so in effect what follows is a production diary . It was a fascinating task for me but I ...
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Page 27
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actors arms audience become blood Bob Hornery body cast centre chairs chorus Christopher Plummer Claudius comes corridor court create David Auker death director door drum face FALKLANDS WAR father fear feel felt floor foils follow Fortinbras Gary Whelan Gertrude gesture Ghost give Hamlet hands hear hold Horatio horror imagine John Prior kill King and Queen Laertes laugh leaps look lord Matthew Scurfield mime mind mind's eye mother mouth moves murder night Olivier Ophelia Osric pace passion pause performance play players Plummer poison Polonius Polonius's pull purged rehearsal role Rory Edwards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern round Sally Bentley scene scream seems seen Shakespeare slowly somehow sound speak speech stage stop suddenly sword theatre thing thou thought trying turn Tyrone Guthrie voice waiting walk watching Wolf Kahler words