I Am HamletWhat 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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Steven Berkoff. by the same author WEST AND OTHER PLAYS KVETCH / ACAPULCO SINK THE BELGRANO ! DECADENCE AND OTHER PLAYS I AM HAMLET Steven Berkoff GROVE WEIDENFELD New York Copyright.
Steven Berkoff. by the same author WEST AND OTHER PLAYS KVETCH / ACAPULCO SINK THE BELGRANO ! DECADENCE AND OTHER PLAYS I AM HAMLET Steven Berkoff GROVE WEIDENFELD New York Copyright.
Page vii
... play it . The bold extrovert will dazzle and play with the word power , the scenes of vengeance , and blast Ophelia and Gertrude off the stage . The introvert will see every line pointed at him , the outsider , the loner , the watcher ...
... play it . The bold extrovert will dazzle and play with the word power , the scenes of vengeance , and blast Ophelia and Gertrude off the stage . The introvert will see every line pointed at him , the outsider , the loner , the watcher ...
Page viii
Steven Berkoff. Hamlet since when you play Hamlet he becomes you . When you play Hamlet , you play yourself and play the instrument which is you . If you can make a good tune as an actor your best tunes will come out of Hamlet and if not ...
Steven Berkoff. Hamlet since when you play Hamlet he becomes you . When you play Hamlet , you play yourself and play the instrument which is you . If you can make a good tune as an actor your best tunes will come out of Hamlet and if not ...
Page ix
... play with ten people . It began life in Edinburgh in August 1979 and continued in 1980 at the Round House , where we received the most awful battering from the press . Undeterred we played it in Europe for the next two years and ...
... play with ten people . It began life in Edinburgh in August 1979 and continued in 1980 at the Round House , where we received the most awful battering from the press . Undeterred we played it in Europe for the next two years and ...
Page x
... plays Hamlet is Hamlet . Being now Hamlet I felt I could comment on what was around me from his point of view . It has been a pleasure to write and I hope it will be a pleasure to read . In all , this journal took probably two years to ...
... plays Hamlet is Hamlet . Being now Hamlet I felt I could comment on what was around me from his point of view . It has been a pleasure to write and I hope it will be a pleasure to read . In all , this journal took probably two years to ...
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Common terms and phrases
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