Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Issue 11
FREE
A Victorian
Ophelia
Top of the
Bottoms
Al Murray and
Judi Dench at
Shakespeare Live
Hiddleston
is Hamlet
Macbeth
A dark new
graphic novel
and an edgy
underground
production
(As imagined
by us)
Love Kills
Richard Madden and Lily James:
From Cinderella to Romeo and Juliet
with Kenneth Branagh
Plus Talawas King Lear Samira Ahmed The Wars of the Roses
Welcome
Welcome
to Issue 11 of Shakespeare Magazine
Yes, the Bard certainly arouses extreme emotions. (To the extent
that some people passionately hate the very term the Bard)
I think the controversy stems from the fact that Shakespeare
remains alive to us in ways that no other artist from the past does.
Which means that people appraise and judge Shakespeare the way they
would any other present-day creative force in theatre, literature or film.
Every day on Twitter I see sweeping statements of the Shakespeare
would have loved/hated this variety. Personally, I try to exercise a
more cautious approach. Shakespeares my hero, but if I think I know
his mind, Im probably kidding myself.
It can get exhausting, all these battles and wars that are always being
fought over Shakespeare. But its also exhilarating, because no other
figure from history has such an ongoing impact on global culture.
One cant help but wonder what the man himself would have made
of it all. Well, hed have made a bloody good play of it, probably.
Enjoy your magazine.
Pat Reid, Founder & Editor
shakespeare magazine
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shakespeare
At last! A magazine with all the Will in the world
Issue 11
FREE
A Victorian
Ophelia
Top of the
Bottoms
Al Murray and
Judi Dench at
Shakespeare Live
Hiddleston
is Hamlet
Macbeth
A dark new
graphic novel
and an edgy
underground
production
(As imagined
by us)
Love Kills
Richard Madden and Lily James:
From Cinderella to Romeo and Juliet
with Kenneth Branagh
Plus Talawas King Lear Samira Ahmed The Wars of the Roses
Shakespeare Magazine
Issue 11
October 2016
Founder & Editor
Pat Reid
Art Editor
Paul McIntyre
Contributing Writers
Stephanie Pina
Jenny Richardson
Kayleigh Toyra
Thank You
Mary Reid
Laura Pachkowski
Thomas Xavier Reid
Real Design & Media
Katie Nicholls
Web Design
David Hammonds
Contents
40
Monarch of
Madness
46
Tom Hiddleston
is Hamlet
20
A Front
Row Seat
52
The Girl In
The Frame
28
Show Us
Your Bottom!
58
My Nation
Underground
36
Oh, What A
Lovely War
Italian
Rhapsody
13
Heart of
Darkness
;IPPRSXSJGMEPP]QE]FI
But heres what we think THs
,EQPIXGSYPHPSSOPMOI
Contact Us
shakespearemag@outlook.com
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shakespeare magazine
Italian
Rhapsody
shakespeare magazine
shakespeare magazine
shakespeare magazine
10
shakespeare magazine
shakespeare magazine
11
Macbeth
Heart
of
Darkness
shakespeare magazine
13
! Macbeth
shakespeare magazine
Macbeth
shakespeare magazine
15
! Macbeth
So I started drawing the PSC version but had
one eye on where I could bring more in from the
original play.
If I ever produce a special edition of the book
I may show Macbeth repelling the attempted
sea invasion of Sueno Forkbeard. Shakespeare
mentions it at the beginning of the play. This and
a battle with Irish cavalry. Two very exciting scenes
that Id quite like to go back and draw.
I had to be careful to avoid talking heads so
I kept showing memories and extrapolating on
statements. In one case as Macbeth speaks his
plans for Banquo I realised I could give it a very
ironic turn by beginning with Macbeth, showing
the flight of Banquo and Fleance and ending with
Banquo facing assassination. This, to me, gave the
meaning of the text to both characters. If I were
to film it, Id switch voices midstream, because in
doing so it can be seen as a victory for Banquo,
those could be his words too. As if the ghost that
later raises a glass to Macbeth is already gloating at
having saved his son and his line.
If I had to describe your graphic novel in one
word, it would be blackness. What led you
to such an uncompromising visual approach
for Macbeth?
Atmosphere, speed and economy. I decided
Macbeth could and should be legible, even if
produced on the worst Xerox copier. Ive done
other works that have fine lines and wild colours
and have been hampered by how impossibly
expensive they are to print. One reviewer wrote
that I treat white as an afterthought it was a
compliment. Its a dark play, so my method works.
I like that some things wont be obvious at first
glance, like shadows on paper. Technically, in
scenes rich in shadow, its quicker to pick out light
than it is to build up shadow.
I was reminded of Alan Moores exploration
of the occult in From Hell, in that the
supernatural element seems very real in
your book. Is this intentional?
It is intentional. I believe Shakespeare wrote
Macbeth as an almost Oedipal fever-dream and
not as a real set of events like other plays. Sleep
and sleeplessness and the mention of dreams come
up again and again. As though its a Midwinter
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Macbeth
17
! Macbeth
kind of nightmare landscape, but you were
inspired by some very real and specific
locations?
Yes. I briefly lived near Cawdor in the early
90s and so Nairn beach makes an appearance. I
also slept in a cave on the coast somewhere near
Findhorn in 1986. Ive since learned about pagan
ritual items found in some of these coastal caves.
My memory of the cave and those beaches appears
in this book. My castles are fanciful but based
on the rubble causeway atop Bennachie. The
remnants of an ancient vitrified citadel, now long
gone, inspired this. One of the stones on the cover
is from the foot of Bennachie. The middle stone is
based on Suenos at Forres. The stone on the back
is there to honour Prague, it is the Stone Shepherd
located 50 miles from Prague.
You completed the graphic novel incredibly
quickly, in what sounds like a near-Olympian
feat. Can you tell us about the process?
I was completing four or five pages a day at
times. I did all the drawing in 28 days, one cycle
of the moon was the goal. With other books
I would sketch, refine, then ink the drawings.
With Macbeth I just drew it finished right away,
and allowed no refinement. The flow was the
most important thing, it was high-energy and
low maintenance. I decided not to look back or
fix anything. In that way it was very automatic.
Refining things can actually halt production,
and, to a certain extent, elegance and fine-line art
wouldnt work. It had to be brutal and raw and
jarring and horrifying, just like the story.
There are other Shakespeare comics out
there graphic novels, manga, spin-offs
like Kill Shakespeare and Toil and Trouble.
Were you influenced by any of these?
No. I was unaware of them at the outset. But I
soon saw they were out there and barred myself
from looking. I did the same with film, I would
not watch the films. The night I finished I watched
Polanskis version. I was disappointed that he
showed the murder of Duncan. That was a stupid
decision, Shakespeare didnt do that and he didnt
do it for a very good reason. Polanski totally missed
the point of that non-scene in my view. I think
our Macbeth is more terrifying, I have yet to see
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! Samira Ahmed
The best productions Ive seen have often been
international ones. A South Korean Midsummer
Nights Dream, a Kabuki Twelfth Night,
a Samurai Coriolanus with great warrior
robes and swords and loads of blood
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Samira Ahmed
21
! Samira Ahmed
Samira presented
The National
Theatres NT Live
cinema broadcast
of As You Like It in
February 2016.
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Samira Ahmed
23
! Samira Ahmed
Shakespeare seems to happen on a kind of
dream level. And obviously Freud was very
interested in Shakespeare...
Id recently watched The latest Hollow Crown
on TV when I went to see Richard III, with
Vanessa Redgraves haunting Margaret, and had
memories of Fiennes Henry VI for the RSC too.
It all merged, and I dreamt of Sophie Okonedos
Margaret covered in blood absolutely drenched
in it, with more blood being poured over her.
Interestingly the Fiennes/Goold production has
almost no blood in it. The horror is all in the
presentation and the ghastly menace on stage.
To be fair, my dream was as much about stagecraft
I was thinking about how much stage blood was
left in the bucket. It wasnt about Freud at all.
When you were working for the BBC in Los
Angeles, you covered the shocking and
hugely controversial OJ Simpson trial, which
I think at the time, 1995, was already being
described as like a Shakespearean Tragedy.
What are your recollections of that now?
Im sure I never said it was Shakespearean. It
wasnt. When you stripped away the celebrity status
and the circus of news media around him it was
an all too familiar domestic violence case. A man
who had beaten up his wife, then stalked her after
their separation. I guess theres something of the
7EQMVEWRETWEWIPI[MXLZIXIVER7LEOIWTIEVIEGXSV
and director Michael Pennington.
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Samira Ahmed
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The Hollow Crown featured in Samiras dream.
25
! Samira Ahmed
You also made a connection with some of
Shakespeares cross-dressing romps and the
much later British entertainment staple of
Carry On films. Again, tell us more, please!
I love drag so much, I cant tell you. And,
of course, most of us grow up never seeing
Shakespeare in this really artificial way. Instead we
see it cast with the characters gender-true, instead
of dragged up. But if you look at some of the best
Carry Ons, theyre brilliantly playful about gender
and love. Men are always going undercover as
women. Funny how Shakespeare didnt do that
double drag.
Theres a terrific romance at the heart of Carry
On Matron. Kenneth Cope is rather a handsome
hero, forced to dress up as a nurse for his fathers
scam. Theres a great scene where Barbara Windsor
realises hes a bloke and they start snogging, both in
their nurse dresses. And he gets hideously sexually
harassed by Terry Scotts leering doctor, who the
nurses call The Taxidermist. Now, as much as
in 1972, its a very clever, funny way to present a
rather serious issue. Like Shakespeare, theyre just
trying to be fun, but theres really charm in the
romances sometimes, set against broader comic
players and plots. Roy Castle and Angela Douglas
in Carry On Up The Khyber are a great example. I
also notice how often Carry Ons feature terrible
complications, but in the end the pompous fool
is exposed and alls well that ends well with a
wedding, just like a Shakespeare comedy.
Am I right in thinking that one of your recent
gigs has been presenting live Shakespeare
broadcasts such as the NT Live As You
Like It? Can you tell us what that involves
for you? And also what you think about
Shakespearean event cinema in general?
As You Like It was my first and only experience of
NT Live so far. Because it was a very technically
complex staging with all the desks and furniture
hoisted up in a remarkable visual scene change to
transform into the Forest of Arden I didnt get
to be on the stage doing any interviews. But Id
love to do more, as I really appreciate the idea of
enabling the audience to get a little behind-thescenes insight into these amazing productions.
The crews who film these are all talented
TV and film personnel whove worked on big
26
shakespeare magazine
! Al Murray
Show us your
Bottom!
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Al Murray
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! Al Murray
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Al Murray
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! Al Murray
And as Bottom, with those ears and whiskers and
general ugliness, you believe it.
Did you have a lot of rehearsals, or was it a
case of the old just turn up and do it?
I had several rehearsals earlier in the week and
then the day before. Ive played the RST (Royal
Shakespeare Theatre) before, doing my own shows
when its been dark on a Sunday, but this was all of
a different order. Waiting in the wings with John
Lithgow Ive a long way to go to top that.
Its also quite a saucy moment for Titania and
Bottom, which Dame Judi delightedly played
up to. Prompting a priceless pile-up of facial
expressions from Bottom...
Well, the thing is, with Dame Judi you know
youve not got a lot to do. The basic piece of
direction Greg gave me was to just listen and the
rest will follow.
Your backstage selfies from Shakespeare
Live were beautiful Al Murray, Judi Dench
and the actors playing Titanias fairies. It was
actually the most popular thing Shakespeare
Magazine has ever tweeted well, apart
from Benedict Cumberbatch. Were you
aware that Shakespeare was quite a thing on
social media?
No! But the night was clearly going to be a big
deal. It reminded me of the sort of thing the
BBC used to do ambitious, deliberately highbrow-meets-populist, having the confidence in
Shakespeare and a lot of talent to take over a whole
night of television. More please.
Apart from your own role, what were your
highlights of Shakespeare Live?
Being part of a company. I am so used to doing
my own stuff, and when we tour we travel in
a small touring party my tour manager, my
technical guy and me. When I wait in the wings
its just me, and its a long time since I got that
shakespeare magazine
Al Murray
33
! Al Murray
The night was clearly going to be a big deal:
ambitious, deliberately highbrow-meets-populist
Guest starring Prince
Charles, Shakespeare Lives
Seven Hamlets sketch
delighted fans of the Bard.
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shakespeare magazine
Nick Sample
As featured in
!
!
!
!
!
!
www.hillbarkplayers.co.uk
OPEN
AUDITIONS
28th November
5th December 2016
You could play Hamlet!
Oh,
What a
Lovely
War
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shakespeare magazine
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39
! King Lear
While we unburdened
crawl towards death
Lear (Don Warrington) sets
out to divide his kingdom
among his three daughters.
Monarch
of
Madness
40
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King Lear
shakespeare magazine
41
! King Lear
How did your involvement in the Talawa
production of King Lear come about?
This production came about because I had
worked with Michael Buffong at the Royal
Exchange Theatre before [in a critically-acclaimed
production of Arthur Millers All My Sons]. Sarah
Frankcom asked me to have a cup of tea with her.
We had a cup of tea in the cafeteria and she said
How about Lear? I looked at her and really didnt
think she was serious, so I said Yeah, why not?
Thats how it started, and three years later we find
ourselves doing it.
This is one of Shakespeares most physically
challenging roles. Did you do anything
special to prepare for it?
With Lear I thought more than physical
preparation I needed mental preparation. I started
thinking about it a year ago and I read it over and
over again. I would take it with me wherever I
went and I would spend a lot of time looking at
the text. I watched lots of versions of Lear and just
absorbed as much of the material as I could before
shakespeare magazine
King Lear
Alfred Enoch
(Edgar)
43
! KIng Lear
company like Talawa Theatre?
Why is it important theres a Talawa Theatre?
Whys it important theres a National Theatre?
Its important because its important. Just as the
Royal Exchange in Manchester says something to
the people of Manchester and the wider world,
Talawa says something to its audience and is
representative of black people in this country. They
have a voice and they need it to be expressed.
Whats it like to work as part of a theatre
company like this one?
I think working in a company is one of the most
exciting things one can do. I like to start with
people I dont know. Its frightening and lovely to
walk into a room not knowing who the people
are, what they are going to offer and starting
from the beginning. Im the leader of the company,
I try to be as generous and open as possible
because I feel that one has to set a benchmark and
encourage people to be as brave as possible. We had
that in this company, which is thrilling.
Was it important to convey the family
dynamic within the production?
Its important that we believe in the family because
it is a family drama. It is about a man who decides
to give away what hes got to his daughters in the
hope that they will look after him as he moves
towards death, like any family. We had to create
a family dynamic. He likes some of his children
more than others and whether we like it or not,
we all do that. We try to be fair, but we do have
favourites deep inside us, and that was the dynamic
I was looking for. Who does he like best? Whos the
cheekiest? Which one of them makes him smile?
All of those things.
The Royal Exchange reaches a wide and
diverse audience. Do you think that this film
will also help Shakespeare reach newer and
wider audiences?
I think the film will get to a larger audience and
I hope it will capture the essence of what we were
trying to do, by giving a flavour of how it worked
in the space.
Why do you think the character of The Fool
is significant in this play?
44
SHAKESPEARE
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*7%8LIEXVI'S
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! Tom Hiddleston
O God, I could be
bounded in a nutshell
and count myself a king of
infinite space, were it not
that I have bad dreams
Act II, Scene 2
Tom
HIDDLES
H
is
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shakespeare magazine
Tom Hiddleston
STON
HAMLET
Images courtesy of Marvel Studios,
StudioCanal and the BBC
shakespeare magazine
31
! Tom Hiddleston
32
shakespeare magazine
Hiddleston as
Jonathan Pine in
TV drama The
Night Manager
(2016).
Tom Hiddleston
I lovd Ophelia.
Forty thousand
brothers
Could not (with
all their quantity
of love)
Make up my
sum.
Act V, Scene 1
shakespeare magazine
33
! Tom Hiddleston
From High-Rise
(2016).
34
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Tom Hiddleston
shakespeare magazine
35
! Ophelia
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Ophelia
The Girl
in the Frame
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53
! Ophelia
The model assumed Ophelias death pose in a tin bath,
with the ornate gown billowing around her
Ophelia Before the King
and Queen (1792) by
Benjamin West.
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shakespeare magazine
Ophelia
55
! Ophelia
Left: Mignon
Nevada portrayed
Ophelia in a 1910
production of the
Ambroise Thomas
opera Hamlet.
Right: Ophelia
(1908) by
John William
Waterhouse.
Also known
as Gather Ye
Rosebuds While
Ye May
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shakespeare magazine
! Insane Root
My Nation
Underground
Macbeth performed in an eerie redwalled cave has become one of the
highlights of the Bristol Shakespeare
Festival. Producer Justin Palmer takes
us on a subterranean guided tour.
Words: Kayleigh Toyra
Pictures: Graham Burke, Jon Craig
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Insane Root
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59
! Insane Root
lurid rumours about human bodies chained to the
subterranean walls. And, as the Bristol-Link website
notes, the full extent of the caves are unknown.
The fact that we can so readily imagine dark
deeds taking place here adds poignancy to the
plays violent themes. In the high-strung opening
scene, Macbeth and Banquo bear symptoms of
post-battle distress as they pace the narrow corridor
to be greeted by the witches arresting appearance.
Echoing the mens nerviness, the audience are
unsure in their new surroundings, starting at the
witches who appear from the darkness. Banquos
nervous laughter is made more unsettling by
The domestic
drama of the
1EGFIXLWTPE]WSYX
in a candlelit cavern.
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Insane Root
61
! Insane Root
We see Macbeth battling in a hellish bunker,
raging and raving, and we are locked in with him
8LIWXVMTTIHFEGO
productions few props
MRGPYHIEWXYVH]XEFPIERH
those all-important candles.
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Next issue
!
!
!
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Margaret Atwood
Harriet Walter
Shakespeares Storms