Hamlet by the Glenwood Shakespeare Company

This page last modified on Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Henry V was going to Queensland (where he is still).
Got an Ophelia; got a Horatio (an Horatio?); got a
Gertrude. Ain’t got no Hamlet! The best candidate
was they kid who got sacked as Pistol - great,
great actor, but one who didn’t want to take on
the burden of the starring role. Fair enough, I
suppose, and honest. If you’d rather play than
rehearse, who could blame you (yes, you guessed
it - I really thought they should give it all up for the uniqueness and glory of doing a primary school Hamlet - but it’s been a while since I was a kid. Still...! Still...!)? However, salvation came with the former Exeter who agreed to take on the part. As well, because we would now have to rehearse in our “spare time”, the casting was opened up to the whole school, though the core remained the kids who had come across from 3G 1993. Nevertheless, by the time the casting process was finished, the grade range ran from Year 3 to Year 6. Now we really were the GLENWOOD Shakespeare Company.

Rehearsals began in term one, two lunchtimes per week, beginning in February. Given that Henry V had come together from nothing in less than two terms, to some it seemed like a very early start, but I knew that without the flexibility of being able to grab spare class time (the ten minutes before lunch time etc) and without being able to rehearse them in my RFF, we would need all of that time. Even then, I broached the idea of Sunday rehearsals to the cast as a probable necessity, and was met with - agreement! Great, great kids!

Backstage dramas began early with my Hamlet getting cold feet. Despite the extensive rehearsal program and the expanse of time to the performance (again scheduled for October 25, a traditional date now), she began to have doubts about her ability to carry off the demanding role. In my opinion, she could certainly have gotten there by October - I have no doubt about it, but what do you do in such a situation? It’s a dilemma to be sure - tough it out to see her through the early anxiety, or re-cast? Re-casting is agony. It’s one of those “I’d rather crawl over broken glass” things - because the work done so far is wasted, and the original vision, and the vision created after casting is corrupted. It throws off your equilibrium (well, at least it throws off mine). She was very keen on the change, but I still have the impression that some part of her wanted me to talk her out of it - so I guess the kids have their conflicts too.

It turned out okay in the end. It was just a simple swap between Hamlet and Claudius, which was a fairly smooth one as they had done a lot of scenes together and had a good impression on what I was hoping to get from each character. Claudius had been played by our first Year 6 person, who was not only new to the GSC but also new to the school and the country. We had Shakespeare performed by an authentic Englishperson! We were lucky that she was a natural, and quickly picked up the discipline that the other kids had acquired the pervious year (don’t turn your back to the audience etc). A minor problem was height differential. Hamlet being Year 6 and the majority of the rest, including Hamlet’s mother and Uncle, being in Year 4 made for a moments second glance - just a pause before you got used to it and accepted the reality of the world being staged for you.

Sets were again very simple. We got a hold of some more polling booths thanks to a State election (I think, or was it local council?), and turned the backdrop over to paint on a designed created on computer by the former Governor of Harfleur. The backdrop design incorporated a couple of windows, and I found some great gift wrap that looked like abstract stained glass. I glued it in place and them smeared PVA glue all over it to give it strength, which also gave it shine. It ended up looking quite good, and has since taken many foldings and unfoldings. [note 2003: the Hamlet backdrop, complete with wrapping-paper stained glass, is still in perfect shape and was used last year for a class play we did called "The Ghost Hunters".] A companion to the original throne was added - another polling booth spayed gold. Gertrude was reluctant to sit on the cardboard seat but I assured her it was safe so long as -

Too late! She sat on it while I was explaining the way it had to be sat upon and promptly fell through. Far from the last time that happened, unfortunately.

Costumes were more of the same from the previous year, with a few more capes and a puffy shirt contributed by the principal. Another toy shop going out of business contributed some great swords, including a couple of foils. The mother of the Ghost really made a great contribution - lots of jewels and pearls and a knitted chain-mail vest. This was topped by some armour from the Australian Opera! When the Ghost appeared, I played the Id Monster electronic music from Forbidden Planet - very unnerving indeed. When we rehearsed the Ghost’s appearance with the music, the kids were freaked out.

The rest of the music was provided by Ennio Morricone (Mel Gibson’s Hamlet, 1990), Sir William Walton (Olivier’s Hamlet, 1948), Forbidden Planet (Louis and Bebe Barron, 1956) for the Ghost, and Ophelia’s funeral was accompanied by a track from Much Ado About Nothing (1993).

The slides were something special! I travelled through Syria and Jordan that year and got some great photos of Fakhredon Almaani Castle, an old crusader fortress. This was a fantastic place, so dramatically set that it was hard to believe that it was real and not built just to impress the tourists (which, come to think of it, it probably was, especially given that the tourists at the time were bent on plundering and pillaging). Interiors were provided by the Crac de Chevalier, another imposing fortress whose interior was in better shape than Almaani.

This production would also introduce an element of multi-media for the first time (apart from the slides), and would give the first taste of the GSC on video. One scene not in the play, but described by Hamlet in his letter to Horatio, would be performed on video: where Hamlet swaps the letters carried by Rosencrantz and Guidernstern for his execution with another ordering THEIR execution. It was a very simple set up with the cabin made up of a wooden medical screen draped with some hessian and some ropes, a little (battery powered) oil lamp, and lighting from an overhead projector with some hessian material over the lens. The overhead was rocked back and forth to simulate the rocking of the boat. Added to this were some sound effects from the Mel Gibson movie, and it finished up pretty good. The video was edited on equipment at Hurlstone Agricultural High School, stuff that I’d used before and was amazed that I remembered how, given the three year break in between. There was one thing that I regretted. It would have been more effective if I’d rocked the camera with the overhead to keep the filtered hessian light steady, but have everything else move, like the whole set was rocking. Oh well, next time.

Meanwhile rehearsals continued at lunchtimes and Sundays, with most of the cast turning up most of the time.

As part of the experience, we attended our first NIDA workshop, which consisted of two sessions: drama games, and then, at the kids’ prompting, a rehearsal for Hamlet. This was the first time the kids had rehearsed without their scripts, and I was surprised and delighted that they had almost the whole play down! This was July! The NIDA instructors were also stunned, especially by Laertes. Of course later, when we got back outside, one of the first things Laertes did was to walk out onto busy Anzac Road!

As an aside, the bus rides we had to and from NIDA were an illustration of the best and worst of people. We trained it in to Circular Quay, and looked about for the right bus to catch to NIDA. Seeing us there, a lady bus driver kindly offered to take us to NIDA direct as she was heading back to the depot that way! Great! The trip back from NIDA on a regular bus was not so nice, being heavily polluted by the swearing teenage girls in the back seat. They were immune to any requests to think of the fact that we had young kids on the bus. Horribly enough, they were using a discussion of Othello as the basis for their “discussion”! We also did an education week performance at Westfields, where virtually nothing was heard. Olivier himself couldn’t have projected his voice in that chasm. Those shopping centre gigs are strictly for dancers with swirly things and taped backing music.

We also entered a scene from the play in the Sydney Performing Arts Challenge. We did very well, but were marked down because the material was considered by the judges to be “inappropriate” - though why this was so was not specified. This notion of “inappropriateness” continues to haunt the company at the “official” level, though this is never defined. The absurdity of the notion has been illustrated several times to myself and other company members in examples too numerous to mention, but I have taken the same kids back to the Sydney Performing Arts Challenge two years later as secondary students where they received commendations for material from the same plays. Go figure.

That year also marked the beginning of a tradition that continues to this day. We took the first group of enthusiasts to see a professional production of Hamlet - the noteworthy Belvoir Street production which starred Richard Roxburgh as Hamlet, Geoffrey Rush as Horatio, Jacek Koman as Claudius, Max Cullen as Polonius, Gillian Jones as Gertrude and Jacqueline MacKenzie as Ophelia. A chap with the unlikely name of George Washingmachine was also in the cast. It was the best Hamlet I’ve ever seen, and the kids sat spellbound for the over four-hour, two intermission full-text production (complete with our illicit Hamlet chocolates which we snuck in). A real buzz for the kids was meeting the cast afterwards and getting lots of autographs. “Shine” would have been barely gleam in Geoffrey Rush’s eyes at the time, but he was the most incredible Horatio you could imagine. The power of his lamentation and guilt over the death of Hamlet was awe-inspiring. In fact, everyone in the cast outdid themselves ten-fold. My Ophelia, though, I have to say, was appalled to discover that her counterpart, Jacqueline MacKenzie was smoking! When we had the premier of Macbeth the next year, we made a point of inviting a lot of this cast. None came, but Geoffrey Rush answered the invitation (a hand written letter!), as did John Bell, whom we also invited. Some of the plays or films we’ve been to since then have been Macbeth (Bell; Shakespeare by the Sea), Rozencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead (Porkchop), Ophelia Thinks Harder (I forget), Henry IV (Bell), Henry V (Bell), Twelfth Night (Bell), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Seymour Centre) and the films of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1997), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994) and probably more which I’ve forgotten.

Unfortunately, a real tragedy struck during preparations for Hamlet. Laertes’ father was diagnosed with a serious illness. Without going into details, Laertes would be leaving the school to be looked after by his older brother. Like a real professional, he rose to the occasion and took part in the evening performance and was magnificent. For other performances, Guildernstern took on a dual role, which was another magnificent example of rising to the occasion like a pro. Great kids.

Well, the prophesy of needing the whole year certainly held true - even so, I would still have liked a few more weeks to rehearse as October 25 arrived. Nevertheless, it was an excellent production and clearly showed that Henry V had not been a fluke. It also led to an number of discoveries - the impressive comic talent of the Player Queen, and one moment in one scene, very evident in the later video, that won the role of Macbeth for Horatio. The was a perfect combination of dread, fear and friendship in her face, exactly the emotion needed of Horatio at that moment - after the play within the play that betrays Claudius. Any one who could craft a split second in the background so expertly had got to be a front runner for Macbeth. By the way, the video was shot at a performance especially for camera - play videos shot from a single angle at the back of the hall on the night of the performance suck.

The next play would be Macbeth. It would be short (it’s the shortest Shakespearian play anyway) and directed by one of the kids. At least that was the idea.

Of course, it turned out to be NOTHING like that idea. Instead it became a two-year, eight thousand dollar epic with a cast of over sixty and locations which ranged from snowy peaks to the dingy drains. It became Macbeth: the Movie!

Rebecca Barnes	Hamlet
Julieanne Horsman	Ophelia
Jessica Benten	Gertude
Elizabeth Scibilia	Claudius
Julia Reece	Horatio
Tara Homewood	Polonius
Steven Crow	Laertes
Glenn Paul	Laertes/Guildenstern
Nicholas Lee	Ghost
Christopher Martin	Barnardo
Maryham Farag	King of England
Danielle Logan	Lady
Lara Smith	Lady
Aaron Fiez	Marcellus
Kit Lai	Osrick
Mark Allen	Ollio (gravedigger)
Shane Slater	Stanlio (gravedigger)
Ronald Hofman	Player King
Melanie Hofman	Player Murderer
Jessica Nakkour	Player Queen/Ollio
Lucie Flidr	Fourth Player
Sandy Hodges	Priest
Christopher Ladbrook	English Guard/Rosencrantz
Daniel Morales	English Guard
Anthony Graf	English Guard
Ashley Love	English Priest
Yorick	Himself