Shakespeare Magazine 06

At last! A magazine with all the Will in the world 

SHAKESPEARE 

FREE 

Hamlet 

Alone? 

Exploding 

the myth of 

“To be or 

not to be…” 

Issue 6 

Art 

thou 

Grumio? 

Our college 

girl takes on 

The Taming 

of the Shrew 

Big Books 

Giveaway! 

Brilliant Bard 

Books up for 

grabs inside! 

Set in stone 

Five great exclusive 

Shakespeare interviews! 

Shakespeare Hero Ben Crystal Clever Comedian Sara Pascoe 

The Tutor novelist Andrea Chapin Kill Shakespeare’s Anthony Del Col 

Superteacher Phil Beadle meets Bard Evangelist Ben Walden

Welcome 

Welcome 

to Issue 6 of Shakespeare Magazine 

Shakespeareans tend to have a way with words, and this 

issue features five interviews to inspire and enlighten 

anyone with an interest in the Bard. 

Acclaimed educator and author Phil Beadle verbally spars with 

actor-director Ben Walden, a man possessed of compelling faith in the 

power of Shakespeare. 

And Kill Shakespeare co-creator Anthony Del Col riffs on the 

exciting possibilities for Shakespeare in TV, video games and, of course, 

comics. 

Comedian Sara Pascoe has been delighting audiences with her 

mixture of amiable whimsy and razor-sharp wit. Here, she tells us all 

about the 16th Century man in her life – namely Shakespeare. 

Staying in the 16th Century is Andrea Chapin, whose novel The 

Tutor introduces readers to a young, ambitious and mercurial William 

Shakespeare. 

Rounding off this virtual symposium is one of the most exciting 

all-round talents in the Shakespeare world right now. Ben Crystal tells 

us about his workshops, his books, collaborating with his dad, and the 

wonders of ‘OP’. 

Enjoy your magazine. 

Photo: David Hammonds 

Pat Reid, Founder & Editor 

SHAKESPEARE magazine 3

LOVE, SEX & 

SHAKESPEARE... 

“We will always be haunted by the question 

‘What inspired Shakespeare’s greatest poetry?’ 

In her captivating debut novel, Andrea Chapin 

offers a brilliant solution...” 

James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare 

Published in the UK by Penguin on 26 March, £7.99

The Taming of the Shrew 

Our US Staff Writer 

breaks the gender 

wall and takes to 

the stage as Grumio 

in her college’s 

ambitious production 

of Shakespeare’s most 

boisterous comedy. 

Words: Mary Finch 

The 

Taming 

of the 

GRU 

6 SHAKESPEARE magazine

The Taming of the Shrew 

fter putting on my jacket and 

straightening my hat, I turned 

to my sister with an air of 

expectancy. “You look like an 

asshole,” she said, laughing. 

I smiled. That was exactly the 

look I was going for. 

I was wearing leather pants, black kicks 

(that’s what the kids call those shoes, right?), 

a T-shirt two sizes too large, and a hoodie to 

match. The ensemble was topped off with a 

grey beanie on my head, and a bruise around 

my eye. The final touch was an oversized 

gold watch on my wrist. The wardrobe was 

inspired in part by Justin Bieber and Kanye 

West, so not my normal style. 

Over the next three hours, I got into fights 

(losing most of them), made crude jokes, 

drove go-karts and fought with lightsabres, 

all in the name of William Shakespeare. I was 

playing Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew. 

 

“The wardrobe was inspired 

in part by Justin Bieber 

and Kanye West, so not 

my normal style” 



Mary 

“I decided that in true 

Shakespearean fashion I’d 

try to ‘suit me all points 

like a man’” 

This adventure began three months ago when 

I decided to audition. The fact that it’d been 

seven years since my last acting experience 

didn’t deter me. Nor did the fact that this play 

features hardly any female roles. Knowing 

that Messiah College, my small liberal arts 

school would have an abundance of girls 

competing to play Katherina and Bianca, 

I decided that in true Shakespearean fashion 

I’d try to “suit me all points like a man”. 

Looking at the array of men’s parts, 

I considered my petite frame and artsy 

demeanor, and settled on auditioning for 

Petruchio’s hot-headed companion Grumio. 

To my disappointment, I was only called back 

for the female roles, but when the director, 

Tom Ryan, was short of someone to read 

Grumio, I was on stage before he could finish 

asking for volunteers. One anxious week later, 

the cast list was up and I was on my way to 

checking one more item off my bucket list. 

is transformed 

into a brawling 

Shakespearean 

delinquent… 

With the anxiety of auditions removed, 

though, I found myself beginning to worry 

about the fate of this beloved text. The first 

read-through, which took six hours, did little 

to boost my confidence in the capabilities of 

this cast (myself included) to tackle one of the 

Bard’s most nuanced comedies. 

Much to my chagrin, my college had 

not performed Shakespeare in four years, so 

for most of us this was the first Shakespeare 

play we had been involved in. But I was not 

exactly enthralled by the director’s vision – a 

modern-day Shrew where the Minola family 

owned a pizza shop in Little Italy, NYC, 

while Lucentio travelled from Texas and 

Petruchio came from New Jersey. However, 

what unfolded over the month-and-a-half of 

rehearsals astounded me. 

Tom set the tone from the beginning. 

“These characters are stereotypical,” he said 

at the first rehearsal, “but their relationships 


The Taming of the Shrew 

“The metre gives you everything you 

need, even the character at times” 

with each other are complicated.” My anxiety 

subsided a little. 

I won’t say we did something with 

Shakespeare that was unheard of, or unique – 

I’ve seen too many productions to think that 

– but it was impressive. 

Part of Shakespeare’s genius, perhaps the 

main part, is that he does not tell the story 

of one, two or even three characters. Every 

person in his cast has the potential to be the 

main character of the action. Not only did 

Ryan know this, but so did each of my fellow 

cast members. 

Over and over, Ryan encouraged us to 

decide on who our character was, figure out 

the stereotype, discover ways to go bigger. 

Gremio (Bob Colbert) became a washed-up 

mobster who had seen better days. Biondello 

(Cheyenne Shupp) turned into an overzealous 

and hilariously naive stable hand. 

Vincentio (Tim Spirk) was a Texan oil baron. 

The play features 

perhaps Shakespeare’s 

most inspired use of a 

golf buggy. 

Even the Pedant (Austin Blair) became 

his own character – in this production, a 

drunkard who spent most of his time passed 

out on stage. 

Beyond the hours of rehearsal at night, 

Ryan encouraged all the actors to study the 

text on their own time. Since poring over 

Shakespeare encapsulates most of my free 

time, it was far from a tedious assignment. 

For other cast members, who didn’t share this 

passion, it was more of a chore. 

Nevertheless, they tackled the 

challenge with relish and it enlivened their 

performances. Actors previously unaware of 

the power of Shakespeare’s words and rhythm 

were finding it on their own. 

“It was really exciting to make discoveries 

as we did that homework,” says Michael 

Hardenberg (Tranio). “The metre gives you 

everything you need, even the character at 

times.” 



Tobias Nordlund played Petruchio and 

struggled with the text before it came good in 

the end. “My experience with this show and 

with Shakespeare,” he says, “completely took 

me by surprise.” 

When opening night arrived, we were 

abuzz with nervous energy. Hell Week of 

rehearsals lived up to its name, but the 

production far exceeded our expectations. 

The audience roared when Kate 

(Rachel Ballasy) duct taped the hands of 

Bianca (Chrisanna Rock), trapping her 

on a speeding-up treadmill during the 

interrogation scene. In the wedding scene, I 

successfully manoeuvred a golf cart on and off 

the stage to gasps of surprise. And at the end 

of the road trip scene, when a member of the 

college faculty came out of the port-a-potty 

with toilet paper trailing from his feet, the 

audience erupted with laughter. 

Playing Grumio let me fall in love with 

The cast strove to 

make each character 

as three-dimensional 

as possible. 

Shakespeare and theatre in new ways. Above 

all, it cemented my belief that anyone, truly 

anyone, can do Shakespeare – and do it 

phenomenally – and that is the reason he is 

still being performed today. Not necessarily 

because his ideas were that great or his poetry 

so complex. But because he created characters 

that can be understood by all people, as long 

as the proper amount of work and energy is 

invested into the production. 

 

“Playing Grumio let me fall 

in love with Shakespeare and 

theatre in new ways” 


PASSION IN PRACTICE 

FRESH APPROACHES 

TO ACTING SHAKESPEARE 

Original Pronunciation 

Cue-scripts 

Physical training 

Workshops and Consultancy 

www.passioninpractice.com 

@passionpractice

Kill Shakespeare 

Ultra-vivid, ultra-violent 

and ultra-cool, Kill Shakespeare 

is a graphic novel series with 

added Bard Power. Co-creator 

Anthony Del Col takes us 

behind the panels. 

Words: Brooke Thomas 

Portraits: Piper Williams 

Art: Andy Belanger 

Serial 


Kill Shakespeare 

 

What would you say to a 

Shakespearean traditionalist who 

was sceptical about graphic novels? 

Anthony Del Col, photographed 

at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, 

October 2014. 

“About seven years ago I myself was sceptical 

about comic books and graphic novels. 

I thought that they were all just superhero 

stories about men in tights and capes, that 

sort of thing. Then Conor (McCreery, Kill 

Shakespeare co-creator), who had been 

working part time at a comic book shop at that 

time, started putting some really interesting 

and provocative titles into my hands. Things 

like Y: The Last Man, Fables, The League 

of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Blankets – all 

these things from different genres. It made me 

realise how interesting a storytelling medium it 

actually is. 

“With comic books and graphic novels 

you’re not limited by budgets or anything like 

that, you’re only limited by your imagination. 

It’s actually a very thought-provoking medium. 

Yes, you have the visuals in front of you, but 

you don’t have all. There are interesting stories 

being told between the panels.” 

Killer 



“I had been told that Shakespeare was 

the crème de la crème of storytelling, 

and I thought there must be a reason why” 

I know you were considering 

other mediums back when Kill 

Shakespeare was just an idea. Are 

you happy you settled on this one? 

“Absolutely. Traditionally Shakespeare 

is viewed as very highbrow, which is 

unfortunate, and comic books are perceived 

as lowbrow. I thought it was poetic to make 

them meet half-way, to put the highbrow 

with the lowbrow. Shakespeare wrote his 

plays to be performed, not to be read, and 

in a lot of classrooms across the world the 

experience is to have a teacher or someone 

in the class read it out for you. In the comic 

book medium we can bring everything to 

life, even more so than Shakespeare could 

Witch’s brew: 

Lady Macbeth, 

as visualised in 

Kill Shakespeare. 

himself in some cases. Hamlet meets pirates 

in the play – it happens offstage but you 

hear about it. In the very first edition of Kill 

Shakespeare you actually see this huge pirate 

battle. You can’t do that on stage. We write 

Kill Shakespeare, we have Sherlock Holmes vs 

Harry Houdini – I’ve fallen in love with the 

medium and I can envision myself writing 

comics for the next 30 years.” 

Which of the characters is your 

favourite to write? 

“When we first started, my favourite 

character was Iago because he’s so deliciously 

evil and always three or four steps ahead of 

everyone else. It almost got to a point where 



“Iago is so 

deliciously evil. 

He’s always three or 

four steps ahead of 

everyone else” 

Anthony Del Col 



it felt like he was one or two steps ahead of 

Conor and myself. As time has gone on, 

and as the project has expanded into other 

mediums, Hamlet has become my favourite. 

I look for Hamlet in everything I watch or 

consume these days. The way we’ve scripted 

him in the television outline that we’re 

putting together right now makes him even 

more fun to write and I think that I… it’s not 

that I can fully grasp who Hamlet is, but I 

feel like I’ve gotten a better handle on who he 

is and the possibilities for his character.” 

What’s the plan for TV? 

“The goal for a Kill Shakespeare television 

series would be to combine the dark fantasy 

world-building of Game of Thrones with the 

wit and knowledge of Shakespeare in Love. 

Game of Thrones is a huge success worldwide, 

and opened many people’s eyes to the power 

of fantasy. We think doing Kill Shakespeare 

as television can do the same thing for 

Shakespeare.” 

Outside of your own, do you have 

a favourite adaptation of Hamlet 

or any of the plays? 

“Oh, that’s a good question. I’m gonna go a 

little off the beaten track, but I do like – it’s not 

a straight-up adaptation – I’m a huge fan of 

Shakespeare in Love. Just because it was a way 

to make Shakespeare accessible and exciting 

and relevant. I’ll do another cheat, because I 

am Canadian I have to give a plug for Slings 

and Arrows.” 

I adore Slings and Arrows. 

“For those that are reading this that have not 

watched it yet, I highly recommend it. In 

terms of straight adaptations, again because 

it made Shakespeare relevant for a whole new 

generation, I’ll say Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + 

Juliet. I know it has its fans and its detractors. 

I love how Baz just throws everything and 

the kitchen sink into everything that he does. 

That’s the adaptation – out of film, TV, 

everything – that I’ve enjoyed and watched and 

rewatched the most.” 

Hamlet (left) takes 

on Romeo in one 

of Kill Shakespeare’s 

trademark mash-ups. 

What do you think it is about 

Shakespeare’s characters that 

make them so universal? 

“Shakespeare was the ultimate humanist. 

He understood humanity and individuals 

better than anyone ever has or ever will. 

The moment that Shakespeare really came 

to life for me was the first play I ever read 

in school. It was The Merchant of Venice. 

Shylock, who is a character who doesn’t 

necessarily speak to me – but it’s close to 

my heart – gives the ‘hath not a Jew eyes’ 

speech which gives you all this sympathy for 

him. The next minute he wants his ‘pound 

of flesh.’ So he goes from being a villain to 

sympathetic to a villain yet again. 

“I find that so fascinating, that within 

a minute you’re able to see all the different 

facets – good and bad – of a character. 

That’s why I think his characters have stood 

the test of time and have been done and 

redone.” 

 



“I’d love to immerse players into a world where 

you can play as one of Shakespeare’s characters 

and interact with all the others” 

So your first experience of 

Shakespeare was a positive one? 

“Yes and no. I had a horrible teacher who was 

completely out of her element. The entire 

class was unruly. We were in Canada and not 

excited about Shakespeare – it was a negative 

experience up front. But I had been told by 

media and people in general that Shakespeare 

was the crème de la crème of storytelling, and I 

thought there must be a reason why. So if I’m 

not going to learn from my teacher, then I’m 

going to go out and try to figure it out myself. 

That’s when I started self-guided learning 

and sought out and read more things about 

Merchant of Venice and Shylock.” 

Self-taught 

man: the young 

Anthony explored 

Shakespeare’s works 

outside of school. 

You’ve just released the Kill 

Shakespeare table top game, 

you’re working on TV ideas, 

what’s next? 

“In addition to television I’d like to do a 

videogame. There are some really fascinating 

stories being told through this medium. 

I think they’re called narrative games, where 

it’s not a first person shooter, it’s more about 

storytelling and personalities. I’d love to be able 

to immerse players into a world where you 

can play as one of Shakespeare’s characters and 

you get to interact with all the others. In an 

early brainstorming session, what became the 

Kill Shakespeare comic was a video game, so 

I’d love to come back to that and introduce a 

whole new generation to Shakespeare through 

that medium.” 

I would play that. 

“I know! There would be so many Shakespeare 

fans, even those who don’t play video games, 

who’d be like ‘Wait, what? I get to play as 

Hamlet? That’s amazing!’ and they’d dive into 

it. I also want action figures. Kill Shakespeare 

action figures. Because what Shakespeare fan 

doesn’t want to have an action figure on their 

desk of Hamlet, or Othello, or Puck?” 

Absolutely! So, sky’s the limit, 

really? 

“Sky’s the limit, baby.” 

 


The Tutor 

“I had a lot of fun 

playing around 

with Venus and 

Adonis because it 

is such a wonderful 

and sexy poem” 

Andrea Chapin 


The Tutor 

The Tutor is your debut novel. 

What were you doing before this? 

Reeling 

in the 

Years 

Young, ambitious, full of passion… 

Andrea Chapin’s novel The Tutor features 

a version of William Shakespeare readers 

may not have encountered before… 

Interview by Mary Finch 

“When I started The Tutor I had been, 

for almost 15 years, a book doctor. That is 

someone who works on other people’s books 

before they are published, often with an agent 

or sometimes with an editor. It’s now over 250 

novels and memoirs that I have worked on. It’s 

fairly anonymous, maybe an acknowledgement 

or line saying thank you, but usually not even 

that. Because no one wants to publicise that 

they had someone work on their book before 

the actual editor worked on it. 

“I had been doing that non-stop for quite 

a while, but I had always wanted to write 

my own novel and it hadn’t worked out yet. 

I think I had, in my own journey, reached a 

point where I was really wondering, ‘Am I 

going to write my novel or not?’” 

Was there a catalyst that 

brought the novel about? 

“My brother-in-law said at Thanksgiving, 

‘Everyone in the theatre world is reading this 

amazing book, James Shapiro’s A Year in the 

Life of William Shakespeare:1599!’ I thought 

it sounded like something I would really like 

to read. Looking at one year of Shakespeare’s 

life from many different angles – from 

the political, from the religious, from the 

economical. But that was all. 

“Then, a couple days before Christmas, I 

was buying presents, last-minute books to put 

under the tree. And there, sitting in paperback, 

was this book my brother-in-law had 

mentioned to me. So, I bought it, wrapped it 

up, and put it under the tree for myself. 

“It was a larger gift than I had anticipated. 

When I started reading it, I was completely 

fascinated, and I was especially fascinated 

by the prospect of the lost years. What was 

Shakespeare doing during chunks of his life? 

I thought to myself, ‘This is the job of a fiction 

writer – to imagine what Shakespeare was 

doing!’ 

“Part of that curiosity goes back to that I 

have worked with a lot of authors and I have 

 


The Tutor 

Andrea 

“Shakespeare would have gone to Oxford. 

But his father’s fortunes failed and 

Shakespeare had to go off to make money” 

seen their names before then they showed up 

on the New York Times Bestseller List. I also 

taught fiction workshops at NYU, and worked 

with a lot of authors who were just beginning, 

who were just launching. 

“I began mulling over this idea of the 

lost years and what Shakespeare was doing 

before his name ever appeared in print. I kept 

thinking, ‘Even though Shakespeare feels like 

like a god, a huge force in our world, he was a 

person’.” 

behind 

the Shoreditch 

pub where the 

Curtain Theatre 

once stood. 

Why did you decide to tell the 

story from Katharine’s point 

of view? 

“I decided I couldn’t write it from a male 

point of view, and thought, ‘What if I 

created someone like me? Someone who has 

worked very collaboratively with authors, 

helping them create plot lines, really 

helped them develop their books. What if a 

character like that worked with Shakespeare? 

And that is how the whole thing launched. 

I started fooling around with it, toying 

with it. And interestingly, I have to say that 

when I started writing Katharine there was 

something very magical, almost chemical, 

about it. The Tutor came from a more 

honest place in my own voice than anything 

else I had previously written.” 

In your story Shakespeare is 

complex and oftentimes a bit 

unlikeable. Where did that version 

of the Bard come from? 

“I wanted to veer away from the warm and 

fuzzy Shakespeare. Not that there has been 

one, but in Shakespeare in Love – which I 

love – he is just so adorable. I had my own 

ideas about developing a character that ended 

up being fairly ruthless and narcissistic, but 

still very compelling. Sometimes those people 

can be not the nicest, but still be extremely 

intriguing and dazzling because of their 

brilliance. 

“While I was doing research, I read a lot 

about Picasso and Françoise Gilot, one of his 

partners. She wrote an amazing autobiography 

about what it was like to be Picasso’s muse. She 

really is the only one of his muses who escaped 

with her life in a way. She had to leave him – 

he was sleeping with someone else but he also 

couldn’t let go of her.” 


The Tutor 

“I was taken by that aspect of the muse and the 

artist. And also, when you do read what there 

is about Shakespeare, it assumed that he didn’t 

really go home much. Early on he had three 

children, and by 24 or 25 was probably in an 

acting company. By 27 or 28 his name appears 

in London and then he is really in London. He 

does not return to Stratford as his home until a 

couple years before he dies. 

“What also struck me was the type of 

ambition that he needed was so huge. I am 

not saying that every ambitious person is a 

narcissist, but I played around with the idea 

that this person had to want it so badly that he 

would use people, and not be the greatest dad 

Andrea Chapin, 

photographed by 

Ric Kallaher. 

or husband, because he wanted to get where he 

wanted to go. And he did! 

“Not only to write the sort of poem that 

he wrote withVenus and Adonis, and get a 

patron like the Earl of Southampton – that 

is amazing. But also to decide not to be just 

a poet, not to be just a player, not to be just a 

playwright, but actually to be a businessman 

too and be a part of the company. That shows 

incredible ambition.” 

Where do you think that ambition 

could have come from? 

“Well, his father. We don’t know if John 

Shakespeare could read or write, but he held 

about 15 positions in Stratford, ending up 

being the equivalent of the mayor of Stratford. 

That is an ambitious man. Shakespeare saw 

that. John Shakespeare also applied for a 

coat of arms, and married up – Mary Arden 

owned the property his parents worked on. 

To send your child to grammar school you 

had to have a certain political standing, and 

John Shakespeare made sure he had that. 

Shakespeare had, as a role model, an extremely 

ambitious man. 

“So Shakespeare is someone who saw this 

ambition and then something happened. Was 

the father a catholic? Was he a drunk? Was he 

ill? We don’t know. But something happened 

and his father stumbled, right at the time when 

Shakespeare would have gone on to Oxford. 

Someone with Shakespeare’s skills would have 

the opportunity, but right at that time his 

father’s fortunes failed and Shakespeare had to 

go off to make money, changing everything.” 

Can you give us a glimpse of 

your process and research? 

“In the beginning of all of this, an agent that I 

doctor for asked if I had read any good books, 

and, since I had just written the first couple 

chapters of my book, I mentioned that James 

Shapiro’s book had kind of changed my life. 

And she laughed, and said that he was one 

of her clients. Things progressed, she put us 

together, and Professor Shapiro was extremely 

 


The Tutor 

“I mentioned that James Shapiro’s Shakespeare 

book had kind of changed my life. And she 

laughed, and said he was one of her clients” 

more recent translations. Then, once I went to 

Ovid, I could see where so much of the poets 

of the time, certainly Shakespeare, got the 

seeds that became their works. 

“In my journey, I joke that I have given 

myself at least a master’s, maybe a PhD, in 

Elizabethan literature and history on my own. 

I really thought it was important to see what 

his influences were as much as I could. That’s 

why I brought them in and had so much fun 

doing it.” 

What do you hope readers will 

take away from your novel? 

generous in information. I could email him 

and he opened doors in terms of where I 

needed to go for research. That was terrific. 

“Before I opened Shapiro’s book, I had 

always enjoyed Shakespeare but I hadn’t been 

obsessed with Shakespeare. It was when I 

started digging into the research, and all of his 

plays, and each sonnet, and then the poems, 

that I became truly obsessed. 

“I felt like I had to familiarise myself with 

what was going on in literature during that 

time. I delved into Philip Sidney, and other 

contemporaries. I went back to Ovid, and 

often had three different books in front of me 

with different annotations – the translation 

that Shakespeare would have used and two 

Andrea at Stratfordupon-Avon’s 

Holy 

Trinity Church. 

“I would love for my readers to learn about 

Shakespeare and his life as they, hopefully, 

enjoy the story. I had a lot of fun playing 

around with Venus and Adonis because it 

is such a wonderful and really sexy poem. 

I would love for readers to become curious 

about those other works of his. 

“Reviews have said that the situation of 

Kate and the other characters is one we’ve all 

found ourselves in, like when our friends say, 

‘What are you doing with him?’ and someone 

says, ‘You just don’t understand!’ And that 

makes me so happy because, overall, I wanted 

to achieve a story that people could relate to 

now. I wanted to make these characters not feel 

ancient or archaic – not just Will and Kate, but 

the larger context of family and her relations. 

I wanted them to feel like contemporary folks.” 

 

The Tutor is published in the UK by 

Penguin on 26 March, priced £7.99 


Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Library of Birmingham & 

Hôtel Teatro Theatre Company present 

a Young REP 18-25 Company production 

Hamlets 

Based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 

Adapted and directed by Daniel Tyler 

Library Of Birmingham 

Travel around 10 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue 17 Mar 8:30pm 

Wed 18 Mar 8:30pm 

Fri 20 Mar 8:30pm 

Sat 21 Mar 5:30pm & 

8:30pm 

£10.00 (£7 Concessions)

Interview: Ben Crystal 

“Irrespective of 

whether or not it 

becomes popular, 

there is nothing a 

Shakespeare geek 

is excited more by 

than an unexplored 

area of his field” 

One of the most admired all-rounders in the Shakespeare world, 

Ben Crystal reckons we should “speak the speech” the way 

the Bard did. And that means “from the gut and the groin…” 

Interview: Helen Mears Portraits: Piper Williams 


Interview: Ben Crystal 

Perhaps best known for his 

Shakespeare on Toast book and 

Passion in Practice workshops, 

Ben Crystal is an actor, writer, 

producer and director. Alongside 

his father, linguist David Crystal, 

he has pioneered the practice 

of Original Pronunciation, 

getting as close as he can to how 

Shakespeare would have sounded 

to Elizabethan audiences. 

Would you define your work as 

a Shakespearean quest? 

“Yeah, definitely! I didn’t start out on a quest, 

I started off wanting to act it more than 

anything. And then the ideas for the books 

came up one by one and I became known as 

the boy who wrote that book. I struggled to 

get acting auditions for Shakespeare and then, 

partly though the writing and partly through 

needing an outlet, I found myself doing more 

workshops, writing more, exploring more. 

Finding the issues in both performance and 

education and in audiences’ perception of 

Shakespeare and what seemed to be missing, 

and chasing that down. 

“Now, through following this path 

of spreading the word of the Bard, I’ve 

explored disciplines like pronunciation, 

become fascinated by the idea of the original 

Shakespeare ensemble, found myself with an 

education programme, an OP programme 

and a Shakespeare ensemble. If you’d asked 

me when I was 16 or 17 what my dream was, 

it would have been to be at the RSC. But you 

follow the path you’re on, and the path I’m on 

certainly seems to be a quest. I’m very happy 

with it.” 

Could you explain Original 

Pronunciation for those who 

are new to the term? 

“It’s a recreation of the soundscape, the accents 

that Shakespeare’s actors spoke in 400 years 

ago, in the same way as the Globe spaces are 

recreations of the original spatial dynamics. It’s 

a recreation of a sound system, not an attempt 

to be authentic – because that’s impossible, and 

there’s only so much you’re going to learn from 

authenticity. The Globe spaces are as close as 

we can get to what the spaces looked like, felt 

like, and we have spent a fair amount of time 

trying to work out how that can change or 

improve the way that we act Shakespeare. It’s 

exactly the same with this sound.” 

How do you go about recreating 

the accent? 

“It’s based on my father’s scholarly work for 

The Globe in 2004. He gathered all the 

evidence he could from three sources. One 

of these was the rhymes. Often Shakespeare’s 

rhymes don’t work in a modern accent. To let 

them rhyme again requires particular types 

of vowel qualities. That’s one source of data. 

Then, if you go back to the Folio and the 

Quartos, they used to spell a lot more like they 

spoke. So, for example, the word film was spelt 

philome which is very definitely a two syllable 

word (fil’um) which you still hear in Northern 

Ireland. That’s an Elizabethan pronunciation 

carried over from 400 years ago. 

“Then there were people who wrote 

linguistic-like descriptions of what the accent 

sounded like. With those three sources of data 

combined you get to about 90 percent and 

that last 10 percent drives my father crazy, but 

he can’t fill it in. I see it as a great advantage 

because it means that if you and I were to 

form a Shakespeare company using OP then 

we would sound 90 percent the same but then 

that last 10 percent will be filled up with our 

natural accents, the story, the audible vocal 

sound of our experiences. Compare that to 

using RP [Received Pronunciation] which is 

not tied to a particular geographic location. 

“If there is one thing that accent means to 

people, it’s identity and territory. To me, the 

idea that Shakespeare should be spoken in 

this identity-less accent where it flattens out 

everybody’s character and they all sound the 

same, takes away its inherent uniqueness.” 

 



Ben’s 

“OP is a recreation of the accents Shakespeare’s actors 

spoke in 400 years ago in the same way as the Globe 

spaces are recreations of the original spatial dynamics.” 

How different does it feel 

to perform in OP? 

“Acting in RP versus OP or even in your own 

natural accent, your actor’s centre will shift. 

A lot of people find in RP that their centre 

tends to be around their throat. When I act in 

my natural accent I find that my centre shifts 

to my chest. And with OP the centre shifts all 

the way down to your gut and into your groin. 

You plant your feet much more firmly on the 

ground and it tends to lead you to stronger 

character choices. 

“They tend to be earthier, more active 

tattoo is a 

famous line from 

King Lear. 

choices and, as a knock-on effect, you tend 

to move faster as well. You follow Hamlet’s 

advice to ‘speak the speech trippingly on the 

tongue’. It ramps everything up and you’re 

flying around the stage connecting with fellow 

actors in a vastly different way. One of the final 

results of all that is that it tends to engage your 

heart rather than your head. And people tend 

to find that it’s easier to understand and they 

tend to get more emotionally engaged. And 

that’s all we want – to make you laugh, make 

you cry, bring the audience along with us.” 

Do you think OP can attract 

bigger, more mainstream 

audiences? 

“That’s an interesting question. Because of 

course I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be spending 

time on it. But I have to caveat that it’s not 

a cash bunny. I don’t see it as the sort of a 

performance quality in Shakespeare that 

money can be made out of necessarily. 

I’m excited by it. Irrespective of whether or 

not it becomes popular, there is nothing a 

Shakespeare geek is excited more by than an 

unexplored area of his field.” 

Is there a key thing that you’ve 

discovered by performing in OP? 

“There are plenty of lost rhymes and lost 

puns, but the biggest discovery has been more 

ephemeral, really. More abstract or intangible, 

because you end up with a different play on 

your hands. You speak the lines differently and 

end up with characters who are completely 

different animals to those you expected. When 

I did Hamlet there was no question that he 

was anything like the stereotypical passive, 

indecisive, boring fellow. He became almost 

Sherlock Holmesian in the way he was trying 

to discover the truth. He was active. And 

that, in part, came from the OP. So we’re 

rediscovering the plays in new lights, not just 

the words.” 



“Hamlet became 

almost Sherlock 

Holmesian in the 

way he was trying to 

discover the truth. 

He was active. And 

that, in part, came 

from the OP” 



What other interesting things do 

you think are currently happening 

Shakespeare-wise? 

“The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is interesting. 

There are plans to build a Shakespearean 

theatre for Shakespeare North. I’m intrigued 

by the Maxine Peake Hamlet that was up at 

the Royal Exchange and by the all-female 

company explorations that have been going 

on at The Donmar. There’s a lot of younger 

companies exploring Shakespeare – there’s 

Smooth Faced Gentlemen, The HandleBards, 

who go round on bikes. There’s lots of cool, 

interesting stuff in the underground as well as 

all the companies running around the country 

doing open-air Shakespeare. It’s interesting that 

both the Globe and the RSC have brought 

Interestingly, the 

word ‘Crystal’ 

occurs 20 times 

in Shakespeare’s 

works. 

in international companies. The reason we’re 

having this conversation, the reason there’s a 

Shakespeare Magazine is that these plays really, 

really are wonderful. He had a capacity and 

a knack for exploring the human condition 

and the way that we think – and why we do 

the things that we do – in such an amazing 

way that it’s really hard to get them wrong. 

And yet we do. There is something that these 

international companies are tapping into. 

“Or maybe it’s tapping into something in 

us. Because we are both in tandem released 

from the pressure of ‘how are they going 

to deliver this famous line?’ I think we are 

being taught a lot by Europe and Eastern 

Europe about something that we’re missing 

with Shakespeare, craft and a long rehearsal 

period, a return to the ensemble. They are not 

restricted because they’re not bound to our 

language and they have a playfulness with it 

that I think we’re losing.” 

You’ve travelled widely, how 

would you say Shakespeare is 

perceived around the world? 

“Away from the UK everyone loves him! It’s 

a generalisation but it’s not too far off. I do 

not meet students who dislike him so much 

overseas but I do encounter this ownership 

issue that whilst they have a tremendous 

passion, heart and love for Shakespeare, there is 

still this idea that ‘We don’t do it right because 

we don’t have the right sound or we don’t have 

English training’. 

“Americans have embraced OP, though. 

Because the accent that left London 400 years 

ago got on the boats and went to the Americas. 

So when they hear OP they don’t say ‘Oh 

God, that sounds alien to us’. They hear accent 

qualities they can relate to and rather than 

thinking ‘We can’t do Shakespeare because 

we don’t have that beautiful RP accent. We 

don’t have any ownership over Shakespeare, 

even though we love him’, they say ‘Oh my 

goodness, he actually sounds like us, we can do 

this’. So it’s no wonder that they’ve embraced 

it. There is some really, really fascinating work 

both in the States and across the world. I just 

wish there was more flow, that more would 

come over. And, indeed, the other way.” 


“It’s a celebration of my father’s research and 

it’s a continuation and an exploration of it” 


lucky to have both that working and familial 

friendship with him and my mum. And I’m 

especially lucky that, considering how much 

of an expert he is, how experienced he is – and 

that even though sometimes it does take a little 

bit of shouting – he is always perceptive and 

open to new ideas. 

“You can’t really ask for a better colleague 

than that. So to be able to take his research on 

and explore it practically, it’s really wonderful. 

It’s a celebration of his research and it’s a 

continuation and an exploration of it that he 

wouldn’t necessarily be able to do himself. So 

we are a good partnership in that respect.” 

We’ve mentioned your father, 

David Crystal. In You Say Potato 

the relationship between the 

two of you bounces off the page. 

What’s it like work with your dad? 

“It’s a pain in the neck and it is the most 

wonderful, joyous experience that you could 

possibly wish for! I came up with the idea 

for Shakespeare’s Words when I was 22. I was 

lucky to work with a parent at such a young 

age. We became friends, and we got to know 

each other so quickly. He certainly wasn’t used 

to someone telling him he was wrong. There 

absolutely were disputes. He taught me how to 

articulate an argument, he taught me how to 

articulate myself. I am utterly blessed and feel 

“For my next 

trick…” Ben Crystal 

prepares to overturn 

the education system. 

So, if you had one big 

Shakespearean aspiration, 

what would it be? 

“To change the education system, 

fundamentally, from the top down or the 

bottom up, whichever way is quickest. 

To refresh Shakespeare production and 

performance and the perception of it in a 

similar way that Gielgud, Olivier, Burton or 

Branagh has done. I would like very much 

to spend a considerable amount of time 

training and forming a company – much like 

the ensemble I’ve been starting to form – in 

a Globe-like space, and see where that may 

take us. To have artistic directorship of a place 

like The Globe or the Wanamaker, building 

our own space and recreating a similar sort of 

dynamic, that would be fine. 

“And coming away from these experiences 

in 20-25 years time and having someone in 

their twenties or thirties saying ‘Ben Crystal’s 

wrong, his ideas had their time and now this is 

where we need to go with Shakespeare’ would 

be a dream come true.” 

 

Find out more about Ben’s approach to 

Shakespeare at www.passioninpractice.com 


Interview: Sara Pascoe 

Great 

Shakes! 

Stand-up comedian, actress, writer, 

vegan and all-round clever clogs 

Sara Pascoe is a big fan of the Bard, 

and she’s not afraid to shout about it. 

Interview by Brooke Thomas 


Interview: Sara Pascoe 

Studying English at 

Sussex University 

fostered Sara’s 

appreciation of 


 



“How on earth?” 

“I’ve got an English degree, and a big part 

of my life at university was throwing off the 

misunderstandings and misapprehensions I’d 

had about Shakespeare at school and coming 

to appreciate him properly. At school I think 

we got taught Macbeth and King Lear and A 

Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the teacher 

would say ‘Oh, you see what he’s saying here? 

He’s saying this’, and I would think ‘How on 

earth?’ I just didn’t believe them, I thought 

the teachers were making it up. Then when 

I was at university we had to read virtually 

all of the plays and we went into much more 

depth. That was when I suddenly realised 

how clever Shakespeare was, and it was mindblowing.” 

“My favourite play…” 

“I did love the Sonnets. I think they’re so 

accessible and they have such universal 

 

her in the library at 

parties… 

“I suddenly realised how clever 

Shakespeare was and it was 

mind blowing.” 

themes – death, and time, and how we 

replicate ourselves. If I had to pick a favourite 

play… I really loved The Winter’s Tale 

actually, and I remember thinking Measure 

for Measure was brilliant, but I think 

probably Hamlet is my favourite. 

“The one I seem to have seen most is 

As You Like It. I saw an RSC production of 

Much Ado About Nothing which had Tamsin 

Greig as Beatrice. They set it I think in Cuba 

or South America and it was just fantastic, 

really rhythmic and hilarious.” 

“If Shakespeare were 

here today…” 

“Shakespeare nowadays? Oh gosh, it would be 

something incredible, wouldn’t it? He was so 

fantastic at creating these flawed heroes where 

you could absolutely see how life had made 

them behave in a certain way, and because of 

that behaviour drama just unfolds everywhere 

around them. He’d put everyone else to 

shame because he’d be writing comedies and 

dramas and films all at the same time. Even 

now, people would probably be saying ‘Is it 

really just one man? It must be a committee 

of people doing it secretly!’” 


Interview: Sara Pascoe 

“He understands how people can be trying to be good, 

but also that their worldview might be slightly too 

myopic to enable them to see anything larger” 

“He always sees 

the full picture” 

“I just think he understands human psychology 

so brilliantly. He understands cause and effect, he 

understands how people can be trying to be good, 

but also that their worldview might be slightly 

too myopic to enable them to see anything larger. 

However, he as the writer always manages to see the 

full picture and always, especially in the greatest of 

the plays, manages to create such a viable world that 

it doesn’t seem fictional. I recently saw the Macbeth 

they did at the Globe where they made the play a 

comedy, very successfully. And I thought that was so 

fantastic because the ambitions of the Macbeths had 

such lightness of touch all of a sudden, and the play 

still held together, it still felt true.” 

“Ten Things I 

Hate About You” 

“I think what was always surprising, probably 

because of the age I was when they came out, was 

finding out that things like Ten Things I Hate 

About You was The Taming of the Shrew. It’s always 

great when you think ‘Oh! Yes, I see, it’s that story!’ 

I’ve been watching House of Cards, and they’ve very 

clearly jumped off from Macbeth.” 

“On being a teenage 

skateboard fairy” 

“I do talk about Shakespeare in my show that I’m 

touring with at the moment. I have a little routine 

about being told that A Midsummer Night’s 

Dream was a comedy and how as a 15, 16-year-old 

having teachers try to say ‘Look, here’s the joke – 

the queen loves a donkey!’ you just think ‘I don’t 

get it’. The routine’s about that and how in our 

production we were trying to liven it up. Everyone 

wants to do their own ground-breaking thing with 

Shakespeare, even though it’s all already been done. 

So I played Puck, but I was on a skateboard and I 

knocked myself out. Twice. I wasn’t very good at 

the skateboard. We really thought this was groundbreaking 

at the time.” 

 



“All about the attitude” 

“I think that’s what’s so interesting about 

new productions, they make you meet 

characters again in a different way. I really 

like Hermione from A Winter’s Tale. I think 

that her speeches are so brave and courageous. 

I’ll always love Kate from The Taming of the 

Shrew too, but she doesn’t even really talk 

very much in the play. It’s much more the 

attitude and the performance of her, isn’t it? 

“Beatrice and Benedick’s whole repartee 

with each other, it’s so brilliant to watch on 

stage because it doesn’t come across on the 

page in the same way. Trying to overhear 

somebody else’s conversation while hiding 

behind a pot plant, I always think that’s so 

hysterical.” 

“Women with brains and 

activity and thoughts” 

“I think in terms of his time he was 

incredible. This was a time when women 

weren’t allowed on the stage. To be born 

a woman and want to be creative was 

impossible. You couldn’t own property, you 

couldn’t earn money, you were either born 

into a rich family to be married off, or you 

were born with no money and very limited 

options. 

“Shakespeare did write women with 

brains and activity and thoughts, and I think 

in some plays the women are as varied as the 

men in terms of morality and intelligence. 

Although now for actresses the number of 

men on stage to the number of women is 

probably a bit frustrating, it could be a whole 

lot worse, so I think he should be respected 

for that. 

“Also people are now putting on allfemale 

productions. That’s so exciting because 

in Shakespeare’s day it would have been an 

all-male company, and now the opposite is 

completely possible.” 

“I played Puck, but I was on 

a skateboard and I knocked 

myself out. Twice.” 

“Hang on a minute, 

is that a person 

hiding behind a pot 

plant over there?” 

“Most Shakespeare thing 

I’ve done…” 

“This isn’t so much a Shakespeare thing as a 

me thing, but I’ve been to the RSC twice to 

do stand-up. I got to do stand-up on the stage 

at the Swan, and that was amazing. Stratfordupon-Avon 

is a wonderful place. You walk 

around thinking ‘Oh my god, this is where 

Shakespeare was born’. Then I remember that 

I live in London – where he chose to live.” 

 

Go to sarapascoe.com for Sara’s latest tour dates. 


Contributors 

Brooke Thomas 

Our UK Staff Writer is a freelance 

writer based in London. She learned to 

love the Bard during her BA at Royal 

Holloway, University of London, 

and she recently graduated from their 

MA Shakespeare Studies programme. 

You can find Brooke on Twitter @ 

literallygeeked where she hosts a short 

story competition called #SmallTales 

every week. 

Mary Finch Our US Staff Writer is 

in her fourth year studying English 

at Messiah College in central 

Pennsylvania. Will first grabbed her 

attention in secondary school and 

hasn’t let go since – she reads, recites 

and watches Shakespeare whenever 

possible. Besides going on irrational 

adventures to see performances with 

her friend Alison, Mary also has a 

passion for swing dancing, dabbling 

in calligraphy and tending to her 

ever-growing window garden. 

Piper Williams Our Chief 

Photographer is a freelance fashion 

and portrait photographer from 

Portland, Oregon, now working out 

of Surrey. He spends his days timetravelling 

via historical docudramas, 

silent films, and vintage radio 

broadcasts. These adventures are 

a catalyst for his imagery and his 

wardrobe. His current project, 1928, 

is a modern take on the Jazz and War 

age aesthetic. Also in the works is a 

Steam, Diesel and Cosplay inspired 

series of Shakespearean characters. 

Meet thy makers... 

Just some of the contributors to this issue of Shakespeare Magazine 

Phil Beadle has taught Macbeth at 

least 20 times (though remains acutely 

aware it is each new class’s first time). 

He has (what he thought was) the 

French for “Against Nature” tattooed 

on his upper arm. As musician, 

songwriter and lyricist ‘Philip Kane’, 

he is not averse to stealing lines off 

the Bard, and his song ‘After the 

Shipwreck’ includes the line “We’re 

just two spent swimmers trying to 

hold our heads above the water”. Both 

he and Ben Walden are contactable via 

www.independentthinking.co.uk 

Francis RTM Boyle has worked 

in the theatre for 20 years. He 

discovered his love for Shakespeare 

by reading Julius Caesar when he 

was ten. He went on to earn a BFA 

in Theatre from the University of 

Rhode Island and an MLitt and 

MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance 

Literature in Performance from the 

Mary Baldwin College/American 

Shakespeare Center partnership. 

Follow him on Twitter: 

@FrancisRTMBoyle 

Helen Mears 

teaches English Literature, Film and 

Media Studies at an FE college in 

Ipswich. She has loved Shakespeare 

since her schooldays and at weekends 

can be found volunteering at The 

Globe or the Sam Wanamaker 

Playhouse. She is currently studying 

for an MA in the Advanced Teaching 

of Shakespeare. She is at her happiest 

when watching Shakespeare, 

exploring castles and monastic ruins 

or listening to Fall Out Boy. 


Competition 

The Tutor 

Andrea Chapin 

(Penguin, £7.99) 

As featured in this very issue, 

Andrea Chapin’s novel skilfully 

imagines the young William 

Shakespeare’s missing years in a 

gripping and romantic historical 

 

Yes! 

It’s the 

Shakespeare 

Magazine 

Big Books 

Giveaway! 

Dark Aemilia 

Sally O’Reilly 

(Myriad, £8.99) 

The formidable Aemilia Bassano is 

an orphan at the court of Queen 

Elizabeth I, where she fatefully 

encounters playwright William 

Shakespeare in Sally O’Reilly’s 

sumptuous novel. 

The Shakespeare 

Book 

Consultant Editor: Professor 

Stanley Wells 

(DK, £16.99) 

The latest in the award-winning 

DK Big Ideas series mixes 

powerful graphics with levelheaded 

text, compiled under 

the watchful eye of eminent 

Shakespearean Stanley Wells. 

William Shakespeare is arguably the most 

written-about person in history. And, as these 

four new publications show, he remains the 

hottest name in print today. Indeed, these two 

richly imaginative novels and two lovinglycompiled 

reference works have all caused 

tremors of excitement in the Shakespeare 

Magazine office. So we’ve acquired FIVE 

copies of each to give away to you, our 

esteemed readers... 

To be in with a chance of winning one of 

these books, just send an email to us at 

shakespearemag@outlook.com 

with either ‘Tutor’, ‘Aemilia’, ‘DK’ or ‘Oxford’ 

in the subject line. (Send separate emails if 

you’d like to win more than one of the titles) 

Closing date is Friday 10 April. Best of luck! 

The Oxford 

Illustrated 

Shakespeare 

Dictionary 

David Crystal and 

Ben Crystal 

(Penguin, £7.99) 

Aimed at teenagers, but likely 

to appeal to all Shakespeare 

fans, this gorgeously-illustrated 

tome sees the Crystals bring 

Shakespeare’s language alive for a 

new generation. 


New! 

978-178135128-4 £12.99 

Available in paperback and as an eBook 

“Beadle’s star continues to rise as one of the most recognisable teachers in the 

country. The latest addition to Phil Beadle’s How To Teach series, is a practical 

guide for teachers to help raise literacy standards, outlining a collection of rules 

to enable teachers to engage with pupils in a meaningful and productive way.” 

The Bookseller Magazine 

Phil Beadle’s How To Teach series 

978-184590393-0 978-178135053-9 978-178135135-2 

crownhouse.co.uk

“To be...” “The RSC 

adaptation has 

David Tennant’s 

Hamlet all alone, 

with Ophelia 

scurrying off before 

the speech” 

David Tennant 

played Hamlet 

with the RSC 

in 2008. Here, 

he explores the 

play for the Sky 

Arts series My 



“To be...” 

“…or 

not 

to 

Even people who aren’t 

sure what a soliloquy 

is know that Hamlet’s 

“To be or not to be” 

is the most famous 

soliloquy in theatre 

history. There’s just 

one problem. It’s not 

actually a soliloquy. 

Words: Francis RTM Boyle 

be” 

 


“To be...” 

Maxine 

“All nine original Hamlet printings agree that 

Hamlet is not alone – Ophelia is also onstage 

throughout the speech” 

“To be or not to be…” Spoken by the title 

character of Hamlet, the most famous speech 

in the history of theatre is 34 lines and 271 

words long. Apart from providing titles for (or 

being quoted in) countless other plays, poems, 

novels, TV shows and movies, it has also 

appeared on posters, T-shirts, coffee mugs and 

keyrings. It’s even been translated into Klingon 

(“taH pagh taHbe”). There are at least 379,000 

hits on the internet for the first line alone. 

This speech is many, many things. One thing 

it is not, however, is a soliloquy. 

The image of the ‘lone prince’, so endemic 

Peake’s 

Hamlet debuted 

last year at 

Manchester’s 

Royal Exchange 

Theatre. 

on the stage, duly made the transition to TV 

and motion pictures. Laurence Olivier’s 1948 

version placed Hamlet alone on a windswept 

tower of Elsinore. Grigori Kozintsev’s 1964 

version is another lone Hamlet, this time 

walking along the Danish shore. Franco 

Zeffirelli’s 1990 film sees Hamlet alone in 

his father’s sepulchre. Kenneth Branagh’s 

1996 film places Hamlet in a mirrored hall, 

practically alone but for Ophelia hiding out 

of sight. Peter Wellington’s 2003 adaptation 

of the speech for the series Slings & Arrows 

features a seated, lone Hamlet. Gregory 

Doran’s 2009 TV adaptation of the Royal 

Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet has David 

Tennant’s Hamlet all alone, with Ophelia 

scurrying off immediately before the speech 

and tromping back on just as he finishes saying 

“Soft you now.” 

Despite the entrenchment of the lone 

Hamlet on our cultural understanding of 

Hamlet, when we study the six quarto and 

three folio printings that comprise the original 

texts, we find the following: one, that the 

famous speech cannot be a soliloquy; two, that 

the entering Hamlet should know he is being 

spied upon; three, that Ophelia’s presence 

must be addressed; and, fourth and lastly, that 

Hamlet may be reading as he enters the scene. 

My methodology does need some 

explanation. I believe in the primacy of the 

text: dramatic texts are the most important 

factor in creating a production. The words of 

a text are the skeleton of a play, and basing 

one’s interpretation on elements not in the text 

is problematic at best. Now, I’m not trying to 

say there is only one way of doing any play 

or moment from a play. I only distinguish 

between two kinds of performances – those 

that agree with the text and those that do not. 

Soliloquies feature lone speakers, but all 

nine original Hamlet printings agree that 

Hamlet is not alone, as Ophelia is also onstage 

throughout the speech. Therefore, the classical 


understanding of “soliloquy” does not apply. 

Further, the “To be or not to be” speech 

features none of the characteristics of Hamlet’s 

actual soliloquies. In those speeches, he follows 

a pattern – he speaks about Claudius, the 

late King Hamlet, and, usually, Gertrude. 

Hamlet does discuss his family with some 

other characters, but when he knows he is 

accompanied by potential spies, he stays away 

from the topic of his family. The “What a 

piece of work is a man” speech, delivered 

just after Hamlet discovers he cannot trust 

Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, is an elaborate 

deception. When Hamlet delivers his speech 

to appease his friends-turned-spies, he does 

not mention the circumstances of his father’s 

murder. He only mentions the King and 

Queen as the people to whom Rosencrantz 

and Guildenstern must report. 

“I will tell you why, so shall my 

anticipation prevent your discovery, and your 

secrecy to the King and Queen moult no 

feather.” 

Since “To be or not to be” takes place with 

others on stage, and since it deviates from the 

Naeem Hayat is 

one of the actors 

playing Hamlet 

on the Globe 

Theatre’s twoyear 

world tour. 

(image: Bronwen 

Sharp) 

“To be...” 

patterns Shakespeare established in Hamlet’s 

actual soliloquies, it cannot be a soliloquy. 

Since the speech is not a soliloquy, it cannot 

be staged as a soliloquy and still be faithful to 

the text. Text-based stagings focus on what is 

written. For instance, Hamlet, entering into 

the scene, knows he is being observed. The 

original printings agree that, by this moment 

in the play, Hamlet has discovered that his 

schoolmates have been dispatched by the King 

to spy on him. Further, all but one of the 

printings agree that Hamlet enters into the 

scene because he has been sent for by the King. 

The remaining printing, the First Quarto, does 

not mention this at all. What happens next is 

a strange division; all folio printings agree that 

the King and Polonius hide before Hamlet 

enters, while all quartos state they exit after 

Hamlet enters. 

The quarto texts allow Hamlet to see the 

King and his crony hide; Hamlet would clearly 

know he is being spied upon. In all three folio 

printings, the King and Polonius exit before 

Hamlet enters the scene. Even if a director 

chooses the folio option, it is still reasonable 

that Hamlet knows he is being spied upon. 

Hamlet already suspects Claudius on some 

level before the action of the play, as evidenced 

by his response to the Ghost’s news that 

Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father: “O my 

prophetic soul! / Mine uncle?” 

The King has just sent for Hamlet. If, as in 

the folios, Hamlet enters not seeing the King 

and Polonius, he still has another reason to be 

suspicious: the King is absent, but Ophelia is 

directly in his path. 

Let’s talk about Ophelia and the issue of 

the silent actor. In order to stage the scene, we 

must have a better understanding of Ophelia 

and her relationship with Hamlet. She has 

only appeared twice before, in scenes revolving 

around her relationship with Hamlet. 

Ophelia speaks on this subject with her 

father, Polonius, saying her relationship with 

Hamlet is an honorable and affectionate one 

that has included every promise, save that of 

matrimony. Polonius dismisses this as Hamlet 

merely wanting to master her chaste treasure 

and commands her to never see Hamlet again. 

When Ophelia is placed in Hamlet’s way, 

 


“To be...” 

“Since the speech is not a soliloquy, it cannot be 

staged as a soliloquy and still be faithful to the text” 

she is being used to provoke her boyfriend into 

showing why he is behaving so strangely. This 

is part of Polonius’ plan to discover if Hamlet 

is mad for his daughter’s love. Claudius accedes 

to the plan and, immediately before Hamlet’s 

entrance, describes his plan to Gertrude, that 

Hamlet should “affront” Ophelia. 

The meaning of the word “affront” is 

crucial: “to put oneself in the way of so as 

to meet; to accost, address.” By strategically 

placing Ophelia onstage, Polonius and 

Claudius mean for her to come face to face 

with Hamlet so they can hear what follows 

between them. As a result, Ophelia could be 

Hamlet’s audience, either in part or in whole. 

Before this passionate meeting, there is 

one more discovery to address: what Hamlet is 

doing as he enters the scene. The First Quarto 

offers a fascinating option. In it, before Hamlet 

enters for “To be or not to be”, the King says, 

New production 

Women Playing 

Hamlet offers a fresh 

take on “To be or 

not to be”. 

“see where he comes poring upon a book.” 

This is similar to Gertrude’s statement in an 

earlier scene, “But look where sadly the poor 

wretch comes reading,” which appears in all 

other printings of the story. It may be the 

First Quarto misplaces Hamlet’s entrance, but 

this anomaly bears study. Hamlet does have a 

book in other scenes, so a Hamlet who enters 

reading can be textually valid. In fact, the book 

he reads may still exist. 

Douce in 1839 and Hunter in 1845 noted 

that Girolamo Cardano’s 1576 book Comfort 

includes passages very similar to a portion of 

Hamlet’s speech: 

“…saying, that [death] did not only 

remove sickness and all other griefs but… what 

should we accompt of death to be resembled to 

anything better then sleep… and to die is said 

to sleep.” 

Compare all this talk of death, the easing of 

griefs, and sleeping to this famous portion of 

Hamlet’s speech: 

“To die – to sleep, 

No more; and by a sleep to say we end 

The heart-ache and the thousand natural 

shocks 

That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation 

Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep…” 

A reading Hamlet opens up a new possibility 

to the speech. If Hamlet is reading about 

death, his speech might refer to the book. 

Shakespeare gives us a similar situation in 

Henry IV, Part One, where, examining a letter 

from a confederate, Hotspur reads a phrase 

and then makes a scathing response. If this 

formula were applied to Hamlet’s speech, “the 

question” may refer to ideas raised in the book 

itself. A staging using this reading can allow 

the prop to help explain why Hamlet is in this 

frame of mind. 

Studying the original texts with a respect 

for their primacy reveals that the cherished 

long-established vision of Hamlet simply does 

not agree with the text. The options revealed 

by the text and its established circumstances are 


“To be...” 

many and must be explored in a production. 

After studying the evidence, I staged the scene 

two different ways. In the first, Hamlet entered 

reading, responded to the book like Hotspur 

in Henry IV, and discussed the contents with 

Ophelia. In the second staging, I took Hamlet’s 

book away, allowed him to see Claudius and 

Polonius exit, and had him confess his dark 

thoughts to Ophelia. 

The first staging was greatly intellectual. 

Hamlet mused about the ideas of death, 

sharing them on that level with Ophelia. 

This Hamlet is the consummate philosopher, 

matching wits with Ophelia and even referring 

to the book she is carrying. The concepts 

of death and release are explored with great 

cerebral impact, so much so that, in directing a 

full production, I can easily see Hamlet reading 

voraciously through the early stages of the play. 

The second staging focused upon the 

circumstances of the characters. Hamlet, 

knowing he is spied upon, takes refuge in the 

arms of his forbidden love but is unable to tell 

her the whole truth of his problems. Ophelia, 

torn by duty to her father, her King, and her 

love, must react to Hamlet’s considering death 

and suicide. This staging speaks to the troubles 

as written by Shakespeare and had great 

emotional and visceral impact. Similar to the 

first staging, I can see a full production of this 

sort of Hamlet. 

These are two very different interpretations 

of the “To be or not to be” speech, but it is 

vital to remember they are both based on 

Shakespeare’s texts. 

“So what?” you may be thinking. “Why is 

this important?” Well, for hundreds of years 

the theatre world has embraced a version of 

Hamlet that does not agree with the words 

Shakespeare wrote. Elsewhere in Hamlet, 

Shakespeare commands “suit the action to the 

word”, charging us to base our versions of his 

work on the words he left behind. He did the 

job of a playwright well, creating the skeleton 

of his plays. It falls to us to give that skeleton a 

heart, a soul, and scars. 

Rory Kinnear played 

Hamlet at the 

National Theatre in 

2010. 

“Ophelia says her 

relationship with Hamlet 

is honourable. Polonius 

dismisses this as Hamlet 

merely wanting to master 

her chaste treasure” 

 


Interview: Ben Walden 

“Once 

more 

unto 

the 

TEACH...” 


Interview: Ben Walden 

 

Actor Ben Walden is a man on 

a mission to educate and inspire. 

And his weapon of choice is 

Shakespeare. All of which makes 

him the perfect candidate for a 

rare interview by award-winning 

teacher, author and contrarian 

Phil Beadle. 

Images courtesy of European 

Council of International Schools 

“He has kill’d me, mother.” 

I have witnessed this epitome of weakness 

delivered so thoughtlessly as to render the 

desolation of Macduff as kindergarten 

mawkish. The forlorn bleat of an innocent 

without a name as he’s descended into the 

writhing masterpiece of eternity comes 

usually in Disneyfied pastels. Not so the last 

time I was in the same dark room as this 

line. I sat, horrified, on an uncomfortable 

bench with two of my three sons flanking 

me, both of them rigid with fear as The 

Porter brutally slammed down a trapdoor, 

through which, milliseconds ago hard light 

shone, disappearing it, and along with it the 

anguished cry of the death of promise. 

The second time I met Ben Walden the 

conversation went like this: 

Ben: “What did you think?” 

Phil: “Yeah, it was great. Really good.” 

Language can be drivel. What I had meant to 

say about the touring version of Macbeth that 

I’d just seen in Deptford that Ben directed 

was that it had all the visceral thrill and panicinducing 

horror of the Hellraiser films. But I 

didn’t. 

The reason my words disappointed me so 

particularly is that the first time I met Ben 

Walden I thought he may well have been one 

of the coolest people I’ve ever encountered. 

Unassuming in a pastel V-neck in a circle 

of middle-aged white men of above-average 

professional capital at the AGM of the firm 

we both work for, Independent Thinking Ltd, 

he introduces himself in anger: fists of tears 

which he cannot and vehemently will not 

suppress roll down his cheeks. The object of 

his anger? What the proud philistine Michael 

Gove – He’s dead. He’s dead. That B-movie, 

lowlife, literate bozo is dead! – is doing to arts 

provision and education for working class 

children. I understand the anger that gave 


Interview: Ben Walden 

“Ben’s version of Macbeth had the visceral thrill 

and panic-inducing horror of the Hellraiser films” 

vent to his tears, as I feel it acutely myself. 

The third time I met Ben Walden I left a 

decade-and-a-half old yellow corduroy jacket 

containing my phone and house keys in a 

pub in East Grinstead. I couldn’t be bothered 

to go down there to pick it up, and miss it 

still. I then left the notes for this interview in 

Montenegro (it’s a long story) and that is why 

this interview is five months late. 

I had met with him to discuss the 

impact of Shakespeare on his life. If you 

do not know who Ben Walden is, and you 

should, he was a member of Mark Rylance’s 

original company when the Globe opened, 

is an actor of seriousness and note, and 

now runs a company, Contender Charlie, 

whose mission is to bring the power of 

Shakespeare’s text to inner city kids, and 

who subsidises this work, which they do 

for next to nothing, by giving presentations 

to corporate clients on what they can learn 

about leadership from Henry V. I ask him 

some penetrating questions: 

Phil: “What lessons from the plays have you 

applied to you own life?” 

Ben: “I was sent to a boarding school 

when I was a kid, and as a result have always 

despised not only the concept, but the human 

manifestation of ‘repressed Englishness’: their 

reticence, their poison, their cowardice. For 

me, people should speak what they feel, and 

“For me, people should speak 

what they feel, and because of 

this Edgar’s line in King Lear 

reverberates strongly with me” 

Ben Walden 

because of this Edgar’s line in King Lear – 

‘The weight of this sad time we must obey. 

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to 

say” – reverberates strongly with me.” 

Phil: “How much of the language infiltrates 

your own day-to-day expression?” 

Ben: “The best way to explain this, Phil, 

would be for you to watch Kate Tempest’s 

‘My Shakespeare’.” 

[I watch it five months after our meeting, 

after my notes finally return from their 

sojourn in the former Eastern bloc. I don’t 

buy Kate Tempest as a performer, but 

the passion is clear, as is the fact that she’s 

distanced being a drama school cockney 

infecting culture with lies. “He’s not 

something boring taught in classrooms in 

language that’s hard to understand. He’s not 

just a feeling of inadequacy when you sit for 

an exam”]. 

Phil: “Tell me the shape of your year?” 

Ben: “There’s a lot of airports. And those 

gigs that require air travel pay for the work we 

do with kids from different environments.” 

Phil: “What different environments? What 

do Contender Charlie do… in exactly seven 

words?” 

Ben: “Help kids find purpose and meaning. 

Can I have four more?” 

Phil: “Grudgingly…” 

Ben: “…By examining their feelings.” 

Phil: “What are your feelings about the 

philistinism of Gove trying to make drama 

and the performing arts not formal GCSEs?” 


Interview: Ben Walden 

Ben speaks at 

the ECIS Annual 

Conference in 

Nice, 2014. 

Ben: “For me, whether Shakespeare is on the 

curriculum or not is an irrelevance. Humans 

are naturally ritualistic. Making drama not 

a ‘proper’ GCSE doesn’t change that. People 

will still seek the spiritual. Shakespeare, 

himself, was a deeply spiritual anarchist, in 

touch with our deepest nature. His work 

remains vital no matter what space policymakers 

have him in this week. Kids will 

always connect with it like I did. Shakespeare 

came close to saving my life. When I was 

overwhelmed as a young adult, I would read a 

speech for solace and read it again and again. 

The transient whims of policy-makers are just 

that.” 

Phil: “Put the four great tragedies in order of 

something other than their greatness.” 

Ben: “Can I put them in the order of how 

much I like them?” 

Phil: (Murmurs assent) 

Ben: “Lear, I give 11/10, Macbeth 10/10, 

Othello 9/10 and Hamlet 8/10.” 

Phil: “Harsh on Hamlet?” 

“Shakespeare came 

close to saving my 

life. When I was 

overwhelmed as a 

young adult, I would 

read a speech for 

solace” 

Ben Walden 

Ben: “It’s arrogant playwriting. And 

he is self-indulgent as a character. It is 

really Shakespeare examining depressed 

adolescence. Hamlet is caught in his own 

depression and his own pain, and is a bad 

lesson. In life, you have to rise above your 

own pain to see the profundity in and of 

everything – to see the ‘special providence in 

the fall of a sparrow’. True wisdom is in being 

truly present emotionally, facing pain and 

meeting it head on. Truly wise people don’t 

fall off the wire.” 

 

Go to www.contendercharlie.com for 

more on Ben Walden and his work. 


Next issue 

We hope you’ve enjoyed Issue Six of Shakespeare Magazine. 

Here’s a taste of what we have coming up next time… 

My Shakespeare 

 

The TV series that gets under Shakespeare’s skin. 

Opera Shakes 

Our guide to Shakespeare’s greatest opera hits. 

 

Turn’d Turk 

Exploring what Shakespeare means in Turkey. 

 

High Treason! 

 

The real story of Shakespeare and the Essex Revolt.

Shakespeare Magazine 06

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