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May 11, 2001
Sp 109
Contact: Sarah Maxwell
Director of Media Relations
507.646.4184
Written By Danny LaChance '01
Award-Winning Actor Simon Russell Beale Speaks at Carleton
College
Northfield, Minn.- A large crowd gathered
in Carleton College's Arena theater last Wednesday, May 9, to
listen to award winning British actor Simon Russell Beale, hailed
by critics as one of the greatest actors of his generation, reflect
about his career in the theater. An associate artist at the Royal
Shakespeare Company of London, England, Beale is one of Britain's
leading actors. He trained at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge,
and Guildhall.
Beale is currently in Minneapolis performing the title role in
the Royal National Theatre's international tour of "Hamlet."
The production opened in London last October and began touring
the United States in April. Beale's performance has earned him
London Evening Standard Theater Award for Best Actor, the London
Critic's Circle Award and a nomination for a Laurence Olivier
Award.
The public forum was facilitated by longtime Professor of Theater
Arts Ruth Weiner. Weiner introduced Beale and engaged him in
a public conversation focusing on his work in "Hamlet."
Beale, now in his forties, has been thinking about taking on
the famous part for over ten years. Playing the prince of Demark
at an older age than is customary, he explained, has enabled
him to deliver a more poised, mature performance. "Had I
done the part at age thirty," he told the audience, "I
would have showed off a lot more than I do here."
Having played Hamlet nearly every day for the past nine months,
Beale still finds his character fascinating. "He's the loneliest
man I've ever played. He's not always right, not always wise,"
he reflected. The intensity and rigor of the play remain strong
even after countless performances. "This part requires
the actor to be psychologically naked," he said.
For Beale, the key to crafting a memorable Hamlet is gaining
the ability to ignore the legacy of former Hamlets that surrounds
any production. According to Beale, the part is large enough
to accommodate the multitude of different actors who have uttered
"To be or not to be" over the years. "It's the
widest part ever written," he explained. "As an actor,
you take what you want [from your own life] and the part will
respond. There's no way to create a perfect Hamlet, so you do
what you can with your own personality."
Moving and thinking are the important tasks of the Shakespearean
actor. "Motion and thought are the same thing in Shakespeare.
Actors have to realize that just because Shakespeare's characters
are articulate about their feelings doesn't mean that they don't
have them," he said.
A degree in English also helps. Beale described the impact of
his English major as "incalculable." Acting on the
stage, he believes, is literary criticism in three dimensions.
"If you make a decision," he said, "it has got
to be supported by the text."
Audience members were curious about the differences between British
and American audiences - and the influence those differences
has had on the production. American audiences, he responded,
react more vocally to the morbidity and comedy in the play. "The
response to the comedy is sharper here than in England,"
he observed.
Despite those differences, Beale believes that his performance
is less of a response to the audience and more of a response
to the people with whom he shares the stage each night. His coworkers
provide him with the inspiration and challenges necessary to
keep the part vivid and fresh. "I need all the good ideas
that aren't mine," he explained. "My performance is
a response to people in the rehearsal room and the director."
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