Back to ‘Treat Week’… “At last!” I hear you cry! Indeed, I get fed up of myself sometimes too, so here then is Mr Colin Tierney, Hamlets best mate, Horatio, who wrote this wonderful blog in between our matinee show and our evening show:
Hello. I’m Colin and I play Horatio. Virgin blogger that I am, let me tell you about my day.
An early start. A ‘Page to Stage’ workshop this morning with a packed auditorium of Students. We focused on the opening of the play. Talked about the circumstances and conditions:
MIDNIGHT.
FREEZING COLD.
NERVOUS SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD…
What’s it like to see a ghost and how do you act that?
Answer: Breathe heavy & look freaked out!
A young girl at the workshop implied that Horatio should feel guilty: it was he who told Hamlet of the Ghost, and as a consequence, Hamlet dies. My response was, that if I hadn’t told Hamlet, there would be no play!
It’s a real pleasure to have so many school parties and students come see our production. Hamlet is such a well known play and so often people approach it with such fixed ideas about how the story should be told. But these young people come to it fresh and open. Alert to the plays modernity. Excited by Hamlets dilemma.
A young man whose family is a mess, who has lost his girlfriend and is struggling with depression. Haven’t we all wanted revenge at some point in our lives? It seems to speak to them.
I’m signing off now, as it’s time to do the second show of the day!
So let the students keep coming, I say… As long as they turn off their phones… And stop rustling sweet wrappers!! And no more whispering either. Or fidgeting.
Apart from that… Great! Come!
Colin Tierney
