Theatre
Tragedy Factory-style
Actor George Anton finds HAMLET wherever he lOOkS. Words Mark Fisher
eorge Anton wants a coffee. ‘iiscuse me.' he calls to the
waitress as we sit outside on a sunny Soho street. She turns and
heads the opposite way. ‘Ah well —r no presence. That doesn't bode well.‘ he quips. lndeed w because at 37. Anton is about to play the greatest part in the linglish language. The least he needs is presence. The Blairgowrie-born actor's Ham/e! comes five years after his lidinburgh International l’estival appearance in (‘aldcron‘s Life is a Dream playing Segismundo - regarded as the greatest part in the Spanish language.
Both productions are the work of (‘atalan maverick director (‘alisto Bieto. with whom he has become a close friend since hitting it off at their very first meeting. Immersing himself in the mind of Hamlet. that most philosophical of characters. the actor is finding himself making connections in the most unlikely places. ‘I think there‘s something quite
Andy Warhol about llamlet.’ says Anton.
whose credits include 2()()() Acres ofS/t'y ‘AT
and K—l‘) (The ll'almi'maker). ‘I think he
would have hung out in the Factory. I There‘s a scene in one of Warhol's films
that’s really nasty and that‘s like the scene
between llamlet and ()phelia. The thing
that repulses yoti and intrigues you about the l‘actory is the same thing that
intrigues you about Ham/elf
Anton's on a roll now. Next his mind jumps to lirench cinema. ‘lt's constantly saying to the audience “this is a theatre. we're in a theatre. these are actors". It‘s like Les [infants (In l’analis. It's an unashamedly theatrical play.'
And when people ask him about the style of the production. he speculates that it‘ll be like ‘l-ig/n ('lub meets 'I'lie ('able (iay'. ‘At the moment I could watch anything and think of Ham/elf he laughs.
Bieto aims to focus on the power relations. to play it swiftly like a two-hour film and to make it emotional. not ironic. 'I said to (‘alixto. there‘s no point in doing this unless it has some of the effect that Life is a Dream did on a Spanish audience.‘ says Anton. ‘Apart from my ego wanting to do the play. there has to be an artistic reason beyond that ~ and that is to share with the audience the excitement of making it sound like the first time that someone has thought: “To be or not to be.”
Royal Lyceum Theatre, 473 2000, 20—29 Aug, 7pm; 21, 23, 24, 27 & 30 mat 2pm, £74220. Thanks to GNER for travel to London. Contact 08547 225 225.
Nicolas Aaron as ‘ Guildenstern and,
Matthew Douglas as? Rosencraufi
HAROLD BLOOM ON HAMLET
I Hamlet Poem Unlimited ‘Ham/et is part of Shakespeare's revenge upon revenge tragedy. and is of no genre. Of all poems, it is the most unlimited. As a meditation upon human fragility in confrontation with death. it competes only with the world's scriptures.‘ Published by Canongate this month, priced £8. 99.
56 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 14»?! Aug 2003
The Boyd done
From Pippin in The Lord of the Rings to David Greig in San Diego, BILLY BOYD brings a feelgood charm to everything he does. Words: Mark Fisher
et‘s take this slowly shall we‘.’ David (ireig. that most prolific and
intelligent of Scottish dramatists. has written a play called San
Diego. It's about a narrator figure who journeys to San Diego where his story is fatally entwined with those of a number of other characters: an airline pilot. a prostitute. a self-destnictive hospital patient and some illegal immigrants. The narrator is called David (ireig. At one point. David (ireig was going to play David (ireig (indeed he might yet. when the play returns to Glasgow's Tron in the autumn). But instead David (ireig. who is Ct)» directing the show with Marisa 7.anotti. decided being playwright and director was enough for one man and cast Billy Boyd in the pan.
Billy Boyd you will know as Peregrin ‘Pippin' Took. the youngest of the central hobbits in The Lord aft/re Rings.
‘lt doesn't seem any more like David (ireig than any of the other characters.‘ says the ever cheerful Boyd when I meet him after rehearsals in the Tron bar. ‘There wasn't a quintessentially David (ireig thing. We wondered how helpful it would be doing a David (ireig impersonation and thought it's probably not the way to approach it. He wrote a character. so it's playing that character. There are many levels of reality to play with what‘s real and what’s imaginary.‘
it's even an imaginary San Diego. he says. although it is inspired by the playwright‘s visit to the Califomian city to see one of his plays performed. (ireig has come up with a poetic. funny and gently surreal play about drifters and jet-setters. sex and death. care and exploitation in a city that. as the play puts it. ‘despite being such a great place to live. has featured in almost no fictions‘. It's a reprise of Greig‘s long-standing interest in the places we inhabit and the cultural identities we assume.
It's not the first time Boyd. 35. has worked with (ireig. ln I997. there was the delightful Caledonia Dreaming. the 7:84 show that celebrated the moment of Labour's victory and the prospect of devolution of power to Scotland. And then there was The .S'pei'alarm'. Greig's last fabulous contribution to the International Festival in I999. about John Law. the Scottish inventor of a paper money system that made him. briefly. the richest man in the world. ‘lt‘s nice having a relationship like that with a writer.‘ says Boyd. 'l know how he looks at the world. what he finds