Shakespeare is making a return to Oxford’s Keble O’Reilly and it’s a big one, Hamlet is back and fresher than ever!
When I heard there was a new production of Hamlet in town my ears immediately perked, as an avid Shakespeare fan, and a more avid Hamlet lover, I was excited to see what this was all about. I always find with any Shakespeare play that it can be difficult to tackle, that the director and actors need to bring something new to the table to be able to gain traction. Therefore, my first question upon meeting the cast and director at Mansfield college last week, just ahead of their regular rehearsal slot, was; Why Hamlet, and why now?
Carys Howell (Director): Shakespeare has kind of exploded again in oxford drama after covid, and loads of people are doing lots of the same productions especially garden plays, and I thought what about Hamlet? Because no one had really done it at that point. So, I had the idea to do it because I did it at GCSE and thought it’s a really cool play! But the main reason why is because I was watching what was going on with our own royal family, the death of a monarch, the instillation of a less popular monarch, and also the young royals being in the spotlight in the way that Hamlet and Ophelia are, and I thought that tracks quite nicely. I thought I can make that relevant, entertaining, new, and a bit fresh; which is always what you want to do with Shakespeare. That was the impetus and from there it exploded outwards with interest. The crew have made it their own with the press angle, including paparazzi and social media and thinking about how the modern world could affect these characters if they lived today.
Are you actively taking a more modern approach? Are you keeping the original text? How are you altering it to fit this more modern vision?
Carys: We are keeping the original text, but merging the folio version and the quarto version. The quarto version gives the women a bit more to do, as well as changing where ‘to be or not to be’ comes, meaning there is more preceding it instead of more action before it. So I’ve modernised it in that way but the text has stayed the same. But in terms of modernising the context, it could happen today. If something happens in the news in the next couple of weeks that’s relevant to it, I’m going to find a way to reference it in the play, trying to make it as contemporary as possible.
Tell me about yourself, what your interest in drama is, and why you wanted to do this play in particular?
Josh Sneddon (Hamlet): My main impetus for getting involved was the fact that I also did Hamlet at school and really enjoyed it. After the first audition, speaking to Carys and seeing where she was taking it was really interesting with the influence of the news. I also really like the Andrew Scott version, so that was another reason for me doing it.
Carys: Yes! It was a huge inspiration for this production, the Andrew Scott version, as well as the David Tenant version. Taking set and design inspiration from those ones, and then making it our own thematically.
Nic Rackow (Claudius): I have never acted in a Shakespeare play before, but I vaguely knew Hamlet. I wanted to try it out and I think the role of Claudius in particular was quite an interesting one. He is obviously a villain but I think he is often played quite straightforwardly, as a “pantomime villain”, which I think is quite boring. I think, as Carys said, there’s lots of relevance to the current royal family, the power grabs and what power does the people have, which is always relevant particularly with the way we are putting this one on, it’s quite fun to draw the parallels.
Was it important in your casting to have people from different acting backgrounds?
Carys: I was really keen to have people like Nick, who havent done Shakespeare, or even people that have not acted in OUDS drama before, put in roles that perhaps they have not been considered for before and create a new group of actors that are trying something different. By putting it in Michaelmas and having it be such a recognisable play, it’s really good for encouraging freshers to get involved with drama. We had over 60 auditionees and half of the impetus of it wasn’t just who would fit the character but who wouldn’t the audience expect to fit this character. So that was a lot of my casting decision. It’s been really cool seeing people shine in ways they perhaps have not done before. It’s also my first time directing.
Is it? Wow that’s interesting, you really went in hard with Hamlet!
Carys: Yeah I chose a big one. I have only been doing drama for a year, I never did GCSE or A level. But the drama I have done over the last year has been amazing. So, I thought why not just put something on and just have people who are just as passionate as me do it. It’s been really fun. The rehearsal room has been ecstatic. We are having a blast!
How long have you guys been rehearsing? And when is the performance?
Om Muthukumar (Laertes): We are performing from the 25th to 28th. We did a lot of zoom rehearsals because the play was so early. I think our first rehearsal was last Wednesday, so we have really hit the ground running. Obviously there’s that pressure, but we have still been having fun and getting to know each other, it’s been great.
Nic: It was really nice over the summer that by the time we came back to oxford we already had done a run through of the whole play on zoom. We knew everything that was happening, who everyone was, who they were playing, and what people wanted to do with their characters. We discussed with Carys quite a lot before we started about characterisation and relationships between characters in particular, which now means that now we are actually together it’s pretty easy.
Carys: We started rehearsing in August, which feels like ages ago. We did a month of nothing with the script. I would just pick pairs and trios of characters and we would all sit and talk about how these characters relationships worked and then we would put what we’d done in August into the script in September. And then we did the final run through in first week and we started in person this week. The first time everyone met was for the poster shoot and everyone was in costume! It was a bit weird but it was the nature of the show.
Kiaya: What are some unique directing, tech and set ideas you are implementing?
Carys: Shoutout to the crew, who have been impeccable from the beginning. Libby, our lighting designer, is going crazy! They did the lighting for midsummer night’s dream last term and Magdalen, and they used UV lights and it looked amazing. We aren’t using UV but we are going really heavy on depictions of cameras in various ways. We have backstage lights that are going to act as camera flashes as characters come on and off stage. We also have a permanent security camera on the stage that’s blinking in the back, to enforce the idea that you are always being watched. They are also using wireless lights that they are putting around the auditorium that they are going to control at different points to make it feel more like the audience is part of the action. They are amazing at what they do,as are the whole crew. Tech is a really big part of it, it’s definitely going way more in a modern direction! One thing that is definitely worth mentioning is that we’re having a proper fencing match with foils. It’s actually being choreographed by a blues fencer who has nothing to do with the drama scene here, which is just one of those cool ways that theatre can expand out and include pretty much anyone in different ways!
Funky Jumper Productions’ Hamlet will take place at the Keble O’Reilly from the 25-28th October, performances are at 7:30pm every evening with a 2pm matinee on Saturday. Tickets are £6 for concessions and £7 general.
