The first topic was the selection of an actor to play Hamlet. Cimolino's discussion with Goad began nearly ten years ago and continued through planning of the current production. The technical needs for the role are enormous. Plus, the actor must be able to play a soldier, a courtier and a scholar while dealing with issues of justice and vengeance. When the offer to play Hamlet came, Goad felt he was probably too old for the role that he called "an intimate experience." He asked his wife, and she told him that he certainly was not too old. We discovered that Goad's wife is Adrienne Gould, the actress who played Ophelia opposite her husband. Thanks to her, he took the part.
The conversation moved to the matter of the setting of the play. Cimolino described Hamlet as a play about killing children, about sacrificing the young to avenge the crimes of their parents. The ghost of Hamlet's father is the voice of the old generation calling to the younger generation. The tragedy of the play is the loss of youth trying to find justice in a corrupt world. With this philosophy in mind, World War I seemed a perfect setting for the production. It was a time when the world said goodbye to the old ways and hello to a modern era. The stage set was designed with this in mind. The rectangular prisms were based on the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe in Berlin. (Different World War perhaps, but no matter.) I had never seen the memorial, but a photograph of it makes this parallel very obvious and striking.
When asked about the look of his character, Goad said that he trusted his director in that respect. The look in the play is one for all time. Goad furthered this discussion of flexibility. No two shows are exactly the same, one of the beauties of live theatre. He described it as classical jazz, giving the play room to breathe.
A discussion of casting and the roles in Hamlet followed. The entire Stratford company gets extremely high marks. Cimolino gave a reason for the high quality of the company. The Canadian TV and film industries are not as highly renowned as in the U.S., so the actors are blessed to be able to do the classics and not get rich. (Jonathan Goad: "So blessed!") Regarding Polonius, Cimolino chose to portray him as a religious, Richelieu-esque figure. Religion figures in Hamlet, and the chapel is mentioned although many productions do not show it. This production displayed it prominently. Gertrude was portrayed as a professional woman, not a "clothes horse."
The conversation shifted to the topic of Hamlet's relationships. Goad took this question. He finds all of the scenes difficult and challenging. Hamlet's relationships are a series of disappointments. Hamlet is not a lover; he yearns for connections. The scenes with Ophelia--the nunnery scene, her funeral--are especially difficult. (That he and Ophelia are married in real life adds to this!) Ophelia is completely abandoned in the play--by Laertes, by Hamlet and ultimately by Polonius, although not by his choice. She's left alone and dies alone.
The nunnery scene in this production was marked by Hamlet exiting and reentering repeatedly. Cimolino described this as the repeated failure of Hamlet's words. He tries to talk to Ophelia and keeps getting it wrong. Goad added that the idea of the scene was not male violence perpetrated on women. Hamlet tries to say good bye and just can't bring himself to leave. Family contact was a constant theme in the production. This was evident both in Hamlet's family and in Polonius' family. As Cimolino put it, they try to hold on tight, but by the end of the play it "all still goes to ratshit."
The next topic was Hamlet's soliloquies. Goad described them as dialogue, not monologue. Hamlet is isolated in the play, so he talks to the audience. Sometimes this plays a little more evidently than others. ("I have heard/That guilty creatures sitting at a play....") In delivering the speeches, Goad had to erase the weight of history. He tried to stay in the moment, to bring himself to the soliloquies and to put an original stamp on them. Cimolino commented that the "How all occasions" soliloquy is very important. He described Hamlet's tragic flaw as an excess of passion. After the ghost's visitation, Hamlet wants to "get it right." Then he kills Polonius inadvertently. Seeing the Polish soldiers marching to their deaths has a huge effect on Hamlet. The soliloquy is Hamlet remarking that nothing is perfect, so one must do one's best. In that speech, the idealist in Hamlet dies.
The next topic was the troupe of players. Just as the conversation was about to begin, Mike Shara, who played Laertes, appeared at the window behind the dais. A knock and a wave--it was a beautifully inserted comic moment. Returning to the discussion, Cimolino said that he chose to portray the players as wandering Romany gypsies. It is a gesture designed to elicit empathy for the wandering underdogs who were much persecuted in European history. The first player is as a second father to Hamlet.
At this point, the floor was opened for audience questions. To the question of an aha moment, Goad replied that you have to know the lines so well that you forget them and lose yourself in the performance of the story. On the topic of Hamlet's constant motion on stage, Cimolino ascribed it to his active hunt for the murderer. A question was raised about Hamlet's supposed inactivity. Goad stated that one thing they did with this production was to examine the text in order to question the standbys in this play. Hamlet is never asked to kill anyone. He's not effeminate. He's not an artist. He's not indecisive.
In response to a question about how the play mirrors the director's personality, Cimolino said that family is hugely important to him as well. The family unit is greater than death. Perhaps the loss of youth was a light into the life of William Shakespeare, who lost his own son around the time that he was writing the play.
A discussion about Ophelia dropped a bombshell on the audience. She was pregnant! It was not obvious, but Cimolino said that it was there. (This makes the play fit for repeated viewings.) Goad said that Hamlet and Ophelia have been intimate. The songs that Ophelia sings are about men taking advantage of women. Perhaps the one that she and her father duet early in the play was one of his favorites from his youth. In addition, one of the herbs mentioned later in the play was used as an abortion drug.
The final topic of the Star Talk concerned the scene in Gertrude's chamber. As Hamlet is dragging the body of Polonius away, he says, "Good night, mother." Cimolino referred to it as a dream that has become a nightmare. He paralleled the encounter to that of a young son who visits his mother in her room and doesn't want to leave. Goad said that the moment itself was not intentionally comic, but the juxtaposition is. It's an absurd moment, but it's done. And with that so was the afternoon's discussion.
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