Tom Albrecht and The Birthday Bard
Hamlet Show Celebrates 444th Anniversary of Shakespeare's Birth
How fitting that Tom Albrecht is playing the Danish Prince with Owen Sound Little Theatre this week! Today would have been William Shakespeare's 444th birthday.
`Tis a timely present from a young actor to one of literature's greatest minds: Tom Albrecht, who studied with The Stratford Festival Conservatory, has a passion for the plays of William Shakespeare. He hopes to ignite that same zeal and curiosity in others be it seeing other Shakespearean plays or reading The Bard’s fascinating yet timeless text.
( ***Warning - the following interview excerpt contains Hamlet spoilers***)
Hamlet is so much about “what ifs”... What’s your favourite part of the show?
"I have been asked this question before and I said then, I am trying to love the whole thing. It’s one of those incredible journeys that if you do not give each scene its weight I think there’s something off, so every moment I’m on stage I’m trying to love what I am doing and work with and be there with the people who are onstage with me.
In reading the play, I love the closet scene. I am also very intrigued by Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia and whether or not he is truly mad, or if it is a part of his antic disposition. I am intrigued in so many ways, even that fantastic little scene after Hamlet murders Polonius and is brought before Claudius when they are finally toe to toe. I love it. Hamlet is horribly rude to the king and it’s amazing he does not get run through right there. I love the way Hamlet dances around the questions, the demands placed on him, and then after he sticks his toe over that line, Hamlet quickly gives the answers so that he can escape and live to fight another day."
Do you see Hamlet as an extension or a representation of the state of Elsinore – that something “is rotten” in the state of both?
"My take is that Hamlet is outside looking in and at the same time tethered to that rotten state. I would say no, Hamlet does not embody that thought, but at the same time, there is something that he cannot cut out or surgically cure and it is something that he cannot walk away from. Hamlet cannot leave, and is unable to escape and that’s a very difficult thing for him to try and come to terms with. He does not agree with a lot of the things that go on there. He does not condone a lot of the behaviour that goes on in that court in that castle, but at the same time in his struggle against those things, Hamlet tries gallantly to lead by example."
What would you like audiences to take with them from this production ?
"Curiosity and an inquisitiveness that will lead them hopefully back to read the play and see other productions that may come. I know there is a monster production at Stratford this year that I am sure will eclipse what we are doing here in Owen Sound but at the same time it does not mean that our efforts have been fruitless in any way.
I feel much richer for having come here and spent my time working on this piece. I hope to spread the love that I feel for Shakespeare and for the Prince of Denmark. If we can get another ten people to pick up the play or others to get into the theatre to try and wrap their brains around the story of Hamlet then I think we have done what we came to do."
Hamlet directed by Michael Rea continues at The Roxy Theatre in Owen Sound to April 26. Tickets cost $18 and $16. For information contact The Roxy box office at 519-317-2833.
