Submission to the Artistic Panel

In the end I abandoned my long winded essay, which was going to be my submission to the Bench Theatre Artistic Panel, and also my pitch for next Thursday (17th) to the rest of the company at the final January Club Night. Issued instead a hand written proposal on the standard Bench Theatre Play Proposal Form. I reproduce it below in its six distinct sections.



Title of play and author

"Hamlet" by William Shakespeare. Perhaps the greatest Shakespeare play, and therefore one of the greatest plays ever - an iconic text of world theatre. A revenger's tragedy! (I realise some of this is not grammatically correct or even organised in sentences. However I was under pressure of time)



Venue and dates

Havant Arts Centre July 2008. Such a play deserves 8 performances at least!



Style and Form

I am interested in the dysfunctional family that is the Hamlets. (I think our intimate space at the Arts Centre is best suited to seeing behind the scenes of the Danish royal family rather than the pomp and circumstance) I am intrigued by the "car crash" caused by knowing the right thing and how difficult it is to do it. How to do the right thing without deluding yourself that the ends justify the means. "Hamlet" is thought of as a deep, thoughtful, challenging play but it is also an exciting adventure story and a very good play. No post Freudian, neurotic Hamlet here, fretting and whinging.

This is the year of Hamlet. There will be David Tennant for the RSC, Jude Law at the Donmar (actually May 2009 but hey what the hell?) and the Southsea Shakespeare actors in November.

Availability and Cost
There are no royalties. I would expect costs to be in the region of £1100 - £1200. The bulk would be costume hire @ approx. £900 for 3 weeks (see cast size below). I would also want to build for rehearsals and onwards 4 black boxes (coffin shape/size) as set/furniture. Otherwise the set would use the Arts Centre staging and black curtain surround. A fight arranger will be needed for the notorious Laertes/Hamlet duel in Ophelia's grave, and the bloodbath at the end.

Schedule
I would want 30 rehearsals, roughly 3 per week, over a 10 week period (6 rehearsals per each of the 5 Acts). Rehearsals would start in the week beginning May 5th and finish on Friday July 11th. The actor playing Hamlet (see below) would be asked to attend 10 - 15 rehearsals extra prior to main company rehearsals as above. The director will have a 2 week absence in the middle of June, which would be covered by an experienced Stage Manager, who would be expected to run drill rehearsals according to the moves already blocked; actors expected to cement lines firmly.

Other Considerations
An ideal cast size would be a minimum of 9 men and a maximum of 12 men, plus 3 women. These would be playing multiple parts of about 20 - 21 characters hence the costume hire cost. The costumes are Jacobean because I think the play will resound more clearly in this period (see "Othello" at Donmar, see Michael Boyd at RSC and the point about heaven, hell and purgatory). The costumes would be hired from the RNT or RSC.

I do not have a crew or production team. The producer and I would discuss publicity as a priority. The Stage Manager needs to be experienced and confident. The boxes would be props stores and would include weapons.

I do not have detailed plans to publicise beyond "The Year of Hamlet" (see above). I would want to work with the producer on publishing and distributing "Supporters' Letters" for members and Backbenchers keeping them up to date with the production on the same lines as this blog. I would use the membership lists to sell the production and encourage all supporters to bring along 4 or 5 friends each. I need to discuss the practicalities of this and use of the first three performances as previews and then push for review and public in second week. I haven't yet done a poster design or blurb.

I have approached Nathan Chapman as a possible piece of pre-casting. He is an excellent Bench choice and having him in mind has helped formulate some of the ideas. I have worked several times with Nathan and find his Hamlet to be an exciting prospect. His range in 2007 from paedophile murderer in Frozen, to chairman of the Dead Funny Society in Dead Funny (plus unfaithful husband), and Hjalmar Ekdahl in Wild Duck shows the wide variety of parts of which he is capable. He was also in my last production in November 2000 of "Racing Demon". He also co-directed me in "King Lear".

My last Shakespeare was "Richard III" back in the depths of time, which we presented at Oaklands School Hall. It was really my own version of Shakespeare's plays with eclectic costume and ended on the line "Now that we have dealt with these enemies at home, let us deal with our enemies abroad." At this point the searchlights concealed in the side galleries turned on the audience and the cast dressed in chemical warfare outfits advanced on the startled members of the public. This time I would like to do a Shakespeare in full and in costume. I will not be doing the full four and a half hour version but am working with David Penrose on a shorter version. Even Shakespeare himself cut "Hamlet". I will dispense with some of the more flowery language like "Measure for Measure" (Bare Bards version in November 2007) and with Fortinbras and the war with Norway.