Fiona Laird directs a fresh and intense interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at Wilton’s Music Hall with The Play’s The Thing: A One Person Hamlet.
Starring Mark Lockyer, this 90-minute solo performance delves deep into Hamlet’s psyche, offering a unique perspective on the timeless classic.
Don’t miss this captivating production from Tuesday, 1 April to Saturday, 12 April 2025. Book your tickets here.
You’re directing The Play’s The Thing: A One Person Hamlet at Wilton’s Music Hall. What can you tell us about the show?
Well, it’s the whole of Hamlet – we haven’t cut any characters or plot – but performed by one actor in an hour and a half. There are no ‘bells and whistles’, it’s just pure Shakespeare, and one amazing actor. It’s thrilling and compelling story-telling. You won’t have seen anything like it before.
How did the idea of performing Hamlet as a one-person show come about?
It came out of the pandemic when I was thinking a lot about the damaging effects that isolation has on people. Then I happened to see Mark Lockyer in a “socially-distanced” two-hander play in which he was playing both parts because the actor playing the other part had Covid. And suddenly I thought – Oh wow, this is how to do Hamlet! With Mark playing every part. And that idea had a particular resonance for me because I’ve always felt that Mark was, in a way, cheated out of playing Hamlet when he was in his 20s/30s because he was so ill with bipolar disorder and its complications.
What challenges did you face in directing such a complex play?
I think there are positive aspects for me as the Director – for example, I don’t have to worry about lots of different actors’ egos and their responses to me cutting their lines. And I love working with Mark because he is such a quick and instinctive actor who just gives everything to his work. But of course it is very challenging for Mark because he has to hold the entire text and all the characters’ relationships and the tempo of every scene and all the blocking and detail in his head for an hour and 40 minutes with no let-up. It’s exhausting for him.
Can you share how Mark’s personal experiences influenced his portrayal of Hamlet?
I can quote Mark on this: “The themes in Hamlet of loneliness and madness – whatever one perceives that to be – are huge themes, but also not uncommon to anyone’s experience. Hamlet talks about grief and loneliness and isolation and being paralysed to make decisions and feeling sad and alone. You don’t have to have experienced mental illness to have experienced some of those themes but I suppose it kind of helps you to understand. But you know, having experienced extremes of mood and highs and lows and, because of that, not being able to work, and being under the doctor and hospitalised, those experiences give you a kind of base to understand imaginatively what Hamlet is going through.”
What do you hope the audience will take away from this unique interpretation of Hamlet?
I hope that they will feel that Shakespeare is a thrilling and exciting playwright, that Hamlet is a huge, tragic and tremendous play, and that they have experienced something quite extraordinary in seeing the whole play presented through the voice and body of one supremely talented actor.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see The Play’s The Thing: A One Person Hamlet?
Do it!! And bring a friend or family member who is sceptical about Shakespeare.
