Becoming Hamlet: A Q-and-A with Harper Jones
Opening Nov. 14, the IU Department of Theatre and Drama will present Shakespeare's Hamlet for the first time since 1956. The play stars third-year MFA student Harper Jones as Hamlet in director Murray McGibbon's contemporary take on the classic play.
Harper Jones as Hamlet and Justine Salata as Ophelia in the IU Department of Theatre and Drama's production of "Hamlet."
"Harper is Hamlet," said McGibbon. "He possesses an 'everyman' quality that will reach everyone in the audience."
John Kinzer, direct of audience development, said McGibbon has worked toward making the play accessible to a younger generation. "That didn't mean imposing a concept on top of a masterpiece of drama; it meant answering some important questions about how this story translates to an evening of theatre that will reach an audience that has grown up with iPods and cell phones," said Kinzer.
Hamlet is Jones' master's thesis role. Part of his thesis project has also involved visiting Bloomington high schools to share his craft with students, who will be invited to a special dress rehearsal.
At IU, Jones has appeared in Metamorphoses (Orpheus and others), Measure for Measure (Claudio), Side Man (Al), and The Birthday Party (Petey). This past summer he was in The Boys Next Door (Barry) and How the Other Half Loves (Bob) at the Brown County Playhouse. Other credits include independent IU productions The Island and Search for Signs . . ., Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Anything Goes (Billy) at Trinity.
In an interview with Kinzer, Jones shares his thoughts on "becoming Hamlet."
Q: From an actor's perspective, what were your initial thoughts, emotions and responses to Hamlet the play and Hamlet the man?
A: When we found out what the season was, I looked to that role and actually a few other tragic roles, including Burrs in The Wild Party, Jud in Oklahoma! and Matt in Dead Man Walking, but this was something that I wanted an opportunity to take a crack at. So, it was exciting, but frightening as well.
Q: What have you learned or discovered since your preparation began? How have your initial thoughts and expectations changed as your work on the play and your role, specifically, has progressed?
A: We found out in March but didn't start actual rehearsals until Sept. 14, so I had a whole process that I went through. I kind of grabbed as many things as I could . . . prior performances, some of the theory behind the play, reading the different versions, quartos and folios, and then taking a look at what our production was all about. Although the character himself has so much within him, he is existing, just as we all are, in response to everyone else in his world. And if acting is acting and reacting, it definitely had to be a play that existed with Murray McGibbon as the director, with Josh Hambrock as Claudius, and with Bethany Barber as Gertrude. Those people needed to be involved. So I didn't set anything until this rehearsal process began, but since it has, we've just run forward with it, and these discoveries have been everything that everyone always talks about.
Every part of humanity, every part of what it is to be in a family, these are the things that we really focused on. We've focused less on the warring parts, and really made it about what is going on between these family members and why they are struggling. I'm lucky -- my parents are still married -- but I do know many people whose families have been broken by divorce or death in the family or those other struggles that happen when a family is fractured. Polonius doesn't have any references to his wife, and for whatever reason, he has been able to move on. So I'm learning a lot about family, and as my family's growing -- I just had a nephew born this summer -- family is on the forefront of my thought and Murray's, as well.
Q: Describe your collaborative process with Director Murray McGibbon. What is it like working with him?
A: It's amazing working with Murray. He requires that everyone put forward their best work, and for me it's been an opportunity to finally do just that. He is honest. He puts all of himself into the work and asks for you to do the same. I've been able to do that. Everything's kind of fallen into place for me. My class load and the classes that I've been teaching have all been able to just flow as we do this. He's got a vision for what this play needs to be for this audience here in Bloomington, here at IU. This play is about these families and the things that are going on at this time. We're not doing a museum piece where we're walking around in pumpkin pants and in this outdoor theatre. That's not what it is. It's a piece of work that exists now as a play that we can bring to a college audience instead of just an audience. We know a lot about our audience: It's college students, a group of very dedicated patrons, Theatre Circle members, faculty -- and we bring in the English Department, as well. I hope they don't come expecting to see what's written in their Folger, Riverside, or Arden edition of Hamlet, because that's not what this production is about. It's about this time, this place that we exist in now.
Q: What can we expect from Murray's production of Hamlet that an audience might be unaccustomed to, especially when compared to other productions of Hamlet they've already seen?
A: One of the things that Murray has been able to do is make sure that the actors are taking ownership of this play. I've been a part of a lot of productions where it's the director's play. This play is about the actors, the performers and how they see their characters. So the biggest thing that you can see is a group of actors taking ownership of a piece and really being proud to be on stage and putting something forward that they believe in.
Q: With this being your MFA Thesis Role, have you found that your "process" has changed in any way compared with your other roles?
A: It has. I chose my class schedule based on this, and then I said I really need to do what I can to prove that I can be a student and a teacher. My biggest fear is that my students would walk away from the class that I was teaching and say 'The class wasn't that great, but he was doing Hamlet that semester so I understand.' If anything, it's meant that I've prepared my classes in a more rigorous and intense way, and chosen my class schedule so that I'm not distracted. I'm in a graduate acting program. Technically, no class should ever distract me from my acting, but I wanted to make sure that I was staying within Shakespeare and staying within some sort of literary form that I was comfortable with. As far as preparation for the role, if I were playing Hamlet at any point, I would be working this hard. Like I said, the role will instill fear, but that's necessary. It's a great motivating factor. But it's also important to recognize that it's a great opportunity that cannot be taken lightly.
Q: Shakespeare's language can be difficult to fully grasp at times. What are some of the challenges for an actor when doing Shakespeare, especially a play so well-known for its monumental soliloquies?
A: Well, the first thing that we did was remove the "thee's," "thou's," "thy's," and "thine's". It's "you," "your," "I," and "my." So that's contemporized a lot of things and taken out a lot of the challenges, especially for the ear.
Q: And this was a choice made by Murray right away?
A: Yes. When I approached the text for the first time, those changes had already been made. We look at the script and see the imagery. We recognize Shakespeare's innate ability to draw a picture for the audience. I think that some people are really frightened by Shakespeare more because of rumors or because of bad productions, which often happen.
Q: And are there any things that you can and will do as an actor in your performance to help bridge any possible gaps between Shakespeare's language and an audience's understanding of it?
A: An actor must feel confident with what they're saying and how they're presenting it. Murray is very honest as a director. He has required that we bring ourselves into the text, so if it ever sounds like we don't know what we're talking about, he calls us out. He will require that we make specific choices, and that is something that will read on stage. That is something that makes an audience feel comfortable, because to see an actor have confidence in their work is much easier to watch than to see an actor that is just mouthing the lines. They need to speak the lines, and that's something that I have not seen in every production of Shakespeare that I've been a part of.
Q: How have you grown or changed as an actor since coming to Indiana University? What have you learned?
A: Coming into this production I was a sponge, and coming into this program I was a sponge. That means I've been able to pick up things and squeeze it out and think about what's stuck with me and what can I use. I've been able to get so many different things, but one of the greatest things I've been able to learn is that as an actor you need to have your own self-identity so that you know where the character that you're portraying exists in relation to who you are. You can't ever let who you are go, so you have to find out where that person lives in your body, mind and actions. This program has so many resources that I've been able to draw from, and I'm privileged to have been a part of it. Now I can go out into the world with a sense of who I am as a human being, what characters I'm strongest at portraying, and what characters I struggle with portraying.
Q: What are some of the highlights from your time in the program? What do remember and value most about it, specifically from your interaction with Dale McFadden and other faculty members and students?
A: I have made friends for life with these people, and I have been so fortunate to be a part of this huge program. And I'm not talking in size. I'm talking in scope of the challenges that they undertake, the opportunities that they provide and most importantly, the connections that they allow people to make as they are finding themselves in their own education.
Q: What's next for you? Do you have anything lined up after graduation?
A: Anyone want to offer me a job? No, I've got some great opportunities that have presented themselves both in the Chicagoland/Indianapolis area and in Los Angeles, actually. A former director of mine is in Los Angeles at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and he and I have been talking about me possibly going out there and teaching, telling his students what it's like to be trying to make it in the world as an actor, and then simultaneously trying to make it in the world as an actor. He thinks that kind of turning the tables on education in that way might be a path that we could at least explore.
Ticket information
Hamlet opens Friday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. with additional performances at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, 18-22 and a 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 22. All performances will take place at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for 30-and-under, students and seniors on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, as well as the Saturday matinee. Student rush tickets for $12 with a valid IU Bloomington student ID are available the day of each performance. Group prices are also available. For ticket information, call 812-855-1103, stop by the IU Auditorium box office Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or go to the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center box office, open an hour before curtain. Call Ticketmaster at 812-333-9955 to purchase tickets by phone, or buy online at www.theatre.indiana.edu.
