Eddie Izzard and Suzy Izzard are one and the same. The standup comedian and actor came out more than 40 years ago, she explains in this video interview, and identifies as trans.<\/p>\n
And that makes playing the female characters in Hamlet \u2013 making them strong and believable \u2013 something of a mission for this veteran British entertainer.<\/p>\n
Izzard becomes Ophelia and Gertrude \u2013 as well as Hamlet, Polonius, Claudius, Horatio, Laertes and the other (male) characters in Shakespeare\u2019s best-known tragedy. It\u2019s a full-on solo performance.<\/p>\n
There are five shows Friday through Monday (including two matinees) at the Straz Center in Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would think that\u2019s kinda my job \u2013 if you\u2019re going to be trans, do honor to them. As opposed to, there\u2019s a big thing in the British pantomime tradition with men playing women, in big boots and clomping around. And not playing the female that\u2019s inside them, but playing some weird, grotesque version of a female. That\u2019s not what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW<\/p>\n
Izzard plays 23 characters in the play. In this interview, she discusses the ups, downs, ins, outs and arounds of darting about the stage and speaking all sides of a group conversation (she mastered the technique in 2022, with a solo production of Dickens\u2019 Great Expectations).<\/p>\n
One thing the audience needs to know: This is not a comedic Hamlet. \u201cThis frenetic staging is earnest, surprisingly traditional and deadly serious,\u201d the New York Times said in its review.<\/p>\n
So don\u2019t expect Benny Hill Does the Bard.<\/p>\n
Izzard is one of England\u2019s wittiest comics, in the absurd, pomposity-puncturing Monty Python vein, and has won numerous British (and American) awards, including two Emmys and a Tony nomination.<\/p>\n
She also maintains a career as a dramatic actor, and that\u2019s the well from which this Hamlet is drawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fight for the thickness of the silence,\u201d Izzard says. \u201cBecause in comedy, you fight for the thickness of the laughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be so inside these characters, I\u2019m really not worried \u2013 people could almost have a fight out there, I would just talk over and carry on. Because I\u2019m so in the space. Maybe I\u2019ve fought my whole life to get to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, the audience helps her fight for the silence. They\u2019re absorbed in the production. \u201cYes \u2026 or they walk out!\u201d she offers, \u201csaying \u2018Where\u2019s the flying car?\u2019 \u2018Where are all the other actors?\u2019 Where are the costumes?\u2019 I\u2019m not doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working with my imagination and their imaginations, and we get to a beautiful place.\u201d<\/p>\n