Toby `Gustav Graves` Stephens to play Hamlet at Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford

06-Jul-2004 • Actor News

Toby Stephens has been trying to get inside the mind of a killer for his next role - Hamlet at Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre, reports Kenilworth Today.

Famous for his role as Gustav Graves in the 2002 Bond film "Die Another Day", it will be the highlight of his career so far and he cannot stop talking about it, a criticism he has of the Danish prince.

Mr Stephens said: "It's a dream for an actor to be asked to play the part but it's very hard work - the guy never stops talking.

"There is a lot to do and a lot to learn and get right. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. It's such a seminal part and it's something I'm immensely proud to be doing. Most actors never get the chance to play it, I'm very aware I'm amongst a privileged group of people."

Mr Stephens, 35, is no stranger to the RSC, he last appeared there in 1994/5 in Coriolanus, but it is new artistic director Michael Boyd's first production and the two are working on the play as a whole, rather than concentrating on the troubled prince.

The action has been moved forward slightly to the Jacobean era, when revenge plays were in their element, and Mr Stephens is trying to create a Hamlet free of 20th century emotional baggage.

He said: "I think the play tends to be a showpiece for one actor and often the production is not very good but there's an interesting performance going on in the middle - this is a much more solid entity.

"Hamlet, to a certain extent, is a deconstruction of the revenge play. Shakespeare sets out a revenge plot but puts you in the mind of the revenger, the audience follows what is going on in his head, which is something not done before or since.

"Hamlet is less of a retiring academic incapable of revenging his father and more the revenger who has to deal with various moral issues and problems - how do you kill a king without dying yourself?

"He has to deal with just having seen his father's ghost come back from purgatory, suffering for his sins and he's wondering what's going to happen to him when he dies.

"It is a dark play but there is humour in it too. I think it's got bogged down in a lot of psychology, it's become Freudian, layered with modernity. Shakespeare wrote in a time when there was no conception of that."

Mr Stephens speaks very rapidly and animatedly about his current alter-ego, completely wrapped up in the part.

But surprisingly he has very little say on what parts he plays, despite a CV including Stephen Poliakoff's Perfect Strangers and nine films, notably James Bond's last adventure Die Another Day, in which he played baddie Gustav Graves.

How does it feel to come up against Pierce Brosnan's 007?

"It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it enormously," said Mr Stephens.

"I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get to play that. I'd grown up watching the films and it's a one-off, you cannot come back."

Off-stage Mr Stephens is married to New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman, recently seen in Andrew Davies' adaptation of He Knew He Was Right on BBC.

He said: "I spend a lot of time out in New Zealand. I love going there. I go fly fishing, hang out at the beach, it's a wonderful place to escape to."

Hamlet is at Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre from July 9 until October. To book contact the box office on 0870 609 1110.

Thanks to `DoubleOh` for the alert.