We know what we are, but not what we may be.

Follow Matt Schwader's blog, Bounded in a Nutshell. Here's an excerpt from his most recent post. I was at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK in 2006 after our (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's) opening night of Henry IV parts 1 & 2. Patrick Stewart... yes Patrick Stewart was standing alone at the post show party. Having just seen him the previous night in the role of Antony in Antony & Cleopatra, I knew I had, at the very least, an ice breaker with which to chat him up. Being a fan of both Shakespearean legacy as well as comic books (specifically Marvel's the X-Men), I could barely hold myself together as I approached Patrick-Antony-Shylock-Professor X-Captain Picard-Stewart. I introduced myself as a member of the cast and gracefully landed a simple, but direct, "I loved Antony & Cleopatra, you were fantastic." He was nothing but gracious and returned the compliment (although I doubt he would've remembered me from my show) and we began to talk about Shakespeare. We went from Star and Blubbering Fan in one instant to just two Shakespeare lovin' nerds in the next. Mr. Stewart... - oh who am I kidding?... my old buddy Patrick, Pat, Patty-o... - starts telling me about his current rehearsal process for the role of Prospero in the upcoming RSC production of The Tempest. Having played the role in his teens and again in his 40's, he felt his age now and Prospero's were much closer to alignment. I told him that I too played Prospero in my teen years. We shared a smile that only two former teenage Prosperos could share and then I asked him, "so, what's it like... to return to a role like that at different stages in your career?" Mr. Stewart will not very likely remember this conversation, but it will live in my memory as long as I have one. "It's all there," he said. Now, I won't be foolish enough to attempt to directly quote the rest, but I will share what I gleaned of his insightful response. He told me that it was all there, that it never changes only we do. He explained that Shakespeare is so rich and deep that it is impossible to get it all in one take, nor should one attempt to do so. In fact the only thing that was different was Patrick, himself. There was no way the teen age Prospero could deliver the performance of the 40 year old, nor could he now attempt to capture the magic of a moment that may have worked very well for him as a teenager. However, not one of those different experiences should invalidate the other. Just because he understood a moment or piece of text now after some life had been lived, doesn't mean that he missed an opportunity the last time. This philosophy could be applied to a performance from night to night. Each time an actor enters into the machine of a role in performance he or she carries with them a different set of perspectives and opportunities, but as for the text... it's all there. This look at the work was enormously freeing and continues to impact me from role to role. I played (or should I say attempted to play) Hamlet in 1995 at the age of 17 (see photo on this page). The previous summer I witnessed Lee Ernst play the role at American Players Theatre. I was first introduced to the story at McKinley Jr. High School via the Zeffirelli film starring Mel Gibson. I have watched Kenneth Branagh's film. I witnessed James DeVita on many nights playing the role at APT in the 2003 season, under the direction of David Frank. Full post including photos & links