In the midst of England's World Cup match against Croatia, a far friendlier clash was taking place at the Thomas Dixon Centre, the West End facility of the Queensland Ballet. British actor and comedy superstar Suzy Eddie Izzard met Croatian ballet maker Leo Mujic to discuss their non-traditional versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Both Izzard and Mujic are presenting their interpretations of the classic play in Brisbane in June. Izzard is performing it solo, taking on all the characters, while Mujic is directing the Queensland Ballet in a wordless interpretation with music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saens.
Mujic was rehearsing his ballet, first staged with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in 2023 to awards and acclaim. Izzard patched in from Sydney, where her Opera House season has been a sellout.
Izzard: Leo, doing [Hamlet as a] ballet is beautiful, because sometimes Shakespeare can be too loquacious – there's a five-hour version of this thing.
Mujic: There's values of the words and there's the values of music and movement. What I'm interested in is why one work, which is more than 400 years old, survived until today and inspired different types of artists.
Dent: Leo, did you read the play in English, Croatian or another language?
Mujic: I did read it in French, which is my easier language to understand. The real Shakespearean English for me, it's very hard to read.
Izzard: You should know for English speakers, it's also very difficult for us to read! Because some of the words are lost out of language. Bodkins are just not used, you know. Most people go, what is a bodkin?
Mujic: I have to be aware of the weaknesses of the ballet, and what non-verbal theatre is actually the best at. Hamlet's thoughts are represented in my ballet through the huge number of dancers who are following him, punishing him, lifting him, encouraging him.
I try to go for character development of the movement itself, even when he's twitching. As the ballet progresses, he needs to become more aware, more paranoid, more aggressive, so the movement actually easily accommodates that.
Izzard: Some people have said that it's actually easier to watch my production of Hamlet [rather than a full cast] because you really get to concentrate on the words. You're not seeing another character and their costume, but you can follow the words – as long as I'm very crisp with the architecture.
It's like playing chess against yourself. The architecture of how I move and how I snap between different characters who are at different places in their arcs.
Mujic: We are having 50 dancers on the stage, and what you do is 50 turned into one! I want to ask, are you super exhausted after the show?
Izzard: No, not really, because I'm living on pure oxygen out there. That's when I'm purely alive.
I was seven when I [first] saw a play. My mother died two years before, and I saw a play and I thought 'I need this.' I think I've substituted the audience's affection for my mother's affection.
So, I'm mentally exhausted, physically exhausted, but I'm fine. I don't go out clubbing after.
Izzard: Hamlet is a classic story of a family tearing itself apart, a country tearing itself apart, a bombastic king. Some people are saying 'no kings' right now, but Hamlet is more than that.
Mujic: We're not living in a time of Hamlet. We're living in a time of Richard III, because Hamlet is 'to be or not to be', and Richard III is 'to be at any price.' Hamlet is bringing us back to the vulnerability and questioning.
Dent: Which of the supporting characters is the most fun to stage?
Izzard: I've really enjoyed playing the women's parts, particularly Ophelia. I've given her honour and respect and agency, and I think it's really beautiful.
Mujic: I had opportunity to give Ophelia more space. I can give myself a beautiful scene of the drowning of Ophelia, where the big group of people are just carrying her through the space.
Mujic: Hamlet cannot have 10,000 conversations with Ophelia. I can give him two: one is a love duet, and the other is the breaking-up duet where he breaks her heart.