"(THE) CHILDISHLY EGOTISTICAL CHARACTER OF HER ACTING, WHICH IS NOT THE ART OF MAKING YOU THINK MORE HIGHLY OR FEEL MORE DEEPLY BUT THE ART OF MAKING YOU ADMIRE HER, PITY HER,


CHAMPION HER, WEEP WITH HER, LAUGH AT HER JOKES . . . IT IS THE ART OF FOOLING YOU.” - GEORGE BERNARD SHAW


inevitable that two individuals, who have their own needs, will at times find themselves in such conflict that they suddenly appear alien to one another. The intimacy within theatrical collaborations is similar to any other intimate relationship. We long for collaborators who inherently strive for the same aesthetics we hold dear. But just as easily, we ask our collaborators—as we ask our lovers— to submit to some narrative we want to prescribe to them. It’s a dictatorial form of possessiveness that’s born out of desire, whose end isn’t partnership or acceptance, but rather validation which has little to do with the other person.


TS: And Sarah’s relationship to her son—Maurice—what do you make of that? Do you see that relationship as a matter of parents acting like children and children acting as if they were parents – or something different? MVS: You know, I think there’s an element of that in there, certainly. Artists require so much freedom that responsibility can seem like it somehow fetters one’s access to truth. Add to that a large dose of personal ambition and one might judge the parent as being self-absorbed, necessitating the reversal of roles as you suggest. But I think Maurice appreciated how much of a trailblazer his mother was. He grew up in the shadow of her celebrity and the wake of her scandals, but they loved one another dearly. Sarah cherished him in a way that she’d been deprived by her own mother. Amidst the rise and fall of fame and finances, he was one of the only constants in her life.


TS: What about Sarah Bernhardt and her desire to play the title role in Hamlet long before it was fashionable to feature gender bending casting in plays—what is your take on that? MVS: Benhardt’s decision was both practical and political. Then, as unfortunately now, there was a lack of complex, leading roles for woman of a certain age. That meant that just as one was at the top of one’s game, there were fewer opportunities. So why shouldn’t the greatest actress of her day play the greatest role in history? We long to witness true virtuosity, yet so often our greatest performers are sidelined. Frankly, I don’t understand the resistance to female-centered productions unless you genuinely believe they are somehow inherently less substantial, simply because it’s a woman in the spotlight rather than a man. But if you do, there are some hard questions you should ask yourself. I would also say that untraditional casting has the potential to shake up what we think we know about classic plays.


TS: Can you talk about choosing and collaborating with your design team? How will the play manifest itself visually? MVS: My design team has been absolutely fantastic. First of all, you don’t have to say much beyond “1890s Paris” to capture their attention! I mean, we could have done the play “out of period” and modernized it, but I think the themes are so readily parallel to contemporary life, that we didn’t feel we needed to underline those ideas visually. And yet, we didn’t want to feel obliged to replicate historical, theatrical practices too rigidly, as they often emphasized overly baroque performance and artificially ornate decor (Bernhardt’s actual production of Hamlet was criticized for its length, partly as a result of its 14 interminably slow scene


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changes). Instead, we wanted to capture the period, with an homage to the aesthetic of existentialism that we recognize in contemporary interpretations of Hamlet. The question was how do we visualize bringing a piece of theatre from seemingly nothing into being? How do we create a space, and music, and dynamic lighting, that frames the performers in bringing the passion, humor, and ambition of the theatre to bear? It becomes a fun design challenge.


TS: What else are you working on? Any advice for a young person who wants direct for the theatre? MVS: Immediately following Bernhardt/Hamlet, I’ll be working on The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse at Playwrights Horizons. It’s a satire about four “woke” white people trying their best to write a Thanksgiving pageant without having Native American representation in the room, and of course they implode. It’s the kind of play that derives its humor out of human failing, even if the characters are well-meaning. I find myself really tickled by that sort of thing, because we spend so much time in social settings and online curating our self-image, but when we betray our masks, we reveal something more truthful about who we are. Maybe it’s because I’ve always felt others were better about fronting their masks than I was, but I have a lot of curiosity about that relationship between mask and self. Actually, that speaks to what I might tell young artists. Pursue the thing you’re curious about, rather than the thing you’re certain of, and you’ll engage a process of discovery. Anything that’s already self-evident will condescend to an audience and fail to reveal anything to you.•


Moritz von Stuelpnagel in rehearsal for Bernhardt/Hamlet


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