Συνέντευξη ηθοποιού, Γιώργου Γάλλου

ΠΕΡΙΓΡΑΦΗ

“Double Identity!”

In this production Giorgos Gallos played both Claudius and the ghost. He answers for both!

• As dark uncle

Is Claudius the evil brother who conducts fratricide, or not? Giorgos Gallos talks about the hero, about the machinations to get the throne and the games of conscience, about his nephew, as well as the challenge to play both murderer and victim!

By Thodora Agritaki and Alkis Stavropoulos-Douka

Claudius seems to be the ‘evil’ one in the play. But is this really so?

First of all, his actions, which make him seem ‘evil’, were rather usual for his time. Change of power was not always implemented democratically. I do not justify him, of course. His actions were against the law. However, he did not intend to do more of such acts.  Hamlet’s pressure leads him deeper into darkness. Personally, I prefer not to label the heroes I play. In my attempt to incarnate them, I have to also find their opposite side – the reasons one turns evil – in order to ground my interpretation.

It is said that to create a successful villain, there has to be a reason for his cruelty. What is Claudius ‘justification’?

When Claudius takes power, there is no sign of him being a bad or despotic king. His weaknesses are drinking and his love for Gertrude. He truly loves her, even if he eventually acts behind her back in order to survive. His ‘justification’ is his intention to rule the kingdom without oppression, and to accept Hamlet as his own child, at least as long as he thinks that Hamlet does not know anything about his father’s murder. However, when Hamlet pushes Claudius, saving his life and getting away with murder seems to be his right.

At some point Claudius realizes that his deeds were unjust. It is as if he regrets them, and yet he continues. Why is that?

At some point his conscience kicks in. Claudius has a conscience, just like everyone else. The issue is whether we are in tune with it. And Claudius is in touch with his conscience. Well before the prayer scene, Claudius says that his conscience burdens him. However, as he explains throughout the work, his need to hold on to what he earned, now ‘possessing’ him, feels as if demons have taken hold of him. Ambition and the throne are things that no one can let go easily. His inability to pray makes him realize that darkness is the only way for him.

Claudius seems to have all that he wants, at least at first. And yet he is constantly restless, trying to cover up his actions. On the other hand, Hamlet is also restless, even though he has justice on his side. It is as if neither good nor evil win. Is it so?

We are all restless in this work, because all heroes are living in a nightmare. And if one takes it a step further, it is as if all heroes are protagonists in Hamlet’s nightmare. They are all psychologically upset and struggle to escape their fate. However, fate is above all. In a sense, there is a kind of power that punishes perpetrators. Hamlet himself undergoes great internal turbulence. He is a man who wants to act and take revenge, but somehow cannot make the deed. In the end, he manages to take revenge in his own way, regardless if murder is his answer to murder. It is as if Shakespeare wishes to show that eventually all kinds of violence – justified or not – can only breed violence. Violence is a bloody vicious circle.

In this production you played Claudius and the ghost, both victim and perpetrator. What are the challenges entailed in playing these two roles?

For an actor, this is very difficult and interesting at the same time. In this case, there was no physical change to signify the transition from one character to the other, apart from the hairstyle. Essentially, you had to support this change through the mental and emotional world of each hero. In one moment you would have to transform from a guilty person to one who is suffering from injustice and must talk. Such ‘irrational’ and abrupt changes seem real only when we are dreaming. Did you ever experience in a dream talking to someone who suddenly transforms into someone else? Momentarily you think: ‘But I wasn’t talking to him.’ This was more or less the director’s intention. In other words, he wished to imply that all this is a nightmare inside Hamlet’s head.

• As supernatural dad!

Who isn’t afraid of ghosts? Transparent, threatening, and suspended between life and death, they are not the best kind of visitors. However, we have overcome our fears and took on the challenge posed by the ghost of King Hamlet. Armed with courage, we asked him for explanations.

By Tatiana Tsigaridis and Venos Zachariadis

What do you want from Hamlet?

When I was alive, I had sent Hamlet to study so that he would become a good heir to the throne. Now that I am dead, he must avenge my murder so that I can find rest. I was killed in my sleep. I wasn’t even able to take communion! Since then my soul has been burning in Hell. I cannot find rest day or night.

Why do you only appear in Hamlet? Why is he the only one to be burdened by your secret?

Hamlet is ready to receive me. The way his body and mind work allow me as a ghost to make contact with him. I cannot reach everybody. Hamlet is open, because deep inside he has the seed of revenge. I am aware that I am a burden to him, just like all parents when they command their children to do something and they struggle a lifetime to achieve it. That is what I do to Hamlet, because truth must surface.

Are you jealous of Gertrude, who remarries your brother?

I am mad with jealousy! But I still love my wife. I want Hamlet to kill my brother, who is a scoundrel. However, I do not want him to touch Gertrude, even though she was not faithful to me, something I did not anticipate.

What would you like for Hamlet’s life? What would you wish for?

I would like him to avenge my death, and then seize power and reign peacefully, without any of my brother’s machinations. As far as I can see, he is someone very dear to the people. He is not terribly balanced, and must work with himself before taking power. Hopefully he will be just.

If you had not showed up to Hamlet, it is possible that nothing would have happened. The royal family would not dissolve, and Denmark would have had a better future king and prince. Do you share this thought?

No, I do not believe that everything would have been well. I think that Hamlet would have figured out what happened to me, even if I did not make an appearance. That is why I am not sure whether I came to him, or whether he called for me to appear.

Are you also perhaps a bit… evil?

This would have been the case, had I come alone and was not called for. But I am convinced that I was called for. I was essentially Hamlet’s suspicion, his unconscious – what we have at the back of our heads, which emerges only when something happens.

Did you foresee the outcome of Hamlet’s revenge?

I wished it never happened. However, I believe that things were meant to take this course. Hamlet’s destiny is to take on this sin. In the end, all that he goes through essentially leads him to adulthood. He is able to do the most important deed in his life: he acts instead of merely thinking. Thus, even though I led him to his death, I also enabled him to become an adult. He was immortalized. In a sense, I granted him immortality. What a good father I am!