Συνέντευξη του σκηνοθέτη, Γιάννη Χουβαρδά

ΠΕΡΙΓΡΑΦΗ

Hamlet sums up what it means to be human.

This year it was time for director Yannis Houvardas to take on Hamlet’s challenge. This was not due to the work’s relevance to contemporary times, which could easily turn it into a ‘hit’. He was simply ready to face the work’s themes that speak to every one of us.

By Socrates Tselemengos and Errica Hadjivasiliou

What makes, in your opinion, Hamlet different to the rest of Shakespeare’s work? What is the play’s main question?

Hamlet incorporates all of Shakespeare’s preoccupations and questioning about human existence. Although these have been expressed in other works, Hamlet seems to be the one to include them all. The work’s main question is condensed in the famous phrase: ‘to be or not to be’.

There are three ways in which ‘to be or not to be’ can be translated into Greek. The first one reads as ‘to live or not to live’. In other words, do I want to go on living or commit suicide? The second version is ‘to exist or not’. This is a more general question: should I exist or lose myself, whatever losing myself means (for instance, in my head, to close up and become introvert; it also entails the possibility of suicide). The third version, which is the one we chose, is more open: ‘for one to be or not to be’. This includes both the question ‘should I live or not?’ as well as ‘should I exist or not’ (in other words, to what extent should I participate in life). It is also open to more interpretations: ‘to be born or not’; ‘why was I born’; ‘is it me talking at this very moment or do I only think so’; ‘do those around me see me like I do, or differently?’. It also includes the following: ‘why was I born by these parents, in this time and place and not 2000 years ago in Syria or Afghanistan?’; ‘What makes me myself?’. It could finally all be summed up in the question ‘what is life and how can we make the most of it?’. That simple and that complex!

Can one find the answer?

Whoever finds the answer will have opened up all worldly doors that have been locked up since the beginning of humanity. That is why in our production Hamlet stumbles on a key. He picks it up at the same time his father’s ghost appears. The ghost signals him to go near in order to talk. Hamlet has the choice to go or not. The same applies to the key: he can open the door or not. The same happens to all of us. Hamlet chooses to move forward. And so a story begins, during which he is metaphorically called to constantly open doors. However, we always take with us secrets unravelled by opening doors. They are never left behind, even though we may share them with others.

Hamlet has been staged by many directors. What did you wish to emphasise in your production? Who is your Hamlet?

My Hamlet is every human being. You know, all of us turn into a kind of Hamlet from the age of 20 to 35, when faced with grand existential questions: ‘who am I?’; ‘am I good or bad?’; ‘am I useful or not?’; ‘am I loved or not?’; ‘is it all true, what my parents taught me?’; ‘do I want life to continue as it is?’; ‘which path should I choose?’; ‘what kind of a man do I want to become?’. These are the questions that draw me to Hamlet.

As far as directing is concerned, it should be noted that Hamlet also deals with several secondary issues. It is a family drama, a drama of revenge, with political and psychoanalytic dimensions, among others. For this reason, we tried to find the simplest and most open way through which the work could reach everyone. I chose the dream as the core, because it binds all these dimensions together. Anything can happen in our dreams. For instance, we can see our father looking like our uncle in a dream. Or, we could dream that we hate someone we love, or even see him dead. In this sense, we wanted the unfolding action to seem like a dream, so that all characters can choose their own path.

Can you explain to us the process you follow as a director?

Each time one directs, he must communicate with his actors. The level of difficulty usually depends on whether one has worked with an actor before, and if there is chemistry between them. I do not think that Hamlet is a more difficult work, as long as one knows what he is after. The director must have a clear idea of what he wants to do. To my mind, this idea should not be absolute. Personally I like to observe faces during rehearsals, to sense what is in the air, and immerse myself into the moment, which can be a source of inspiration. What is important to me is the actor I work with and the text or the idea: the living, vibrating and mysterious process unfolding during this time.

Why did you choose to have the same actor to play both Claudius and the ghost of King Hamlet?

Here is my theory. I see Hamlet as two people. He is constantly in a dilemma. He is the kind of person who views life with optimism and pessimism at the same time. He sees himself in a positive as well as negative light. In the family context, Hamlet idealizes his father, who is his role model. He even calls him Hyperion [an ancient semi god]. And yet, his father was a man of power, who had killed, was sleeping with Hamlet’s mother, and did all worldly things.  When he dies, Hamlet turns him into Hyperion. At the same time, he sees his uncle as a terrible and despicable man. This polarization reflects what is happening inside Hamlet’s head, how he is torn in two. He is a young man who sees everything wonderful and, at the same time, very dark, through his abysmal inner darkness. In a sense the way his psychological world is set in binaries is reproduced in his perception of the father figure, reflected in both his father and uncle. That is why I chose to have the same actor perform both roles.

Finally, we all identify Hamlet with the scene where he holds a skull in his hands. What does this scene mean?

Let us think that we are all here, talking to each other. Look around you and imagine the other interlocutors as skulls, devoid of life, left with just bones… They used to be people you knew, but now they are only skulls. What if someone comes and tells you: ‘This is the skull of your so-and-so friend.’ What shocks us is not just that we knew him once. We are shocked about how someone so alive could have turned into this. Similar feelings are experienced in funerals, when all of a sudden you see a person close to you, lacking the slightest expression, wearing his face as a mask. Death gives rise to all of these terrible questions. But you must know that death is part of life. Even though we are all afraid of death, one of our essential goals in life should be to live without fear. We should live our life well and enjoy it. And when death comes, let him come. Others will live for us.