Globe Education Online

This is Tim's final blog post. This week he discusses his final thoughts on Claudius and judges the audience reaction to Claudius: is he a scheming politician, or a pantomime villain?

Thank you for all the opening night cards that you sent me.

Final thoughts on Claudius

As I have been performing Hamlet I have found that Claudius' reaction to the dumb show is quite marked. You can't overplay this reaction though, because if you do you give too much away to the court, who are there watching the mime. Claudius realises what is happening when the king in the mime is poisoned, but he has to quickly pull himself together in order not to arouse suspicion. It is during the dumb show that Claudius begins to suspect that Hamlet may know something. Both Gertrude and Claudius react to the lines in the show about second marriages. I think that Hamlet had probably added these lines to the script. The interesting issue of the dumb show is to ask why Claudius doesn't stop it. I think that Claudius thinks that if he did stop the show he might arouse suspicion, although he did have good reason to stop the performance, as the remarks about remarriage are clearly offensive to the King and Queen. When the King in the play within the play dies I think that Claudius realises that the whole thing is a set up. He realises that he has to get rid of Hamlet. He looks for redemption in the prayer scene, but when that fails I think that Claudius begins to lose control. He probably starts to drink too much and to question whether or not the Queen knows about the murder. After the closet scene, Claudius asks Gertrude what Hamlet has said to her. Gertrude lies and says that when Hamlet spoke to her he was clearly mad and that was not aware of what he was saying. I think that Claudius believes Gertrude's lie.

Audience reaction to Claudius

I am finding that working with the audience at The Globe is interesting but also challenging. Understandably people come to The Globe with preconceptions about Claudius. For many people he is the simply the 'bad guy'. Sometimes the audience boo and hiss when I come onto the stage and clap when I die. Sometimes I wonder if they are seeing Claudius as a pantomime villain. This is not how I want people to see Claudius. Claudius is liked by his court, he is an effective leader and politician. He has successfully prevented an invasion. He was elected to be King. It is important for me to be able to view his murderous act within this context. I think that voicing their opposition to Claudius gives the audience a way of becoming involved in the play.

These comments are the actor's thoughts and ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal and performance process - they are simply his/ her own interpretations and frequently change as the process progresses.

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