Before it was cast, before it was even written, began with a director’s blurry vision of a silhouette. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Before it was cast, before it was even written, began with a director’s blurry vision of a silhouette. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Before it was cast, before it was even written, began with a director’s blurry vision of a silhouette.
“I had this image of an actor, standing solo, wearing black, with a guitar in his hands,” says Rodrigo Beilfuss, the artistic director of Shakespeare in the Ruins. The actor was in a black-box theatre vastly different than the company’s normal outdoor playground at the Trappist Monastery Ruins in St. Norbert.
“It was clearly a Hamletian image.” Soon, Beilfuss was chatting with the Gargoyle Theatre’s Andrew Davidson about future collaborations, and not too long after, Davidson was at work with actor and playwright Duncan Cox on a solo musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s longest work, condensed into an hour-long show that could be packed up and driven across the province as the company’s first touring production since before the pandemic. LEIF NORMAN PHOTO Actor-musician Duncan Cox (above) collaborated with Gargoyle Theatre’s Andrew Davidson to condense Hamlet into a show that could be taken on the road.
Davidson, a bestselling author who established the Gargoyle Theatre in 2022, has loved since.