She has won acclaim as the title character in “King Lear,” “Richard III,” “Timon of Athens” and “Cyrano de Bergerac” as well as Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the Fool in another production of “Lear.” In Coen’s film, she also appears as an old man. The idea of ignoring restrictions appeals to Hunter - years before gender-fluidity became commonplace in theater, she gravitated to male roles in classical plays because they were the more complex and fully developed parts. The accident also taught her about how to use her upper body while the lower half was restricted - as the witch she seems able to contort herself in ways that are not human - a skill she developed further working with the modern theater company Complicité, with whom she has performed for decades. She studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but her acting was shaped more by devastating injuries suffered in a terrible car accident - a broken back, shattered elbow and crushed foot that had doctors thinking she’d never walk again - and by the resilience she found in the aftermath, as she worked even harder to make her mark. She sees Macbeth’s murderousness as a product of the warrior society, citing Shakespeare’s vivid descriptions of wartime actions as slaughter, not pure heroism and lines like “blood will have blood.” And she notes that “when human beings behave without conscience and awareness,” Shakespeare has nature respond with violence and chaos. A down-to-earth chatty conversationalist, she can also transform an interview into a compelling master class on “Macbeth” and Shakespeare, quoting from numerous plays. Hunter has been a devoted Shakespearean since reading “King Lear” in school at age 14. (Initially they auditioned women of similar height and flexibility to play the other two witches before deciding to have only Hunter, times three.) “I’d try different positions, I’d be a crow in flight,” she says. There is a marriage there.”Īfter discussing the role with Coen, Hunter would send him short videos of her ideas. “The shape of words is physical too, and the words and physicality must be completely synced up. “Over the years I’ve been labeled a physical performer and I always say, ‘But what about the words?” Hunter says. An esteemed theatrical star in the U.K., Hunter was also grateful for the chance to have audiences focus first on Shakespeare’s words and her delivery of them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |