Shakespeare gone mad and close up
Michael Hurst wants to act his socks off right in front you, so close you can see the demons in his eyes.
‘‘One of the things I’m interested in is the close-up experience of theatre. I’m really keen on this,’’ the veteran Kiwi actor and director says.
‘‘It’s really special. You can’t download this experience, it only happens right there in front of you. And it’s electric. I’ve spent a lot of my life doing that.’’
Hurst’s show No Holds Bard is touring the country with Arts On Tour NZ, visiting small venues in both the North Island and South Island.
‘‘I’m interested at the moment in acting close up,’’ he says.
‘‘Simple, down-to-earth, honest-toGod acting theatre techniques. Literally I arrive, take it all out of my car, in this case my van, set it up in 20 minutes. There are really only two lighting cues, on and off.’’
Hurst, who acts and directs, is known internationally for playing Iolaus in the TV show Hercules.
No Holds Bard is a mix of four of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth, Hamlet,
Othello and King Lear.
‘‘Yes, it’s got a Shakespearean content, but it’s not what you think,’’ Hurst says. ‘‘It’s not just a whole lot of Shakespeare together, it’s a mashup, it’s crazy.
‘‘The central character I play is a fading old thespian Shakespearean actor who’s losing his marbles and is completely kind of off his face.
‘‘And in trying to solve his dark night of the soul, he’s visited by a fellow Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello and King Lear, but they’re not the straight characters. They’re how he would see them in his twisted, warped, drugaddicted mind. It’s intense, physical, comedic, knockabout.’’
Hurst says the play has a ‘‘great sense of irony about it’’ and is ‘‘mad, pretty mad’’.
‘‘You don’t have to know Shakespeare to get it. If you do know Shakespeare, it’s even richer, because I plundered those plays and throw things in the air and toss them around.’’
He describes his acting in No Holds
Bard as simple but with great impact. ‘‘It’s very much sleeves rolled up, working hard, the coalface kind of theatre, which I think is important for people to understand and remember that theatre is physical, emotional and spiritual work that is happening right in front of you.’’
Hurst says he has continued to develop the play over the past six years. ‘‘It’s very different and much better than it was when I started it. Right now, it’s really humming along.
‘‘It’s unique every single night. It’s just adding to the craft.’’
Hurst says he is hoping to turn the play into a movie in the near future. ‘‘It’s got legs.’’
❚ No Holds Bard is on at Ghost Light Theatre on August 14, 7.30pm, tickets $20; and at Takaka’s Village Theatre on August 15 at 7.30pm, tickets $20 or $25. Ticket price includes a 30-minute Q&A with Michael Hurst after the performance.