Simon Callow Takes On Shakespeare

No need to list the work Simon Callow has done – to Richmond theatre-goers he is an old friend. So, over coffee in the Stalls Bar, we confine ourselves to Richmond alone. “Yes, come to think of it, I’ve done a lot here, haven’t I?” he chuckles. And such diversity: wicked villains Abanazar and Hook in two pantos, egocentric Garry Essendine in Coward’s Present Laughter, the flamboyant and unstoppable Dickens in the one-man show that won huge critical acclaim – and this summer, Shakespeare: The Man From Stratford.















He thrives on variety. “I first wanted to be an actor, in order to be lots of different people – and I certainly have been! Of course in the Shakespeare, as in Dickens, I play many diverse characters within the play. I’m very excited about it. It’s probably the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career.”

Why? “It’s going head-on with the greatest writer who ever lived. I haven’t really done that much Shakespeare – and he’s the test of every actor. I have performed the Sonnets of course – so I feel I’ve been in contact with him all these years - but my ambition henceforth is to spend the rest of my ‘declining years’ doing those wonderful parts that I’m now the right age for.”

Knowing the frantically hard-working Mr Callow, we can guarantee he will have researched every known fact about Shakespeare before he steps onto the stage. No-one, I suggest, can call his approach to work skimpy. He laughs loudly and melodically. “No, but skimpy is exactly what Shakespeare’s biography is. So little is known about him – unlike Dickens. So I’ve done a lot of research into the world he inhabited – how he lived. And we have his writing – he saw the world in a way that I find extraordinarily moving. There is such precision in his observations, clothed in language of such musical perfection. He’s a supreme, sublime genius.”

Simon has provided a selection of that genius in a volume of Shakespearian extracts, Shakespeare on Love. He has written two volumes of a detailed biography of Orson Welles – “I am working on volume three,” he assures me – plus a biography of Charles Laughton – and has just completed a theatrical memoir, My Life in Pieces. Writing is very important to him – and surely it helps him to understand the writer’s mind. “Yes, I am constantly reassessing everything. And constantly working of course.”

Is Richmond a special place? “The point about Richmond, as I’ve always said, is that the theatre has a perfect relationship between stage and audience. Richmond theatre-goers are well-informed, keen and bright and they feel a great warmth towards their theatre. The actors feel as though they’ve been invited into the audience’s home. And that’s very beautiful. Also, the town is full of memories for me – and so perfect for Shakespeare. Cricket wasn’t played in his day, but if he stepped onto the Green in summer, he would feel completely at ease.”

Simon Callow is appearing in Shakespeare The Man From Stratford Tues 27 – Sat 31 July

Article appeared in Applause Summer 2010