WATCH: David Tennant Answers Shakespeare Question From Student in At-Home Video
Earlier this month, we shared that David Tennant would be reviewing and answering Shakespeare questions submitted to him via the Royal Shakespeare Company.
We can only imagine how many questions came through, but the one he's chosen to answer is, "What is your favorite Hamlet soliloquy, and why?" That's not quite a homework question, which is what we were expecting, but it is David Tennant and we'll go with it.
He starts off by saying, "It's a very hard question to answer because one of the great joys, and also the great challenges, with playing a part like Hamlet is that all the speeches are so bloomin' famous!"
He provides an example, going on to say, "You come on stage to do something like 'to be or not to be,' and the audience are practically chanting it along with you."
He considers it a "privilege" to deliver William Shakespeare's words to a live audience, but at the same time finds it difficult to "mint it fresh."
We get which type of scenes he doesn't necessarily prefer and why. So, which one does he enjoy?
You can hear his answer in the below, filmed from his kitchen (with a plastic hairband and all):
https://youtu.be/cn36PXxrvBg
If you haven't had a chance to watch the above video just yet, he reveals that he's a big fan of Hamlet's "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I." Tennant doesn't just announce his favorite lines, but gives a very detailed and dramatic explanation. His movements and him practically growling out the words is almost a Shakespearean performance in itself.
Students studying Shakespeare, and those of us who just enjoy Tennant, will definitely get something out of his virtual Shakespeare 101 session.
And, upon further investigation, look who else has popped up on the RSC YouTube. Oh, it's Dasha! Actually, English actress Harriet Walter who plays the Russian assassin Dasha in BBC America's Killing Eve.
Walter has provided a little bit of Shakespeare for everyone's viewing pleasure, as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5r1z9IZxI0
Our hard-hitting question is... is everyone going to start sporting plastic hairbands from the 1980s now?