This sort of moment would be one of the hardest for me to play were I to play Hamlet. Mostly, gender is inconsequential for me in acting. I may be a woman, but playing men is no big deal for me. I’ve done it many times. But this is a young man’s quality that is hard for me to take on. At least I cannot possibility take it on in life – maybe it I had to PLAY it, I’d be fine – but I’m not sure. Like most young men, Hamlet here demonstrates an extreme confidence in his own self worth.
I listened to a podcast on Confidence recently and it highlighted how often at work, men will declare competency in all kinds of things that they are not (yet) competent in. One guest described two tales of an internship. She described hers as “No big deal. I’m mostly getting coffee for everyone.”
While a male colleague described his as this incredible awesome experience that’s setting him up for life. She said she was embarrassed for him as he described it – it was so out of line with reality – but it paid off – and that blustery self-aggrandisement got him somewhere.
That sense of entitlement, that natural sense of “I deserve this” or “I’m better than” or “Everything’s mine” – THAT would be the hardest thing for me to take on.
The Hamlet Project 