Overview
'A part we have played is like a person we once met, grew to know,
became intimately enmeshed with and finally moved away from. Some of
these characters remain friends, others are like ex-lovers with whom we
no longer have anything in common. All of them bring something out in us
that will never go back in the box.' In a varied and distinguished
career, Harriet Walter has played almost all of Shakespeare's heroines,
notably Ophelia, Helena, Portia, Viola, Imogen, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice
and Cleopatra, mostly for the Royal Shakespeare Company. But where, she
asks, does an actress go after playing Cleopatra's magnificent death?
Why didn't Shakespeare write more - and more powerful - roles for mature
women? For Walter, the solution was to ignore the dictates of centuries
of tradition, and to begin playing the mature male characters. Her
Brutus in an all-female Julius Caesar at the Donmar Warehouse was widely
acclaimed, and was soon followed by Henry IV. What, she asks, can an
actress bring to these roles - and is there any fundamental difference
in the way they must be played?In Brutus and Other Heroines, Walter
discusses each of these roles - both male and female - from the inside,
explaining the particular choices she made in preparing and performing
each character.
Her extraordinarily perceptive and intimate accounts illuminate each
play as a whole, offering a treasure trove of valuable insights for
theatregoers, scholars and anyone interested in how the plays work on
stage. Aspiring actors, too, will discover the many possibilities open
to them in playing these magnificent roles. The book is an exploration
of the Shakespearean canon through the eyes of a self-identified
'feminist actor' - but, above all, a remarkable account of an acting
career unconstrained by tradition or expectations. It concludes with an
affectionate rebuke to her beloved Will: 'I cannot imagine a world
without you. I just wish you had put more women at the centre of your
world/stage...I would love you to come back and do some rewrites.'