Photo: Tony Drayton
Since he first saw Shakespeare in Christchurch in the 1970s, being a classical actor is all he's ever wanted to do, Michael Hurst says.
Hurst plays King Lear in Auckland Theatre Company's production of Shakespeare's famous tragedy starting next week.
"All I ever wanted to do when I was young was be good at Shakespeare for some reason.
"And somehow, that has come full circle. Like in Lear, the wheel has come full circle; I am here," he tells RNZ's Jim Mora.
There is a modernity to the play that chimes with the modern world, Hurst says.
"Just look at America, mad men leading the blind. I mean, that's just one aspect of it.
"The great themes in King Lear are about not seeing what's in front of you. It's so bald; 'out of my sight'… 'See better, Lear'.
Lear comes to this realisation too late, Hurst says. When it seems Lear has all he wants at the end of the play, it is snatched from him.
"That is where it becomes very modern. I think in the '60s it was really pointed out that this is a theatre of the absurd situation, the universe is an unforgiving thing that does not care about us.
"And that's why in the mid-20th century Lear becomes more popular because it reflects that … all we have is us. All we have is us.
"Think about the final lines of the play; 'the weight of this sad time we must obey, speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.'"
Terrible mistakes by the powerful with far-reaching consequences also resonate today, he says.
"Look at Putin, we're not doing [the play] in the Russian way or anything, but he thought he was going to get Ukraine like that.
"And now what's the fallout? Refugees and destruction. Well, that is in the play, because it's not just that Lear rejects Cordelia.
"He then says to the other two, their husbands, Cornwall and Albany. He says here, take what I was going give to her and divide that.
"But he doesn't say how. And right there; civil war."
Hurst remembers when he first saw King Lear, his English teacher was in the cast.
"The Court Theatre in Christchurch, it must have been '72, when they were in their very first building, which was like a big living room, and he was playing the Prince of France or Burgundy or something.
"But I remember Bernard Smythe played Lear.
"I didn't know fully what was going on, except that he was standing inches away from me doing, 'blow winds and crack your cheeks', his hands were spread out over my head.
"I was absolutely astounded by the force of this poetry, and I can recall the Fool making some obscene jokes.
"And I couldn't I just couldn't believe that this was Shakespeare. And yes, it left a really big mark on me. And that's what got me going from then on."
Hurst is appearing as King Lear at ASB Waterfront Theatre from 13 June to 9 July.
Jim Mora is the regular host of Sunday Morning and we're delighted that he'll be back on-air next Sunday, co-presenting with Anna Thomas from 7am on RNZ National.
