50 Welcome To The Clearing: Wonderful Actor Colin "Hamlet" Hurley - Ahhh Mr Shakespeare!

Welcome to a very special Episode  of "The Good Listening To" Podcast with me Chris Grimes!

Please welcome to the "GLT Clearing" one of my very very favorite Actors: Colin Hurley!

Ahhh Mr Shakespeare!

I had the great priviledge of being on stage with Colin many years ago, at the very beginning of my career as an Actor.  An experience I will never forget!

Colin was the most astonishing Hamlet and he tought me the true nature of Ensemble: "The spiralling upwards" of excellence that happens when true magic - or Alchemy & Gold as I like to call it - is present in the "Clearing" of the Stage!

Marvellous!

I was Polonius (and the Gravedigger) to Colin Hurley's astonishing "Hamlet" back in the day, at the Salisbury Playhouse circa 1990!

Polonius's conceit of course is to watch Hamlet carefully to ascertain if he is mad or not...

I remember standing there listening to him and ACTUALLY thinking: "Fuck me! You're awesome!" 

And indeed he was and is!

A really lovely, rich juicy conversation indeed about the true nature of Acting, along with the highs - the lows - the triumphs -  the disappointments - and the resurgences to shine once more! 

Acting in all of its flavours & textures, warts and all.

Colin has had a rich and varied career and is a Shakespearean Specialist, Actor & Teacher in particular.

He has appeared at the RSC, The National - particularly The Globe - and has been a regular foil to Mark Rylance. And indeed Colin was Sir Toby Belch in THAT Production of "Twelfth Night" with Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry in London & New York circa 2013.

You can also "Watch/Listen" to Colin's time in The GLT "Clearing" here:

So - thanks for listening! 

The Podcast series that features "The Clearing":  Where all good questions come to be asked and all good stories come to be told!

Think "Desert Island Discs" but in a Clearing - and with Stories rather than Music!

There are some lovely juicy storytelling metaphors to also enjoy along the way:

The Clearing itself - A Tree (where we get to "shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out, in the form of a lovely storytelling exercise called "5-4-3-2-1") - some Alchemy - some Gold - and finally a Cake with a Cherry on Top!

Also think about William Shakespeare - and about Jaques in "As You Like It" in particular:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages..."

And as my Guest in the Podcast:  Now is your 'moment in the sunshine' to share your story!

Who are you? What's your story? And what 'life-lessons-learned-along-the-way' would you like to share with us? And just to ge

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

• Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com
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Thanks for listening!

Chapters

• 1:07 Hello Colin Hurley!
• 5:00 The Clearing! Which could have been designed with Colin in mind!
• 5:10 The Clearing!
• 8:00 My Polonious to Colin's Hamlet! A Diagnosis of Madness?
• 8:45 Stepen Fry & Twelfth Night
• 10:35 Colin in "Illyria" personifying the Madness of Malvolio
• 13:20 Shaking Colin's Tree! "5-4-3-2-1"
• 37:42 Teaching at The Globe Theatre
• 43:31 Technical Problems!
• 46:47 Colin and Covid
• 1:00:15 Golden Nugget About Comedy
• 1:06:40 Alchemy & Gold
• 1:09:10 The Cake: All The World's A Stage!