I. Introduction
If you’re like me, you are still mourning the loss of beloved actor, Sir Patrick Stewart. Most visitors to my website know that he was more than a movie star, creator of such iconic characters as Professor X in X men and Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek; he was also an accomplished Shakespearean actor. As I’ve written before, Sir Patrick was not only a great Shakespearean actor, he became an icon for Shakespearean acting, and was sort of an avatar for Shakespeare himself.
Since Sir Patrick meant so much to so many people, this tribute is only part of a series. What I want to do is start by showing you my journey of discovery- how I became acquainted with Stewart’s work, and how it helped shape my understanding of acting, Shakespeare, and the world at large.
Beginnings
I was born in 1984- the year Orwell told us would be a hideous technocracy with the government observing and controlling our every move.
In 1987, Gene Roddenberry created a much more optimistic vision of the future- a future where all peoples of the Earth live in peace and harmony, united on a misison of scientific discovery across the stars. As a kid, I was too young to see Star Trek once it came out, but soon, it would become an abiding obsession in my childhood.
My first introduction to Sir Patrick and Star Trek came from his friend LaVar Burton. At the time, I was an avid fan of the TV show Reading Rainbow, and as a child, I saw this:
Re-Trekking The Stars
I was too young to watch much Star Trek live, but once it was syndicated, I ate it up- I watched episode after episode, (and amassed an impressive collection of toys and other merchandise). More importantly, I was beginning to understand that Shakespeare was more than a lofty dead author, he was a writer who could inspire people and be used to help them understand the world (or galaxy).
Shakespeare Moments From Star Trek
Commander Data’s struggle to understand humanity extends to reading and performing Shakespeare himself, as this clip shows:
Data even impersonates a Shakespearean actor playing Puck in the episode Time’s Arrow, (a preview of Spiner’s role as Puck in Gargoyles):
Clash of the Shakespearean Titans
in the two-part episode “Chain Of Command,”another veteran Shakespearean actor David Warner, captures and tortures Captain Picard!
The chilling way Warner plays Gul Madred is one of the high points of the series. He and Stewart worked before on a production of Hamlet in 1965, and the way these two play off each other is masterful. Warner is powerful, in command, dangerous, and sly. Picard never knows when he is telling the truth, and as time goes on, Madred revels in how much closer he is to breaking the pitiful human. Still, Picard in his wonderful stoicism never breaks, and briefly manages to turn the tables on Gul Madred, when he makes the mistake of opening up to Picard about how in reality, he is a scared and miserable soul, trying to fill the emptiness of his heart with power and sadistic pleasure. Again, these two actors are so powerful that all you need is them, and a dark room to create compelling drama.
Stewart has given so many memorable performances over the years, but one of my favorites was fairly recent- when he played Marc Antony in Antony and Cleopatra. Sir Patrick played Antony as a shadow of his former self- a drunk, foolish old man who is completely blinded to the threat Octavian poses to him. Stewart said that he based his portrayal on his own father, who was himself a soldier and an alcoholic. With this in mind, the portrayal has a poetic justice to it that the man who lied and cheated so many Romans finally gets cheated by the foremost man of Rome.
At the same time, Stewart makes us feel for him; since so many people admire Stewart (myself included), seeing him play a man who is bringing himself low, makes us all want to save him from himself. It’s the definition of catharsis.
Sources:
https://geekfrontiers.com/pittsburgh-history/the-1975-star-trektacular-and-twelfth-night/
http://bardfilm.blogspot.com/2008/11/discoveries-in-undiscovered-country.html
