Acerbic, biting, and funny as hell, Eddie Izzard has been one of the most internationally well-known comedians of our time. Her versatility has been demonstrated with a Tony Award nomination, a couple of Ocean’s movies, and for the last couple of years, a tour of the US, Great Britain, and elsewhere doing what comes naturally: Hamlet!

At the Seattle Rep, from April 30 to May 18 (it’s already been extended once), Izzard is performing her one-person Hamlet, inhabiting 23 of Shakespeare’s characters on stage, a full, serious adaptation. While she advises that there are funny moments, the endeavor is not to caricaturize the play but to bring a fresh and different view.

“This is the dramatic version,” she told the SGN. “It does have the gravedigger scene, when Polonius is questioning Hamlet. Some characters are designed to have a comedic element… But this is a drama.”

Izzard said she had wanted to perform Hamlet for years, but since there wasn’t a pathway for that, she decided to essentially do it herself.

“Maybe I'm not the top of the list for producers,” she opined. “I brought the production to myself. And Great Expectations [her prior solo show] was the perfect training. I thought I'd do Hamlet, but by playing all the characters. It makes it easier, because you don't have to pay the rest of the cast, because you are the rest of the cast.”

She’s was quick to point out that the production has had “good success” in New York and London, was extended three times, earned two nominations, and broke box office records in Chicago.

Izzard is constantly tweaking and evaluating every moment of the production. She and her brother, Mark, cut the long play down to about two hours, but she’s always finding something new to try.

“I think it's good to make it a living, breathing play as opposed to a play that I've got locked down and I just repeat over and over,” she said. “I don't want to do that. I want each night to [get] through to as many people in the audience [as possible]. So they understand what's going on, and with their imagination and my imagination and the words of Shakespeare, we get to a pretty beautiful place.”

The state of Trans rights

Izzard is not known as a political person, and she seems to wish to avoid controversy. She is, however, one of the world’s best known Trans artists and had come out years before she became famous or had a burgeoning career.

“You know, I'm not into Trump,” she said about the current administration. “…The first Trump administration I wasn't at all positive, and [am] very much against this one. Trans people have been here throughout the centuries.. We have more visibility now and we've stood up and we say we're here... We will continue to exist, continue to stand up for ourselves, and carry on.

“I'm just a positive person… We just say live and let live. Let's take humanity on forward and make humanity great again. That's what we're after … I’ve raised over $5 million now for charity. These are positive things.

“LGBTQ rights are human rights, and that's the end of story. We just need to get ready for doing more or … double down on us doing positive things. I just refuse to live in fear. I refuse, absolutely.”

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