Review: THE CONVERSATION WITH HARRIET WALTER, St Martin-in-the-Fields

Shakespeare veteran Dame Harriet Walter talks about the Bard in a reverent tone, but she doesn’t let him off the hook. After all, the Succession and Killing Eve star has built her latest book – She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said – around the idea that despite being a great observer of what makes us human, Shakespeare never gave his women the same depth and attention as his men.

In this latest edition of The Conversation, held in the crypts beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields, Walter has insight to share on everything from how acting has changed since the 1500s to doing Shakespeare-themed outreach in schools. The real highlight of the evening, though, are the extracts from the book itself.

In Walter’s imagination, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude is imagined as a middle-aged woman who understands all too well the lack of power she has over her son, while Ophelia fakes her death to find new meaning living as a nun, and Kate from The Taming of the Shrew is fully cognisant of being the butt of the misogynistic joke. Dame Harriet performs several of the reimagined monologues throughout the event, her attention to Shakespearean metre impeccable, and her interpretations of these characters imbued with self-assurance and humour.

Speaking with Canadian author and Virago publisher Lennie Goodings, the actress (there’s a long audience Q&A digression later about whether the term ‘female actor’ or ‘actress’ is more appropriate) embarks on a broader discussion of how to stage Shakespeare’s female characters with dignity.

How far can all-female (or all-male) stagings, like the RSC productions directed by Phyllida Lloyd in which Walter starred, go in addressing Shakespearean sexism? And do characters like Rosalind in As You Like It and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing justify the lack of interest Shakespeare shows in women elsewhere in his oeuvre? Dame Harriet responds in a way that is grounded in a profound knowledge of the texts, but does not pretend these questions have easy answers.

She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said by Harriet Walter is published by Virago and available now.