...Or Not To Be

Actors often end up typecast, or at least seem most at home in one particular type of role. The villain, the hero, or the ditzy blonde, perhaps.

Simon Fortin specialises in the genre of death, particularly in the specific sub-niche of Shakespearean deaths, although an Agatha Christie assassination will suffice if necessary. It’s a speciality he’s moved from the stage to the page, writing scholarly works on how to die theatrically. He’s also turned it into a play, ‘...Or Not To Be: How Shakespeare Could Change Your Death’ where he re-enacts celebrated death scenes and takes us through their dramatic impact.

It’s an extremely well put together one-man show that Fortin wrote and acts in, weaving personal memories and tales from his own acting career into the text.

Since many of Shakespeare’s play feature a death scene there’s a rich pool of material to draw from, and a screen behind him is used to good effect with illustrations of the original Shakespearean text and old movie clips to heighten the atmosphere. Soft music also sets the tone and adapts well to support the different passages and moods.

New-York-based Fortin tells us that he’s died on stage hundreds of times and he does it very well, from his twitching, over-the-top initial stab at it as a young actor to the unrepentant exit of King John. Fortin is a master of the demise, with the different scenes showing off his ability to convincingly portray a wide range of characters.

The minimalistic scenery sets the stage perfectly, with a chair for slumping in, a rug to make floor-based dying more comfortable, and a skull to remind us of the final outcome. “We still act surprised when death shows up, as if death is a novelty,” he says.

He believes the theatre can change lives, but in some stubborn cases, that proves too optimistic. In one ironic touch he takes us to Belfast, where he presented a paper using Romeo and Juliet as a metaphor for the Irish Protestant versus Catholic troubles, only to have it fall on deaf and strangely blind ears.

While there are laughs along the way this is largely a serious and sometimes deep study of humanity. He looks at how our attitude to dying and death has changed over the centuries, and not in a healthy way.

The end result is what Fortin describes as a love letter to the theatre, and it’s certainly a show that thespians, loyal theatre-goers and Shakespeare groupies will enjoy the most. For a casual viewer taking a chance on a random show, its intense, highly-focused view of just one subject may prove a little wearing.

...Or Not To Be runs at Sandton’s Auto & General Theatre on the Square until Saturday, February 29. Tickets from Computicket.