Professors Braunmuller and Post have been doing this program for many years now, which means that (much to our benefit) they have made some friends at the Royal Shakespeare Company here in Stratford-upon-Avon. Suzanne Harris, our liaison with the RSC, has set up a number of guest speakers for us, including the head of men's costuming, an associate director (Michael Fentiman), and some of the company's actors (Sam Troughton and Greg Hicks). I thought it might be fun to include some of their comments and responses to the class.

Sam Troughton's chief role currently is Brutus in Julius Caesar, but he also plays various bit roles in The Winter's Tale:

• "The trouble with Brutus is that he thinks he's in a play called Marcus Brutus."
• On director Lucy Bailey's view of the plebeians in Act 3, Scene 2 (just after the assassination of Caesar) "The crowd is an animal — something that can be controlled, but that bites back."

Michael Fentiman is an associate director with the company, who is working this season on As You Like It:

• On the transition from text to stage: "We didn't cut anything until the first previews…[we have to find] what works for a non-Elizabethan audience."
• He finds relief in the fact that Shakespeare is "durable" — that it can be interpreted and performed many different ways and still tell essentially the same story.
• When asked how he felt about the fact that most mainstream audiences get their familiarity with Shakespeare's work from movies: "I hate Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrman…I think there is a misunderstanding of the text … the Zeferelli version is all right, though. I quite like that."

Greg Hicks is an actor with the RSC who, this season, is playing both the title role in Julius Caesar and that of Leontes in The Winter's Tale:

• Warms up before performances by doing capoeira, a Brazilian martial art: "I have to prepare for it. Otherwise, I'm just not ready."
• On the character of Leontes, his role in The Winter's Tale: "Every actor worries about Leontes because he's such an unsympathetic role. … He's sick. He's a sick man. It doesn't matter why … you could almost say he's possessed."
• When asked how he prepares or plans for each performance, he shared a quotation from Peter Brooks regarding self-critique: "By now, yesterday's performance is a failure."
• When asked about the difficulty of switching mindsets from Leontes to Caesar, he explained that he considers Caesar to be sort of rock-and-roll. He said, "The Stones are my heroes," and then recalled a concert wherein Mick Jagger emerged on stage with both arms raised, pointing triumphantly overhead, while mugging. As he spoke he mimed the motion and many of us laughed — it was the same action he had done on Tuesday night when emerging on stage in Act 1, Scene 2 as Caesar.