Let's get weird this Friday
On Hamlet, Andrew Scott, and being reminded how often I miss the point
This is kind of a weird Friday Substack, but I’m going with it.
I came across this video a few months ago of Andrew Scott delivering a monologue I thought I knew pretty well. It’s Hamlet’s “To Be or Not To Be” monologue (so it’s been in the cultural conversation for a while), and I guess I never really stopped to consider it since I last read it in high school. I would like to formally acknowledge that this post is very “freshman year drama student discovers subtext,” and proceed anyway.
Watching Andrew Scott, it walloped me.
What I had always understood as a speech about love suddenly read much more like suicidal ideation, and wrestling with the pursuit of what one is capable of (“to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”). Not in an over-the-top way, but in a very quiet, direct, almost unsettlingly honest way.
I’m not sure why it hit me so hard when I saw it. It’s not just Andrew’s performance, although it is incredible, but I think it was in part because it made me think about how many things I’ve probably misinterpreted simply because I never went back and looked at them again. Things that feel familiar enough that I assume I’ve already “got it.”
I’ve found myself coming back to this clip every couple of weeks since I first encountered it (including earlier this week). It’s one of those pieces that seems to reveal something slightly different each time, depending on where your head is at.
Take a few minutes and watch it. Actually watch it.
Pay attention to the layers, the delivery, and the way it can be interpreted in completely different ways depending on how you’re feeling.
And if you haven’t watched season 2 of Fleabag, just go ahead and fix that this weekend. You don’t even need to watch season 1 first. He’s extraordinary in it.
Like I said, weird one this week. But after watching it again, it felt worth sharing. As you’re reading this, I’m fishing for tarpon down in Florida, so be on the lookout for fish pics and a lot of joy next week. Happy Friday!