Stewart And Tennant In Hamlet On PBS Tonight
1 min readFans of Patrick Stewart and David Tennant (Doctor Who) will be able to see them perform in Hamlet tonight on PBS.
Stewart plays Claudius, uncle and stepfather of Hamlet. Hamlet will be played by Tennant.
Years ago, Stewart, who had a good theater career, decided to take on the role of Jean-Luc Picard, against the advice of a friend. The friend told him that it would be foolish to set aside that career to play a spaceship captain on American television.
Since then, said Stewart, “he’s told me he was wrong.” Star Trek: The Next Generation helped Stewart and led to bigger audiences and bigger roles in theater plays. “This year has been perhaps the grandest year of my life,” said Stewart.
Stewart has wanted to play Claudius for twenty-five years. “Claudius is a great role, an underestimated role, a role of huge complexity and fascination for a classical actor,” he said.