To create a thrilling kind of ‘Hamlet,’ Eddie Izzard decided to go it alone

When Eddie Izzard decided to stage a solo performance of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” – playing everyone from the title character to Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – no one said it would be easy.

But while it would be challenging, Izzard says the idea wasn’t just for a challenge.

Instead, Izzard, who uses she/her pronouns, hopes to breathe new life, or a different life, into the theater experience, which she says has come to be seen by many as something that’s supposed to be good for you...