Meet ‘Hamwet’ - Toby Schmitz a hot actor, director and writer.

Toby Schmitz talks candidly to Emma Bell about acting, writing, directing and that promotional shot for his role as Hamlet for La Boite theatre.
What's with the wet T-shirt promotional shot?
"I think it's about bums on seats isn't it? There's a lot of sex in the play … they use it (sex) to sell chocolate bars and I don't see why theatre should be any different." Schmitz says in relation to his promotional shot for Hamlet or 'Hamwet' as some of his "chums" are saying. He goes on to say, "I do like something about the image. The guy doesn't seem all together with it. There's something deconstructive and non-princely about him; he looks like he's trying to hold his brains in and why is he soaking wet as opposed to being in his court clothes and being Hamlet? It doesn’t look like the sort of image that you'd see at a Royal Family dinner. I suppose there's something in that as well."
It's easy to warm to Toby Schmitz; his down to earth, charismatic energy is immediately engaging and also thought provoking. A week and a half into rehearsals for Hamlet, Schmitz candidly shared his thoughts on being a triple threat - a "daggy" director and "aiming for Orson Welles."
Toby Schmitz has been an in demand actor since his graduation from NIDA in 1999. He has performed in a string of plays including David Williamson's The Great Man, Andrew Upton’s Hanging Man, Tony McNamara's The Great, Brendan Cowell’s Ruben Guthrie, Louis Nowra's The Boyce Trilogy, Tom Stoppard’s Travesties and Hamlet.
"I'm very aware at the moment of the size of the undertaking (Hamlet); I suppose I've always been aware of the significance of the part, how good it is. Now that I've stepped into it, it's all been confirmed; that it is an important part and a very good part. So I'm slightly in awe at the moment," Schmitz shares.
Playing a part such as Hamlet requires an authenticity from the actor and a willingness to touch on elements of his own life and identify with the character. "Kind of the key to getting some truth into your acting is to find the part that you can relate to personally but there are a whole lot of things about Hamlet that none of us will ever experience; he's a member of royalty and so on. Also the wonderful mighty opposites; in parts there's a kind of leaning in from the audience going, 'Man, imagine what it would be like to be a prince, who is sword-fencing and going out with the hottest girl in the court' and the other half (of the audience) are going 'Oh man, I know exactly how that guy feels.'"

Emma Bell's full interview with Toby Schmitz appears in the March / April edition of Stage Whispers.