David Tennant At Comic Con: David Explains The Hamlet 'Muscle' T-Shirt



In his Sunday morning panel at last weekend's Wizard World Comic Con in Raleigh, NC. David Tennant was asked about the thinking behind one of his onstage costumes, the muscle-print t-shirt that he wore during the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet. David played the role in Stratford-upon-Avon and London from 2008-09. He explained the the costume, which was worn during the 'To be or not to be...' soliloquy, evolved from discussions around the character's state of mind. 


"I originally wanted to do that bit in an old Superman t-shirt, like an old sort of faded one," he said. "It just came of the notion that if you’re going to quite a dark place that maybe you look for things that make you feel safe. So you regress a bit and you look for things that transmit confidence to the world. I thought that he might go into his closet and find and old Superman t-shirt he wore when he was a teenager. And that idea sort of morphed into the t-shirt that we finally used. I think they thought the Superman t-shirt was a bit on the nose really."

The Superman shirt, of course, went on to feature in another of David's stage performances. He said, "A few years later I did Much Ado About Nothing and we put it in that instead. Never get rid of a decent idea!"

David Tennant will be appearing at his second Wizard World event when he attends Comic Con Philadelphia on the 9th and 10th May - and on the 10th he'll be joined by his Doctor Who co-star Billie Piper for their first ever US joint appearance. Tickets are on sale now - check here for details.





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