Hollywood A-lister comes to RHS – Izzy S

Hollywood A-lister comes to RHS – Izzy S

Rumours were circulating all day… who could this special guest be??? We all had our suspicions assuming it could be Ralph, but this was RHS in where we believed it would be impossible for a Hollywood A-lister to come in for an afternoon. Orginal quote by Will S ‘ An actor with that much fame wouldn’t come in to talk to an English A-level class’. However, the one thing that sustained our hope was that all the teachers were being extremely secretive and defensive when they got an inkling of our supsicions.

Well Will you were proven wrong. We all froze in awe as the one and only Ralph Fiennes walked in. We’d all grown up watching him in iconic roles like Voldemort in Harry Potter, M in James Bond the chef in the Menu and suffolk local Basil Brown. It was fair to say we were all starstruck, teachers and pupils alike.

We were also very lucky to be joined by Suffolk native Charlie Haylock who gave us a very insightful look into the orgins of English with the ‘very special guest’ Ralph Fiennes who assisted Charlie’s lecture giving a very special once in a lifetime performance of the to be or not to be scene in Hamlet. Here, after an awkward ‘Can we film this’ from Max A (which was met with a firm no) we were given a very special perfomance of Hamlet where Ralph pulled off an exceptional American accent and wove his way into a crowd of RHS pupils to stab Lorca.

We were also very lucky to be able to ask Ralph questions about his career and his views on literature whilst also discovering that he was a proper Hamlet nerd!

Here were a few of the questions we asked:

What is your favourite adaptation of Hamlet?

He prefers the modern versions of Hamlet where people are dressed in ordinary clothes, he believes there’s a bit of Hamlet in all of us and that Hamlet is a timeless play.

Who was your favourite character to play?

I really enjoyed playing Basil Brown in the Dig as I could research him by fully becoming him as he was a real person, unlike Voldemort who doesn’t necessarily have a background and a life story to base his performance of off. 

What was your favourite moment from filming the Menu?

I learned how to make a really good cheeseburger. 

All I can say is wow!