Any way to stream Suzy Izzard's recent Hamlet or Dickens solo shows?

March 6, 2024 3:40 PM

That's it, that's the whole question: is there any way to see the Dickens show she did in 2022, or the Hamlet show she's doing now in 2024? This is different from the Audible book of Dickens she narrated in 2018. (Name change update for those who missed the memo.)

I am also good with YouTube, fuzzy rips, shaky cams -- whatever.

posted by wenestvedt to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

I can tell you that Hamlet is in a teensy theater and while security isn't intrusive there ARE people watching, so I don't know if you're going to find even the shakiest of shakycam videos for it. It's moving to the Orpheum on the 19th though so chances may improve then.

Worth noting that the production materials are using the Eddie Izzard name (including in the show url), which I understand will - as of now anyway - continue to be her official performing and credit, and possibly also political, moniker.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:30 PM on March 6, 2024 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: WRT the name, I heard an interview last week (from November 2023) where she said the hosts’s “Eddie Suzy” was good but that she preferred Suzy. *shrug*

I will keep my eyes open later in the month. If anyone can suggest which way to sail my ship, I would be grateful!
posted by wenestvedt at 5:07 PM on March 6, 2024

I saw a play last year that was being officially filmed from one of the boxes at the side of the stage. I spoke to the cameraperson afterwards, who said it was for the V&A. Looks like that means the National Video Archive of Performance.

It seems to be a fairly small collection so far, but I'd be surprised if Izzard's performances don't show up somewhere eventually -- she is a national treasure!
posted by Orkney Vole at 1:06 AM on March 7, 2024

Whoops, missed that these performances are in NYC, not London. Maybe there's an equivalent for Broadway performances -- or maybe Suzy will reprise the shows elsewhere.
posted by Orkney Vole at 1:07 AM on March 7, 2024

There was a production presence in the theater for the Hamlet show I saw, with at least two (stationary) camera operators, but as I saw the show in previews I don't know if that was part of a documentary (the show is co-produced by Suzy's documentarian), something intended to be released or given to archives, a one-night or every-night thing, or possibly just for internal post-game analysis of the performance.

There is a tradition of Broadway musicals (but I can't find if it's ONLY musicals?) filmed for Library of Congress archives, and NYPL also has an archive of (some?) shows.

I think almost every show she's ever done made it into distribution somewhere eventually, but of course that could be years from now.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:07 AM on March 7, 2024 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Update on names: Lyn Never was 100% CORRECT!!

Suzy/Eddie posted this on X on 1-JUN-2023:

As people may now well know, I have added the name ‘Suzy’ to my names.

So going forward I am preferring Suzy but I don’t mind Eddie.

And I prefer she/her but I don’t mind he/him.

So no one can really get it wrong unless they call me Kenneth or Sabrina.

I am remaining Eddie Izzard in public.

Thank you.

Suzy/Eddie.

So Lyn Never was right, and I was over-confident.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:13 PM on March 8, 2024