[WARNING: I myself transcribed this interview so please excuse any mistake, and forgive me I just couldnít resist not commenting on Markís *way* of speaking, heís delightful =))) - this said, you can launch into it]

O, yea of little faith! A new production of Antony & Cleopatra has just opened at Shakespeareís Globe Theatre in London with - yes you've guessed it! - Mark Rylance as Cleopatra.

Mark, whatever made you change your mind? Listening to that *laugh*

Mark Rylance: *laughs* I donít know *laughs again*ÖI forgotten Iíd said that!

SMC: You said you were too old, and yet you are actually the same age, roughly, as Cleopatra when she died, arenít you?

MR: When she dies *Humm*She's thirty-nine when she dies, yeah. The play probably scans about eight or ten years, but *hum* Yes, I suppose I like it when people say "you canít do something", it makes me want to do it. Especially when I say I canít do something.

SMC: I suppose, you know, people will start looking at this by saying "you know Shakespeare did originally write the part for a boy", but obviously youíre not a boy. You are a mature man playing a mature woman ñ so, how do you begin to approach the part?

MR: *sighs heavily* I donít know if he wrote only for boys, I don't know if a boy would've played Gertrude, or the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. And I went last autumn to Japan, to Tokyo, where I saw the amazing Kabuki theatre indeed where a friend of mine, Ganjiro-san, a very famous actor there, was playing a very old woman and had played men and women throughout his whole career; that tradition started at the same time as Shakespeareís, around 1600, so I gained some confidence from seeing the Kabuki players playing women at different ages and thought well, perhaps the boy who played Rosalind at a very young age, eight or ten years later wouldíve taken on Cleopatra.

SMC: You mentioned the Japanese tradition ñ that has never died out. In our theatre it has, so of course you came across that first obstacle for the audience to overcome. Did you sense their reaction on the first night? Because youíre not first on stage, there are other men in other womenís roles before you actually enter. But there is that kind of anticipation before Mark Rylance comes on as Cleopatra...

MR: I think I am the first who speaks as a woman in the play. There are two men who come on at the beginning and castigate me as a gypsy and a creature really of lust and distraction, and then I am the first man-woman to speak with the line "If it be love indeed, tell me how much". Thereís always a kind of...erm...Thereís a certain noise from the audience at that point in the back of my hearing.

SMC: What did you hope to gain by having the all-male cast?

SMC: But thatís different isnít it? A man pretending to be a different kind of man on stage isnít it? Itís very different.

MR: But thatís my point: I think it is nowadays, yes. But then I think it might have been as seditious and revolutionary ñ when there were more laws about: youíre not pretending to be of a different class, or a different blood, or a different soul level than you were.

SMC: Is there a sort of real temptation just to do a play differently for the sake of it?

MR:...[after a long pause, drawing breath] There is a temptation to do that I suppose.

SMC: Means some risks, isnít it?

MR: Yes, I suppose...I mean, there is always a risk that youíre doing something for a fact that way.

SMC: The phrase "Shakespeare in drag" comes to mind because some of the men are actually big beefy men, I mean, youíre actually quite of slight built, Mark, so you know we donít sort of get that quite so much with you. But with a character like Cleopatra who is such a female icon, such a sexual predator, I mean, this is a woman that has mesmerised some of the most powerful men in the world...can we believe that you are Cleopatra?

SMC: Another thing about this production is you really have highlighted the humour, the comedy, and in Cleopatraís character herself ñ she was quite a drama queen really, wasnít she? You know, the way she sorts of flances around the stage... But although I laughed and thought it was very funny, I then felt very uncomfortable at the end when people laughed when Mark Antony died. Thatís obviously something you donít mind cause you have to change things, [but] at a sort of critical point like that how do you switch the mood suddenly going from comedy into the tragedy?

MR: Well I think weíve got a bit of hangover of the Victorian times that tragedy has to be really serious...

SMC: But if we care about these lovers and theyíre both committing suicide on stage, I mean, we shouldnít be laughing, should we?

MR: I donít feel that people do laugh when he dies at that moment. They laugh when he is rather clumsily pulled up ñ and thatís no intention, weíre not trying to make them laugh, though she does have a line at that point, "How heavy weighs my Lord!", which always gets a laugh. But thatís just a line, that is a funny line to say at that moment. But I feel he does this purposedly Shakespeare: he opens peopleís heart in a sense with something thatís funny, and that allows you really come with something thatís sadder, I find that time and again. And if you level those things out thereís not such a swing between the two emotions. But heís always marrying the comedy and the tragedy very closely together.

SMC: I have to say the woman in front of me was actually crying, she was very, very obviously moved. What about other women who have played the role before, Mark? Can youíve been influenced by Dame Judi Dench ñ her performance was always seen as bringing out the complete range of the character. Is it intimidating to follow such an illustrious line of women like Judi Dench, Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson?

MR: If you go down that path, itís always intimidating to play this kind of well-trod roles, famous roles, whether you are playing a male role or a female role. In the end itís just a role. So, I mean, youíre playing Hamlet, you could be very intimidated by what people have done before but you have to realise itís you playing it today in the present situation in the world...erm...and you just have to bring your own thoughts, your own heart, your own soul to it. I've obviously loved lots of things Judi has done. I think Helen Mirrenís performance in Stratford was the one that had a lot of influence on me ñ but many different women come to your mind when youíre playing a role like this.

SMC: And very briefly Mark: where do you go from here? How do you top Cleopatra?

MR: *laughing*I donít know, I donít know...!

SMC: No other all-male productions in the piepline?

MR: No, I hope more females playing male roles. I think more cross-gender casting.

SMC:And Iím sure weíll be back to talk about that! Mark Rylance, thank you.

MR: Thank you.