Exclusive: Silvana Imam takes us behind-the-scenes of her iconic run as Hamlet

Rapper-cum-actor Silvana Imam’s unlikely run as the titular role in Hamlet originated via a simple text message. “Sunil [Munshi], the director, approached me for a different project some years ago that didn't resonate with me,” Imam says. “He came back with a text message a couple months later with the magical six letter word: ‘HAMLET’. It struck a chord with me me immediately and I responded with a short and simple ‘Yes’.” The sort of artist who always operates on intuition, Imam knew right away that this particular opportunity was a “definite go in and go off”.

Mid-way through the show’s run at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Imam has more than found her footing as “the saddest prince of all time”. Dressed in slick suiting and wearing moody makeup, she strikes just the right balance of strength and sensitivity. Unsurprisingly, her way into the character came through music, namely the songs she wrote for the play itself. “It's through this and poetry that I find him in me before every show,” she says. “I sit in my private corner, go to a place within me, with Mustafa the Poet in my ears and transform – or whatever you may call it.” Imam’s dressing room is covered in “poetry poetry poetry” – written words by people she loves.

Though she’s no stranger to a live performance, Hamlet marks the first time Imam does “the same thing over and over again”. “It's challenging to go back to that same place every time. But I found that every time is different,” she says. “Touring differs from this, with different venues and crowds. But then I realised that Hamlet was not the same prince everyday. We as humans are not, so how can every time playing him be the same? It can’t.” Though she experienced nerves leading up to the premiere, a mantra emerged that has taken her through every performance. “Seconds before I went on stage and did my first monologue I surrendered,” she says. “That feeling of surrender has been my keyword ever since. Actually, not only for the play, but for life in general.”

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Imam had a vague familiarity with Shakespeare, a man she describes as “the Godfather of rap”, ahead of taking on the role, but knew nothing of the “details and depth” of his work. At first glance, Imam and Shakespeare seem like odd bedfellows, but this is hardly the first contemporary adaptation of a Shakespeare work. Imam’s Hamlet is within the same tradition as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet or even beloved romcom 10 Things I Hate About You, which is based on The Taming of the Shrew. To Imam, Hamlet’s story is timeless. “Hamlet is the combination of a person with a great heart, big love, deep questions, undeniable faith and extreme longing. A person so affected by his surroundings that it corrupts him,” she says. “The broad humanity portrayed in this play is amazing and I'm forever in awe of this experience.”

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Portraying such a tortured character wasn’t without its challenges. Imam left “nothing unsaid” in the original songs she wrote for the project, drawing from personal experiences to convey a truth in her delivery. Through the process, she had to “kill a part of me that no longer served me”. “I feel all great poetry is a similar to death, and it's beautiful,” she says. “It's to see and appreciate life everyday and to be present.” She appears in nearly every scene of the two-and-a-half hour production. Her only respite is the 20-minute intermission, which she uses to change, chat with co-star Annika Hallin (she plays Gertrude) and retreat to her quiet place, listening to music. “Sometimes I do a couple push-ups,” she adds with a laugh.

After she takes her final bow, what will she walk away with? “Confirming the feeling of unconditional love I have for broken people and that I see the darkness in them as lacking light,” she says. “Maybe not so unexpected, but yet profound.”