"There are few rules about playing Shakespeare, but many possibilities," said Shakespearean director, educator and theoretician John Barton, in his edifying book "Playing Shakespeare."

Through generations of actors myriad possibilities have been tested. Each generation has chosen a leader of its time to be the spokesman of the current representative of Shakespeare's perennial truths. With modulating trends, a conversion of styles has led to the current approach to Shakespearean acting. Despite all the changes in acting styles, one of the most challenging tests for any actor remains the role of Hamlet.

Considered one of the most extraordinary characters in English literature, Hamlet's language (remarkable even in Shakespeare's oeuvre) transports the listener in a seemingly endless flow of brilliant imagery and complex human experience. His speeches surpass quintessential similes and metaphors of conventional speech; they actively display intelligence and convey the excitement and passion of his thought. His attitudes, his genuinely human and complex psychology and even his subconscious have intrigued audiences for centuries.

Following a critically successful production in London, the Theater Royal Plymouth/Young Vic Theater Company is currently showing "Hamlet" at the Globe Tokyo, starring Paul Rhys in the leading role.

"Every part I've played has been Hamlet in one form or another," said Rhys on playing the role of the troubled, articulate Dane. "The parts that I've done have had similar qualities to Hamlet -- isolated, disposed, pained, funny -- all the particular qualities that you see in this part.

"I was approached to do Hamlet on several occasions before this production, but I never wanted to do it unless it was with an ally, if you like. Someone like Laurence Boswell, who directed this production."

A prevailing debate that has existed since acting became a recognized profession in America is the comparison between British and American actors in their treatment of Shakespearean text. The heightened language and architectural form of the speech of Shakespeare's characters demand highly specific technical attention. But the risk of overtechnical playing may stand in the way of an actor's truthfulness and the audience's experiential connection.

Surmises Barton, "I don't believe most people really listen to Shakespeare in the theater unless the actors make them do so. Heightened speech must be something that the actor, or rather the character he's playing, finds for himself because he needs those words and images to express his intention. There has got to be a balance between being seemingly natural on the one hand and coming to terms with the heightened language on the other.

"In other words, an actor of Shakespeare simply has to marry the two traditions of heightened and naturalistic acting."

According to Rhys, the chasm separating the continents in their opposing styles is diminishing.

"I would say that in the last five years British stage acting has changed greatly. The posing declamatory style of acting Shakespeare is going on somewhere right now in the world, but I'm sure that Shakespeare didn't intend for that sort of thing at all.

"The British are known for their technical ability to bump and grind through anything, and that's necessary. If you don't have the technique you can't do this play. If you ignore the technical elements it's perilous. But to just do that is monstrous.

"I think that young British actors have moved into more personal investment and it's changed audience perception greatly. There's a backlash to the overtechnical and an attraction to the truth. I believe Americans have always had a better sense of it, certainly in films. What is expected now on both sides of the Atlantic is a serious commitment to truthfulness in performances. If this is combined with a technical facility then the whole package is dazzling. But you can't have one without the other. It's no longer plausible."

In a serious attempt to achieve a fresh rendition of the role, Rhys has said that a desire for personalization has been a major focus. Techniques gleaned from early training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts have aided Rhys in arriving at a unique experience in the part for himself and audiences alike.

For Rhys the real challenge of playing Hamlet was "to forget the people who had success with the role before.

"I wanted to be myself and the character at the same time and accept the consequences. What is needed is a fearless interpretation, and you need to alienate as well as attract. I approach the role in presenting Hamlet as nakedly emotional."

Plans are underway to begin work on a film starring Sir John Guilgud and Rhys after the current tour concludes. The experience of playing the role will without doubt prove a valuable background for the future project.

"The film is about one of the greatest Hamlets talking to the latest Hamlet. There's oddly something that seems to capture a strong contemporary feeling with this current production. It seems very much in the here and now, just as Guilgud did in his time," Rhys said.

"We want to put those two things together. So it's just the two of us, myself asking questions of him and he firing back. God knows how it will go, but we've been sponsored by all sorts of people who want to make the film."