“Shakespeare is the place where I feel like I can truly, truly be myself.”
Tuesday / December 17 / 2019
Written by Maria
Today we tackled the lengthy Act 2 Scene 2, breaking it into smaller chunks to work through. “This is half the play!” one woman said as we all flipped through the long scene we were about to undertake. Kyle G. proceeded to give us a quick synopsis of the scene before we dove in with the entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Polonius discussing Hamlet’s madness with the king and queen.
The woman who was playing Polonius has a great understanding of playing comedic moments and physicality, clearing her throat before reading Hamlet’s note to Ophelia—and clearly not impressed with his attempts at sonnet writing. “Was Polonius the old King Hamlet’s right hand man?” a woman asked. I responded that I had just assumed that the man came with the job, but another woman responded that Polonius has a disdain for Hamlet that doesn’t fit for him if he was the old king’s right hand man. “Maybe Polonius was there because he was so loyal to Claudius. He could also be there to be the fall guy,” the woman who asked the question said. “Literally,” another woman agreed.
“I get lost in my own conversation,” the woman playing Polonius observed. We then discussed why Shakespeare wrote this fuddy duddy character that we are not meant to take seriously. Is it just for comedic effect, or is there something else at play? Kyle G. said that each person in the court represents a part of the court that Hamlet hates. When we asked how the scene had gone, one woman in the audience praised the actors’ work but wanted more movement in the scene. She suggested that they move the action closer to the audience. Since we were discussing the roles of the court, that also brought up the status of each character—how could we make that clear to the audience, physically? We have these great steps between the stage and the house that we can use to have a person literally stand above someone of lower status, or to show a power shift in their interaction.
Keeping all of these ideas in mind the second time through, the scene moved further downstage, sparking Polonius to ask if it was too far. We all enthusiastically assured her that it was great and that we loved it. She also said that she had gotten a little in Claudius’ face, hoping that the king would put her in her place. Kyle G. suggested that Polonius make good use of the steps, crossing back and forth as she reads the letter, and our resident stage manager reminded us that we could set the king’s and queen’s thrones upstage to help give power to those in charge. Everyone already felt a lot better about the scene and looked forward to pushing through to the next bit.
The third time through, we continued into Hamlet’s entrance, and we added thrones for the king and queen. “It’s hard to grasp the emotions when trying to read,” our Hamlet confessed. A supportive veteran pushed Hamlet to be more aggressive with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. “Hamlet is getting madder and madder. You should move toward them when you’re asking why they are here.” We also suggested using some chairs so Hamlet could force Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to sit for her interrogation. “[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern] look busted with their tail between their legs,” one woman said, smiling, when the two were caught out by Hamlet.
One woman suggested that Hamlet enter from the house to give time for a shift in the scene (the royals to hide for eavesdropping), and everyone got ready to tackle this section of the scene again. We stopped a few times to give Hamlet some suggestions to go bigger and really push for answers from her friends, and for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to show us their fear of Hamlet’s questioning.
As we got into the scene more, I stopped taking notes and just enjoyed watching the interaction unfold before me. Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern did a great job of taking our suggestions and pushing the scene into something funny and connected. The two friends squirmed as Hamlet pushed for the real reason that they were there. Rosencrantz took the note of being more physical, scooching her chair to be closer to Guildenstern, and even falling to the floor in an attempt to lean away from Hamlet’s pointing finger. We were all laughing, and when Hamlet pointed at the chair for them to sit, there was a lot of power in that small gesture. After coming to our stopping point, we asked how the scene had felt, and our Hamlet responded, “I appreciate not just the facilitators’ input, but the other ensemble members as well: you’re the ones watching it.”
“It made it more understandable from an audience perspective. To see you [Hamlet] toying and playing with them. I like when Rosencrantz fell out of the chair.” a woman from the audience shared. Another women praised Hamlet for always staying open to the audience. Even though she doesn’t have performance experience, this makes it a lot easier for us to understand both what she is saying and the intention behind it. Kyle S. praised the teamwork of the entire ensemble, saying that they made each other’s gestures work.
Before we could run the scene again or get into the entrance of the Players, it was time to raise the ring and say goodbye. “I haven’t laughed and smiled this much in ages—my face hurts from smiling,” one woman told a facilitator as we were leaving for the evening. It was a pretty great way to end our last Tuesday before the holiday break.