Friday / February 7 / 2020
Written by Emma
We jumped right in to work tonight. “What scene are we doing?” our Hamlet asked the group after we raised the ring. “1.3,” another ensemble member filled her in. Hamlet responded, “I might not even need my script.” We just cast the show a few sessions ago! If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: these actors don’t mess around!
After considering which actors were actually present, we decided to begin with 1.4 instead. One of our new members bravely jumped in to read for Marcellus, who was absent. Actors took their places and got started. 1.4 is brief, and finds Horatio, Hamlet, and Marcellus encountering the ghost of King Hamlet in the night. Our Horatio has mentioned in the past that she is unsure how to move when she is reading. Tonight, however, she appeared to have no problem! She used her hands to direct attention and accent her lines, at one point consulting an imaginary watch when telling Hamlet the time.
We ran this scene two times before two of our actors had to leave for another required program . Switching gears, we decided to finish casting the play with some of our newest ensemble members. One woman expressed interest in playing Osric but had some apprehensions about memorization. “What if I forget it all?” she asked. “The audience isn’t even gonna know!” another member assured her. “You’ve got this in the bag. I have confidence in you.” That support seemed to do the trick, and she agreed to take on the role.
With casting done, we backed up a bit to work on scene 1.3. This scene is a study in family dynamics and gender roles. In it, we find Ophelia being lectured by both her brother and father about her relationship with Hamlet. Our Ophelia sat politely in a chair in the middle of the stage as Polonius and Laertes took turns circling her. She smoothed her dress, becoming more distressed as the scene went on. Finally, Polonius directed her to follow him offstage. She stood with a lowered head and obliged.
After the scene was done, we talked about how it had felt to our actors. One woman in the audience suggested to the actor playing Polonius that, “whenever there’s a comma, make it more rambly. It’ll make each of those spurts seem even crazier!” Ophelia said she didn’t want to re-run the scene; instead, she wanted to move on to a later scene where Ophelia could “go crazy.”Considering this, we moved on to 2.1.
Ophelia brought the “crazy.” In this scene, Ophelia explains Hamlet’s erratic behavior to Polonius, and hints of her own sanity fleeting begin to show. After the first run, one of the women in the audience said that she imagined Ophelia holding a teddy bear in this scene. She explained that she thought Ophelia wasn’t getting the contact she craved from her father, and that the teddy bear could be used as a kind of comfort object. This led to a discussion about potentially using flowers in lieu of a teddy bear. We ran the scene one more time, emphasizing the lack of contact that Ophelia is grappling with.
With only a few minutes remaining, we changed gears. Tonight was SIP’s 8th birthday (yay!), so we spent some time reflecting on the program and celebrating. “Being here is therapeutic,” one ensemble member said. “Dude!” another exclaimed, “That’s the word I’ve been thinking of!” We raised our ring, grateful for another year and a wonderful ensemble.