“I found feelings I didn’t know I had.”
Tuesday / October 1 / 2019
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant
For the first time in more than a year, I went in as the sole facilitator tonight. The participants afforded me the same generosity as always, with veterans stepping right up to the plate and making sure I was up to speed on the group’s work on Hamlet. In many ways, it was one of those quintessential Shakespeare In Prison nights I’ve had a hundred times before.
We started right in on Act 2 scene 2, where Hamlet is talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (which someone said sounded like the name of a law partnership). There was a fair amount of text comprehension that we needed to slog through before we could really start cooking with gas. The ensemble seemed to have a little difficulty hearing the sarcasm coming from Hamlet with the text alone; once they really understood it, our Hamlet was all-too-willing to let it rip on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. With that moving along, the staging ideas started coming, and one member wanted to try the scene a few different ways. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the line, “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” It was nice to be back.
Then we arrived at Act 2 scene 3—with the soliloquy: “To be or not to be,” where Hamlet is arguably at his lowest point. We all felt it was worth it to spend some extra time with the speech; what ended up happening was that we went through the text line by line, making sure we understood every turn of phrase. Everyone participated, and one woman, who has been in the ensemble for several seasons, commented that “this is now [her] favorite play”—that she knew exactly how Hamlet felt at that moment, and was amazed that he was able to articulate it so exactly. “I’ve been in this position—I know his exact pain. Whether to live or die is a hard one to make.”
Several members wanted to attempt the speech; one in particular wanted to go first so that nothing impacted her interpretation. She was very active in her portrayal, moving around the stage, very animated. I told her that this is contrary to many of the famous portrayals of the speech that are out there. (Certainly more active than the Olivier version the group talked about watching tonight on TCM!) She said, “He’s having an anxiety attack and needs to move!” Two other ensemble members tried the speech, and then they goaded me until I took a shot.
We had a lot of rich discussion about whether Hamlet knows the end of the speech before he started, or whether the speech is his way of working it out in real time. Both interpretations leave room for a lot of really interesting ways an actor might bring the soliloquy to life. We had spent a long time talking about some intense language, and I felt it necessary to point out that Hamlet ends up choosing “to be” at the end of the speech. He contemplates his own death, but does not choose death in the end; furthermore, he does not stay at that lowpoint for much longer. We spend the rest of the play seeing just how Hamlet moves on from his darkest hour.
We unanimously felt as though we had spent a long time in this dark part of the text, and an improv game was most definitely in order. One woman was having a very bad day, and the group left it to her to choose the game. She said that she would choose it, but that she wasn’t going to play. We all said, ‘fine,’ and successfully hid our smiles and “I-told-you-so’s” when she got up and played after only a few minutes of laughing with her ensemble. It was a great way to end the night.
Friday / October 4 / 2019
Written by Lauren
The ensemble was anxious to jump back into reading the play tonight, so that’s where we started, reading Act 3 Scene 1 to completion.
One woman, who has been skeptical of many things in the play thus far, wondered if Hamlet even wrote the letters that were given to Ophelia. Then discussion turned to Hamlet’s feelings towards Ophelia and women in general. Another woman thought that Hamlet says such cruel things to Ophelia in order to push her away. A few others discussed and agreed that Hamlet’s words aren’t necessarily attacking just Ophelia, but women in general, since he sees all women as a replica of his mother. One woman also said that Hamlet knows Polonius is spying on him, given his line, “Where is your father?” Hamlet has been very astute up until this point, which led this woman to believe that he is in on what’s going on.
When we got the scene on its feet, a woman who is terrified of acting stepped into the role of Hamlet. This was very difficult for her, but she said that she wants to get over her fears. The ensemble was incredibly supportive as she worked through the scene, including Hamlet’s giant monologue. While the scene was being acted out, two women caught something new. One wondered if Hamlet heard Claudius earlier, since his own words in regards to women wearing makeup are almost exactly what we hear Claudius say. She added that this is Hamlet’s way of letting Ophelia know that he knows what they’re doing. Another woman added that Hamlet may have fallen out of love with Ophelia because he is jaded about his mother. Another added that his perception of the world has been shattered.
Moving on in the discussion, a number of women spoke about how relatable the content of the scene is. One woman stated that we can all relate to the “To be or not to be” speech. A veteran of the group said that even if we cannot relate to Hamlet’s exact situation with his mother, we can all relate to that sense of betrayal. This is why she loves Shakespeare so much: he gives people the words to express themselves when they can’t think of the words themselves. It can be very therapeutic. Another woman related, saying that it’s easy for people to look down on the choices you’ve made when they don’t know the options you’ve had to choose from. Everyone agreed with that sentiment.