A couple of new participants joined us today. After introductions and warm ups, we played a game and then decided to get back into Act II Scene ii, the first scene with Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano. We talked about why Trinculo is so mean to Caliban, and the women decided that it is probably an issue of jealousy. They believe that he is jealous that a) Caliban worships Stephano and not him, and b) that Stephano’s attention is being diverted from him to Caliban.

We also explored commitment to a character in this scene. The first participant to read Trinculo was really just reading at first, so we stopped her and discussed what emotional state the character is in at the top of this scene. She immediately went for it, so much so that one of the new participants, who was sitting next to me, said, “Wow. That’s a big, quick improvement."

At the end of the scene, Caliban sings a song. The participant reading him at first simply read it, but then we talked about what’s going on with Caliban at that point. We discussed how when one is used to never feeling good, suddenly feeling as great as Caliban does – drunk and free from Prospero – would be a huge emotion. The participant reading the character then committed much further to what she was doing, and it was hilarious. Everyone was very happy with what she did.