We finished our work on Act V today. Everyone is very relieved to have the end of the play figured out, and they are feeling better about things in general. The work today went very smoothly, with lots of great ideas volunteered by a number of people, and the scene is working very well. Some of the participants feel that the entire group should work more on the script outside of our meeting time and prepare for things ahead of time. In light of this, we formed a game plan for the next few meetings to cover what’s left of the play. On Friday, we will work on Act III Scene ii, and then next week we will take the two days to figure out Act IV Scene i. Upon realizing that we are so close to having covered the entire play on its feet, more relief was expressed by a number of people. The group then decided that, after this phase, we should begin working through the play in chronological order, regardless of who is absent. Since this desire comes out of their passion for the project, comfort with and growing ownership of the material, I am completely okay with it.
One of the participants then stated that she’s fallen completely in love with Shakespeare, and that whenever she hears something about him on the news or in passing, she feels her ears perk up. She is probably the most intensely dedicated to the group, and it shows. She challenged the participant playing Stephano to a “remember-off” – they are having a friendly competition to see who can get all of her lines and blocking memorized first. She is taking this very seriously, and it is clearly having a positive effect on everyone else in the group.