A Midsummer Night's Dream (3.2), Week 1: "Love's Labyrinth" - Lovers Fight | The Rehearsal Room - The Working Actor's Journey

Episode Transcript
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>> Nathan Agin (00:00):
Well, I'm thrilled, ah, everybody could be here

(00:01):
and the full group has been assembled. so, I'll
just give a very, very brief introduction and
welcome to, everybody. Thank you so much for being
part of this. I'm very excited for, the weeks
ahead, tonight and the weeks ahead.

>> Ursula (00:17):
And

Yeah, hopefully, presuming everybody has been
receiving the emails by virtue of, most of you are
here. So that's great. That's good to know. And I
will just say one quick item. I guess there was a
little setting issue with the Facebook group. So
if you've been trying to get into the Facebook
group, and haven't been able to access that, you
should be able to. And hopefully that'll be a
great resource, to continue to discuss these

(00:39):
scenes or any other things that come up. Acting,
theater, Shakespeare wise. and yeah, I'm just
really, really thrilled that everybody, can be
part of this. I'll just kind of be in the
background off camera if anything is needed. But,
I know, you guys are all in capable hands and all
quite capable individually. So, thank you again
for being part of this and I'll turn it over to,

(00:59):
Jamie and he can kick it off.
Thank you for having us, Nathan.

>> James Newcomb (01:03):
Yeah. Hi everybody. Nice to see you all. and so
we're gonna have, a ball working on this scene.
it's the heart, of the. The chaos of, Midsummer
Night's Dream. And it is really, really fun to
work on. again, it's always a challenge to
approach such a physical scene on zoom. and so,

(01:28):
I'm going to elicit all of your help to try and
see what we can do, with Hermia grabbing onto,
Lysander and whatever it is we do with, how we can
sort of manifest an idea of physicality. But as
most of these scenes are always are in this work,

(01:51):
it's predominantly focused on the language and how
we can make the language fly and how we can make
the language, tell, the story. So, I always. I
said this before when I worked on Toilets and
Cressida. I say this whenever I'm working on, any
play that, One of the things I love about working
on Shakespeare is it's endlessly revealing. it

(02:15):
cannot be tied down to one interpretation. The
fact that, we all in collaboration are going to be
working on this scene, makes it, in and of itself
definitive because we've all not done it before.
Some of us may have done Midsummer Night Streams
before and played parts in Midsummer Night's
Dreams and productions of Midsummer, but none of

(02:35):
us have done this scene before. And so we can't
help but be definitive in our interpretation. And
I love that. I really do. And again, it's a
collaboration. You know, Gideon is an, enormous
help. Ursula, my wife, an enormous help as well.
I'm not going to talk too much about

(02:58):
interpretation, or how. Because, I'm going to, I'm
going to turn it over to Gideon to talk, and then
I'm going to turn it over to Ursula to talk a
little bit about it. And then, I'd love to read
the scene and, see what your takes are. What? just
hear your voices and hear. The one thing I would
like to do, just so you know, is, I'd like to

(03:20):
start, with Demetrius and Hermia. And cut. AS M.
And cut. Robin. And, cut. Puck and Oberon. so that
we get the sort of whole setup, if that makes
sense to everybody.

>> Gideon (03:40):
Yeah.

so we just. We'll go from, sorry.

>> Gideon (03:55):
Line 45. Do you want to start there?

Yeah, let's start there, Gideon. Yeah. And, And we
can just take it from there. anyway, because I
want to see the setup so that we don't just, begin
with Demetrius. wake up. so. Yeah, go ahead.

>> Ursula (04:12):
Ers just wondered if people could just say what
they're playing.

>> Anne Gee Byrd (04:18):
I'm playing Helena.

>> Ursula (04:20):
And you're Maggie. I just want to.
Yes. I'm Hermia.

I'll be playing Lysander.

hang on.

You hear me? Yeah. I'm Michael Kirby.

I am playing Demetrius.

>> Ursula (04:38):
And the others are just quiet observers. Okay. All
right, I got it.

Now, Ursula, you don't know Gideon, do you?

>> Ursula (04:49):
I don't, but I'm excited.

>> Gideon (04:51):
Nice to meet you, Ursula.

>> Ursula (04:53):
Nice to meet you, Gideon. I love dramaturge.

>> Gideon (04:57):
Oh, good. Dramaturges. Love to hear that.

And, Ursula, you're doing voice work for us.

>> Ursula (05:08):
Yeah, that's what I teach at ucsd. I teach voice
and Shakespeare, but, Shakespeare as it connects
to voice. And so, And I do a lot of voice coaching
at the Globe and everywhere. And so, one of the
things that I can do. You know, there's probably
some overlap between Gideon and I, but I'll let

(05:30):
them talk about, you know, sort of. We'll just see
how we go. I'm sure we can. We'll flow. But if
you. I might have some ideas on how to make
something clear by making a vocal choice or if
pronunciations are needed or if you want to do a
one on one. And I give you some themes to try to

(05:50):
see if you can get vocal variety, pitch range,
expressiveness. Ish, in the text. it's kind of up
to what you want. And then I can also say I can
offer things. I was very lucky to work with,
Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenberg and a lot of the
people that have written lovely books about making

(06:10):
Shakespeare come alive vocally. And so, I have a
lot of sort of things in my kit, and you're
welcome to all of them.

Great.

Thank you.

>> Gideon (06:20):
Fabulous.

Gideon, do you want to. I don't know if none of
you may know my background at all. I was a company
member at, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 14
years. I, have worked extensively. I've done nine
productions. at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, I
played the Duke and Measure for Measure at, the
Goodman. And, probably I tried to count them up. I

(06:51):
think I've done 70 Shakespeare productions
altogether. I only have, like four, I think four
more to go in the canon.
I've done DidSummer Night stream 10 times. I
played puck, four times. I played Lysander. I
played Oberon. I played Bottom twice. I played, I

(07:14):
directed it once. so I'm familiar with it. I
actually, I'll tell you. I don't know if I'll tell
you now, but I have a. Just telling Ursula about
this the other night, that I have a concept, for a
production that I'd like to do, of Midsummer
Night's Dream, which is influenced by Frank Zappa,
who was an adherent of, In terms of his aesthetic.

(07:37):
It was anything, anytime, anywhere, for no reason.
Which is also dream logic, if you think about it.
You know, it's like, It seems to have a reason to
it, but it actually is anything, anytime,
anywhere, for no reason. and I like the idea of a

(07:58):
sort of chaotic jazz production of Midsummer
Night's Dream. I don't know if we'll do that. We
might, you know, play with the idea of it. I
really don't know what that means. And it's
something that would have to be done in workshop,
and using a marimba as the primary musical source.

(08:19):
anyway, when I directed it, I used a lot of Frank
Zappa's music. I used Peaches and Regalia as the,
Morris Dance at the end and, it actually worked
really well. Not the crazy, sort of frenetic,
psychedelic, rock stuff, but, But some of his more
melodic stuff works really, really well, with this
play. So anyway, yeah, so. So that's a little bit

(08:42):
of my background. And again, I don't. I really.
Because of the nature of just taking it out of
context, I don't want to talk too much about,
again, how we're going to interpret it, because
you're going to lead me and guys guide me and give
me ideas. but I do want to pass it over to Gideon
to talk a little bit about, using his knowledge

(09:04):
about the play and, about this scene and anything
else that he would like to share.

>> Gideon (09:09):
Okay. Thank you. I don't have a lot to say. First
thing I want to say is that, you make me think of
the most beautiful production of this play I've
been involved in. And that was at the Bishop
School. And we had musicians from Tonga. It's a
family of musicians. the boys went to the school
and they played. They made up the music, composed

(09:30):
the music for the play. And it. It was just
staggeringly magical. I mean, it was just. It was
perfect. and it was all students in the
production. So, you know, they were the right age.
It was. It was really beautiful. So, I support you
in trying to do it right. As long as it's not so
chaotic that we don't hear the words.

Exactly.

>> Gideon (09:54):
I don't want to say a lot about the play either,
but, I just want to make one general point which
you all already know. But in this play, it's worth
keeping in mind, and that is that for Shakespeare,
rhetorical devices, rhetorical complexity, rhyming
balance, sentences, all the kind of rhetorical
things that go on in the speeches here was not the

(10:19):
enemy of emotion, but the opposite. It was the
vehicle of emotion. So, the goal is not to fight
against the rhetoric, to bring out emotion, but to
find the emotion in the rhetoric. And I'll try to
help a little with that as we go. But it's very

(10:41):
important to make the rhetorical speech carry the
meaning, rather than imagine that the meaning is
being hidden by rhetoric. It's the opposite. So,
anyone's welcome to argue with me about that, but
I think that's the most important thing to say.
This is a fairly early play of Shakespeare. It's

(11:01):
highly rhetorical. It's very romantic. There are
four plots going on in the play, and there are
four levels of reality. We've got, Athens. We've
got Athens court imitating the English court.
We've got the mechanicals imitating London
workmen, and we've got the fairy world in the

(11:23):
forest. I guess the only other point I want to
make is about the juice of the flower because it's
a key prop and a key, concept. and so I just want
you all to remember that, because we're not
reading that speech, that the, flower which was

(11:45):
called love in idleness was. Which, is the pansy,
by the way, was struck by an arrow from Cupid's
bow, which had passed through the light of the
moon. And the moon is Diana. And Diana is the
goddess of chastity, as well as of the night. but

(12:05):
it's Cupid who's the God of Eros. And so we have
this combination of forces, divine forces at work
impregnating this flower with its power. So the
dripping, the juice of the flower in the eye,
transforms people because they fall in love with
whatever they see. But there's one part where,

(12:31):
Lysander is left untransformed. Is it Lysander or
Demetrius? Who is it that doesn't get the
antidote?

>> Ursula (12:42):
Demetrius.

>> Gideon (12:44):
Demetrius meant to stay in love with Helen, so he
doesn't get the antidote. And that tells us that
the flower, the original juice of the flower, is
not a falsification of reality necessarily. It's
Oberon, bringing the truth out of the characters
of these two boys and two girls. So, that's about

(13:08):
all I want to say. This. This scene has lots of,

Play.

>> Gideon (13:14):
acting going on, or the presumption of play acting
going on, and misinterpretation. Constant
misinterpretation at various levels. And the
audience's reading is the only one that sees all
four, characters in their right lights.

Whose.

>> Gideon (13:35):
Who's in error, who's been fooled by the drug, who
is being true to himself or herself and who isn't,
and so on. so the audience is the one to put it
all together by the end of the scene. And of
course, I'll take questions anytime and, try to

(13:55):
answer them or look up the answers. and you can
email me off line if you want to. when we're not
working, questions come up during the week.

Yeah, same for me as well. We do want to, I think,
make one emendation, to, away you ethiope. not
sure, that it's appropriate. so, We, you know,

(14:30):
Ursula is working on a production of Midsummer
Night Stream at, ucsd. And, there was a suggestion
of Gorgon. However, I thought because of what's
physically happening when Lysander. When, Hermia
grabs onto Lysander, who has just been challenged
by Demetrius to go fight it out, and she grabs

(14:54):
onto him, which is what prompts the Away you
Ethiop. That maybe we might want to come up with
something. I thought of Limpid, which is a fish
that clings onto a shark, you know, and is a

(15:15):
parasite. Right. But I like. And I thought I could
throw this out to, Garrett, or anybody else when
we get there, but maybe we can come up with a
three syllable word that implies, something that
grabs on that, gets a hold of you. Just, to use

(15:39):
that as, Because that's what's physically
happening. And so it's,

>> Gideon (15:43):
Can I ask you a question? Sure. you're objecting
to Ethiopia. Is it because of the implication that
she's dark haired and darker skinned than Helena,
or is it just the term Ethiopia itself?

It's the term Ethiop. It seems that it's
inappropriate.

>> Gideon (16:01):
Yeah. So, if we can come up with something meaning
that she's dark haired but not necessarily a
racial epithet, would that work? Or do you really
want the.

Well, I mean, it certainly is because, I mean, you
know, I mean, I read the gloss in the Arden and
they literally, say it because she might. She has
dark hair or possibly dark skin.

>> Gideon (16:25):
Yeah, she probably doesn't have dark skin. She
probably has, you know, just.

I get it. You know, Gideon, that's fine.

>> Gideon (16:34):
No, I'm not defending using the words. I just. I
just wanted to be clear why he's using it. He's
using it as an extreme exaggeration of her not
having blonde hair and having like.

Like. Yeah, like. Yes. Right.

>> Gideon (16:50):
So I'll think about it during the week and.

Yeah, think about it. If there's something else
that you. That,

>> Ursula (16:58):
Just so you know, we're not using Gorgon and ptsd.
they actually cut the line. But, but, there's a
whole movement to sort of relook at, some of the
language in Shakespeare that can be considered,
racist and just even dwarf is in question. So,
that's just why we're looking at all of that.

I just thought I'd bring that up as something to
consider. so, why don't we launch in and just read
the scene. and so I can hear you guys read it
together. and Ursula and Gideon can hear it, and
we'll take some notes, and then we'll proceed from

(17:46):
there. Anybody have any questions to begin with
before we launch in?

>> Gideon (17:55):
So I do actually have quick questions.

So for this read, do you want.

>> Gideon (17:58):
Me to do a different word or.

Just say Ethiopia as it is in the script?
You can say Ethiopia as it is for the. Okay, cool.

>> Gideon (18:08):
Okay.

Oh, why rebuke you, him that loves you so? Lay
breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

>> Ursula (18:23):
All right, Now I but chide, but I should use thee
worse. For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to
curse. If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
being o' er shoes and blood plunge in the deep and
kill me too. The son was not so true unto the day
as he to me. Would he have stolen away from

(18:47):
sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon as this
whole earth may be bored, and that the moon may
through the center creep and so displease her
brother's noontide with antipodes. It cannot be
but thou hast murdered him. So should a murderer
look, so dead, so grim.

So should the murdered look, and so should I,
pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty.
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright as.

>> Ursula (19:23):
I, just lost the sound, but I'll go.
What's this? To Milosander. Where is he? Oh, good.
Demetrius, wilt thou give him me? I can't hear
him.

Hm.

>> Ursula (19:38):
Can you guys hear him?

No sound.

>> Gideon (19:40):
Is, gone. No, he sounds dead.

>> Ursula (19:43):
Oh.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

I'm sorry, guys.

>> Ursula (19:49):
No problem.

Now you'll probably hear my kids. So I had rather
give his carcass to my hounds.

>> Ursula (19:57):
Out, dog. Out, cur. Thou drivest me past the
bounds of maiden patience. Hast thou slain him?
Then henceforth be never numbered among men. O
once tell true, tell true. Even for my sake, durst

(20:18):
thou have looked upon him being awake. And hast
thou killed him sleeping? O brave touch. Could not
a worm, an adder, do so much? An adder did it for
with doubler tongue than thine, thou serpent,
never adder stung.

You spend your passions on a misprized mood. I am
not guilty of Lysander's blood, nor is he dead,
for aught that I could tell.

>> Ursula (20:48):
I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.

And if I could, what should I get thereafter?

Ah.

>> Ursula (20:58):
privilege never to see me more, and from thy hated
presence part I so see me no more, whether he be
dead or no There is no.

Following her in this fierce vein here. Therefore
for a while I will remain so. Sorrow's heaviness
doth, heavier grow. For debt that bankrupt sleep
doth sorrow owe, which now in some slight measure
it will pay. If for his tender here I make some
stay.

Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears. Look, when
I vow, I weep. And vows so born, in their nativity
all truth appears. How can these things in me seem
to scorn you? Bearing the badge of faith to prove
them true?

You do adventure cunning more and more when truth
kills truth. O devilish holy fray. These vows are
Hermia's. Will you give her oar? Weigh oath with
oath, and you will nothing. Weigh your vows to her
and me put on two scales will even weigh, and both
as light as tails.

I had no judgment when to her.

I swore, nor none in my mind. Now you give her o'.
Er.

Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.

O Helen.

Goddess.

>> Ursula (22:24):
Nymph.

Perfect, divine. To what, my love, shall I compare
thine eye? Crystal is muddy.
Oh, how ripen. Show thy lips those kissing
cherries tempting grow, that purge congealed
white. High Taurus snow, fanned with the eastern
wind, turns to a crow when thou hold' st up thy

(22:47):
hand. O, let me kiss this princess of, pure white,
this seal of bliss.

O, by no hell, I see you all are bent to set
against me for your merriment. If you were civil
and knew courtesy, you would not do me thus much
injury. Can you not hate me as I know you do? But

(23:14):
you must join in souls to mock me too. If you were
men, as men you are in show, you would not use a
gentle lady so to vow, and swear, and to super
praise my parts, when I am sure you hate me in
your hearts. You're both rivals in love, Hermia,

(23:37):
and now both rivals to mock Helena. A trim
exploit, a manly enterprise. To conjure tears up
in a poor maid's eyes with your derision. None of
noble sort would so offend a virgin and extort a
poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.

You are unkind, Demetrius. Be not so, for you love
Hermia, this you know I know. And here with all
good will, with all my heart. In Hermia's love, I
yield you up my part and yours of Helena to me
bequeath, whom I do love and will do till my
death.

Never did Machus waste more idle breath.

Lysander, keep thy Hermia. I will none If e' er I
loved her, all that love is gone, my heart to her
but as a guest wise sojourned, and now to Helen is
home returned, there to remain.

Helen, it is not so.

Disparage not the faith that thou dost not know,
lest to thy peril thou aby it. Dear, look where
thy love comes. Yonder is thy dear.

>> Ursula (24:51):
Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
the ear more quick of apprehension makes, wherein
it doth impair the seeing sense it pays the
hearing double recompense. Thou art not by mine
eye. Lysander found mine ear, I thank it, brought

(25:12):
me to thy sound. But why unkindly didst thou leave
me so?

Or why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?

>> Ursula (25:22):
What love could press Lysander from my side?

Lysander's love that would not let him bide. Fair
Helena, who more engilds the night than all yon
fiery o's and eyes of light, why seek' st thou me?
Could not this make thee know the hate I bear
thee, made me leave thee so?

>> Ursula (25:42):
You speak not as you think. It cannot be.
Ah.

She is one of this confederacy.

>> Ursula (25:55):
Now.

I perceive they have conjoined, all three, to
fashion this false sport in spite of me. Injurious
Hermia, most ungrateful maid. Have you conspired?
Have you with these contrived to bate me with this
foul derision? Is all the counsel that we two have

(26:16):
shared. The sister's vows, the hours that we have
spent when we have chid, the hasty footed time for
parting us is all forgotten, all school days for
friendship, childhood innocence. We, Hermia, like
two artificial gods, have with our needles created

(26:39):
both one flower, both on one sampler, sitting on
one cushion, warbling of one song, both in one
key, as if our hands, our, sides, voices and minds
had been incorporate. I mean, so we grew together,
like a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet in

(26:59):
union, in partition, two lovely berries molded on
one stem. So, with two seeming bodies but one
heart, two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
due but to one, and crowned with one crest, I will
you rent our ancient love asunder to join with men

(27:24):
in scorning your poor friend. It is not friendly.
Tis not maidenly, our sex as well as I may chide
you for it, though I alone do feel the injury.

>> Ursula (27:37):
I am amazed, at your words. I scorn you not. It
seems that you scorn me.

Have you not set Lysander as in scorn, to follow
me and praise my eyes and face, and made your
Other love, Demetrius.
Who even but now did spurn me with his foot to
call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare, precious,
celestial, wherefore speaks he this to her he

(28:10):
hates? And wherefore doth Lysander deny your love,
so rich within his soul, and tender me, forsooth
affection. But by your setting on, by your
consent. What though I be not so in grace as you
so hung upon with love, so fortunate, but

(28:31):
miserable most to love unloved, this you should
pity rather than despise.

>> Ursula (28:41):
I understand not what you mean by this.

I do persever, counterfeit sad looks. Make mouths
upon me when I turn my back. Wink at each other.
Hold the sweet jest up. this sport, whale carriage
shall be chronicled. If you have any pity, grace,
or manners, you would not make me such an

(29:07):
argument. But fare you well. Departly mine own
fault with death or absence soon shall remedy.

Stay, gentle Helena, Hear my excuse. My love, my
life, my soul. Fair Helena.

>> Ursula (29:23):
O excellent sweet, do not scorn her soul.

If she cannot entreat, I can compel.

Thou canst compel no more than she can entreat.
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak
prayers. Helen, I love thee. By my life I do. I
swear by that which I will lose for thee to prove
him false. That says I love thee not.

I say I love thee more than he can do.

If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too.

Quick.

>> Ursula (29:51):
Come, Lysander. Where 2 10's all this?

Away, you ethiop.

Oh, no, no. He'll seem to break loose. Take on as
you would follow. But yet come not. You are a tame
man.

Go, hang off, thou cat. Thou burvile thing, let
loose, or I will shake thee from me like a
serpent.

>> Ursula (30:13):
Why are you grown so rude? What change is this?
Sweet love?

Thy love. Out, tawny Tartar, out.

Out.

Loath in medicine. O hated potion, hence.

>> Ursula (30:29):
Do you not jest?

Yes, sooth, and so do you.

Demetrius.
I will keep my word with thee.

I would I had your Bond, for I perceive a weak
bond holds you. I'll not trust your word.

What, should I hurt her? Strike her? Kill her
dead? Although I hate her, I'll not harm her.

>> Ursula (30:51):
So what can you do me greater harm than hate? Hate
me. Wherefore? O me. What news, my love? Am I not
Hermia? are you not Lysander? I am as fair now as
I was erewhile. Since night you loved me, yet

(31:15):
since night you left me. Why, then you left me. O,
the gods forbid. In earnest shall I Say, ay, by.

My life, and, never did desire to see thee more.
Therefore be out of hope. Of question, of doubt,
be certain nothing true. It is no jest that I do
hate thee and love Helena.

>> Ursula (31:41):
Oh, me. You juggler. You canker blossom. You thief
of, love. What, have you come by night and stolen
my love's heart from him?

Fine, I'. Faith. Have you no modesty? No maiden
shame? No touch of, bashfulness? What, will you
tear impatient answers from my gentle tongue? Fie,
fie, you counterfeit. You puppet.

>> Ursula (32:12):
You puppet. Why so? Ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she shall make compare between
that she hath made compare between our statures.
She hath urged her height and with her personage,
her tall personage, her height. Forsooth, she hath

(32:36):
prevailed with him. Are you grown so high in his
esteem because I am so dwarfish and so low? How
low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak. How low am
I? I, am not yet so low, but that my eyes can
reach, my, nails can reach unto thine eyes.

I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, m. Let
her not hurt me. I was never cursed. I have no
gift at all in shrewishness, I am a right maid.
For my cowardice, let her not strike me. you
perhaps may think because she is something lower
than myself, that I can match her.

Lower?

>> Ursula (33:20):
Hark again, good Hermia.

do not be so bitter with me evermore. Didn't love
you, Hermia? Did ever keep your counsels. Never
wronged you well, save that in love to Demestrius.
I told him of your stealth into this wood he
followed you for love I followed him, but he hath
gid me hence and threatened me. To strike me,

(33:45):
spurn me? Nay, to kill me do. And now so you will
let me quiet, go. To Athens will I bear my folly
back and follow you no more. Let me go. You see
how simple and how fond I am.

>> Ursula (34:09):
Why, get you gone. Who is't that hinders you?

A, foolish heart that I leave here behind.

>> Ursula (34:19):
What, with Lysander?

With Demetrius.

Be not afraid. She shall not harm thee, Helena.

No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.

Oh, when she's angry, she's keen and shrewd. She
was a vixen when she went to school, and though
she be but little, she's fierce.

>> Ursula (34:41):
Little again. Nothing but low and little. Why will
you suffer her to flout me thus? Ah, let me come
to her.

Get you gone, you dwarf. You minimus of hindering
nut grass. Maid, you bead, you acorn.

You are too officious in her behalf that scorns
your services. Let her alone. Speak not of Helena.
Take not her part, for if thou dost intend never
so little show of love to her, thou shalt aby it.

Now she holds me not. Now follow, if thou dares to
try. Whose right, of thine or mine is most m. In
Helena?

>> Gideon (35:21):
Follow.

Nay, I'll go with thee cheek by jowl.

>> Ursula (35:27):
You, mistress, all this coil is long of you.

I do not trust you. I. No, I do not trust you. I
m. I do not trust you. I. Nor I do not trust you.
I no longer stay in your cursed company. Your
hands than mine are quicker for a fray. But, I'm

(35:53):
going to start over. I do not trust you. I no
longer stay in your cursed company. Your hands
than mine are quicker for a fray. My legs are
longer, though to run.

Away.

>> Ursula (36:07):
I am amazed. And, ah, know not what to say. I
think you couldn't always hear me. I saw. I. I
don't have any control over it, but I get these
little messages that my, Internet is unstable.

No, we heard you pretty well. There was only a
couple of times where it glitched, but.

>> Ursula (36:31):
Okay, good.

It wasn't too bad.

>> Ursula (36:33):
Wonderful, everyone. Wonderful.

>> Gideon (36:36):
Tell him a Tron call.

>> Ursula (36:40):
So much fun.

It really is. It goes so many places. I mean, it
really brings the worst out of anybody.

>> Ursula (36:54):
I think my favorite part is that the guys get so
mad at each other that they go off, and leave the
women. It's like.

Yeah, okay. Yeah.

Can we cut the two heraldry lines?

Yes. Yeah, sure. Okay.

Thank you.

>> Ursula (37:16):
What are those? Oh, something of yours.

Yeah.

>> Ursula (37:22):
Okay.

It's just that that's a reference that no one
understands now.

Yeah.

>> Ursula (37:28):
Okay.

Gideon.

>> Gideon (37:31):
Yes?

Do you agree with that?

>> Gideon (37:33):
Yes. I'm relieved of having to spend half an hour
explaining. Let's just look at it for a second and
see, two of the first, like coats in heraldry, due

(37:55):
but to one crowned with one crest. Those are the
two lines you want to cut?

Yes.

>> Gideon (37:59):
Yeah. Okay. That's fine.

You. Yeah, because it flows from those lines Said.

>> Ursula (38:07):
I was just gonna say the same thing. I've coached
this so many times, I've never heard those lines.
You do get the feeling, though, Helena has, You
know, she's. She gets straight A's in all her
classes, and so she's. She's been reading all
these obscure books, and so, she's bringing it all
up. All her homework is coming forward.

It Is, Yeah, I. I find that just generally
interesting that so much attention is. Is. Is
placed on Helen. That, she has.

>> Gideon (38:41):
She.

She does. She seems to do most of the talking.
There's something about the fact that she. It
brings out her needing to. To define what it is
and go on for long sections. I mean, like the
relationship of her and Hermia, you know, how
close they were, how. You know, it's almost as if

(39:02):
it's a side play. You know, they go off and sit
down and, you know, have this, you know, woman to
woman discussion, you know, about, you know,
being, in. Packed together, you know, aside from
them. So. But the fact that Helena goes on and on
and on, I think is significant, because she hasn't

(39:26):
had a great deal of attention of late. And now
everybody. She has all the attention.

>> Gideon (39:32):
It's very ironic. It's also illustrating, the
power of love. Everybody in the forest here is a
victim of the overwhelming power of love. And the
long speech about their childhood friendship,
reinforces how powerful this love experience is

(39:55):
when it can take asunder, corrupt that. We're so
close.

Yeah.

>> Gideon (40:00):
Yeah.

And I do think that is, you know, an aspect about
the potion for the guys, the love Jews, is that
it's. It's, It's formidable.

>> Gideon (40:22):
Yes.

It's. No, it is unequivocal. You don't comment on
it. You know. You know, that it is the stakes for
that love can. Cannot be higher. You know what I
mean? So that. And. And one of the traps I think
that that can fall in is when you. I. I think the

(40:47):
comedy comes out of the depth of how much you love
her. A significant amount of the comedy comes out
as opposed to playing the irony of it or. Or
trying to, you know. You know, I think there's
something about, Just the force of it, so

(41:09):
powerful.

>> Gideon (41:10):
I just would reinforce that, It's the intensity of
their commitment. And we, the audience, get the
irony. But they're not projecting irony, they're
projecting passion.

Exactly. It's our watching it, knowing what's
happened. But to them it is absolute, emotion. As
is the hate for Hermia.

>> Gideon (41:39):
Yes.

From Lysander. I mean, that is so ugly. I think it
really is ugly. but in context, because of the
irony. It's funny, but it is really, you know,
there's no commentary on it. It is just that. And
you use.

>> Gideon (42:00):
It. It's exactly the kind of hate that people feel
for someone they have once loved, whom they've
turned against or have turned against them, and
that the intensity of it is reciprocal to the
intensity of the love, and they're feeling that.

And as it is for Hermia when she turns on Helena.

>> Gideon (42:20):
Yes.

You know, I mean, it's just. I mean, you're
literally gonna. You're going to tear her eyes
out. You know, I mean, it's. It's, There's no, You
know, that It's.

>> Gideon (42:33):
It's.

It's really quite intense. So, you know, as it is,
you know, ah. When you. When you are head over
heels in love with somebody or head over heels in
hate towards somebody. yeah. it's really good, I

(43:00):
think. why don't we, Why don't we take like five
minutes or seven minutes or so, Take a break. I've
got to feed the dog. He's actually right behind
me. and then what I'd like to do is come back and
just start working through the text. Okay. And

(43:20):
working through, you know, what we can do with the
text and, any questions that anybody might have. I
know Gideon will be all over this, but. But
there's a couple of pro. There were some times
when pronouns were emphasized where you didn't
need the pronoun emphasized. And, Uh-huh. Building
the speeches a, little bit so they have a little

(43:42):
more power at the end of it. but that's the best
thing to do is to just really work our way through
the text and what's happening and what your
instincts are. Are. And, then come back to a read
through.

>> Gideon (43:55):
Great.

Does that sound good?

>> Gideon (43:57):
Yeah.

Awesome. So why don't we take a break for, let's
see, it's quarter of. Why don't we come back at
five to six? Is that okay? That's a little bit
longer, but that's like 10 minutes. So five of
six, we'll come back.

>> Gideon (44:12):
Great.

and, I just wanted to jump on really quickly.

>> Gideon (44:15):
Just.

Jamie, if this is okay for you at the end or if
people want to do it now, if anyone watching or
listening has any questions for the group. just.
They have questions of things that came up as they
were watching. If we could maybe have a little bit
of time, at the end or if people want to field any
questions now. But I, just wanted to see if that

(44:37):
would be amenable to you guys as a group.

>> Gideon (44:42):
Yeah.

How late are we planning to go? Because someone's
gonna feed me dinner.

it's been up to the groups. you know, so you guys
can kind of call it, whenever you want. I mean,
usually it's been an hour and a half. Some groups
have gone a couple hours.

But, I have to go at 6:30, which is why I'm
asking.

Oh, okay.

>> Ursula (45:05):
So.

This plan was in another time. I would be happy to
stay longer, but I just.

>> Ursula (45:14):
Are there three rehearsals or in all 4?

3. And then a kind of a performance, but working
performance. Yeah.

>> Gideon (45:24):
Why don't I suggest that Jamie go feed the dog?
And anyone who wants.

Anyone who wants to ask any questions.

>> Gideon (45:30):
Anyone who wants to take a break can. And in the
meantime, if you want to stay, I can go through
some of my notes.

>> Ursula (45:37):
I can do that too.

I'll be right back.

>> Ursula (45:42):
So I'll wait and have you do your notes, Gideon,
and then, I'll see what I can fill in from my.

>> Gideon (45:50):
I've got no one to give notes.

>> Ursula (45:54):
Well, zoom is hard. You got to take those breaks.
All right, we'll come back then in five or 10, is
what we're saying.

Yeah, I think five minutes would probably be good.

>> Ursula (46:04):
All right, I'll help feed. We're taking care of a
dog. That's why. So I'll feed one and Jamie will
feed the other.

And yeah, for those, listening in or sitting in
tonight live, if we have time to field any
questions, you know, we'll try to build in time
for that, not only here, but in the other
rehearsals. But again, as I mentioned, the
Facebook group. Group, might be a great resource
for that. and, yeah, so that's. That's it for me.
But it sounds great. I'm really enjoying listening

(46:32):
to it.

>> Gideon (46:33):
Let me. Let me just say about Facebook, that I
don't do Facebook. So if you want me, you gotta
email me.

All right, we can, we can.

>> Gideon (46:41):
We can.

If it's all right with Gideon, I can. I can. I can
share his, email address, with, those registered.
Is that. Is that okay with you?

>> Gideon (46:48):
Or how would you. That's fine.

Okay.

All right.

>> Gideon (46:52):
Angie, do you want my only two notes for you?

Yes, please.

>> Gideon (46:57):
at line 239. Actually, I have three. 239. You
could take your time on the word miserable.
Miserable, but miserable. Most to love, unloved.
So it's got four syllables in the meter of the. Of

(47:18):
the line, so you can take your time with it.

Okay.

>> Gideon (47:21):
You know what I mean?

Yes.

>> Gideon (47:24):
Okay. And then, at 244, would it.

Would it initially have.

The.

Syllables would have been, articulated more.

>> Gideon (47:42):
It depends on the line. In some lines, it might be
elided. So you might say miserable to fit the
meter, but in this line, the meter allows it to be
four syllables, so.

Yeah, but we would never say miserable.

>> Gideon (47:58):
No, you don't want to hit. Ah, but you could say,
but miserable.

Miserable. Okay, Gotcha. Okay. Okay, cool.

>> Gideon (48:05):
Go for the most.

Yes. Carry on.

>> Gideon (48:08):
Yeah. the other one is, line, 244 A. Ah. Wink each
at other. You said wink at each other, which
means.

Oh, did I? No, I didn't mean to.

>> Gideon (48:19):
But, just to point that out, and the other one
was, at the end, when. On that line that you were
struggling over.

Yes.

>> Gideon (48:29):
you said R, and it's will, I think. What did you
say? Wait a minute.

I don't know.

>> Ursula (48:37):
I don't have.

If I have this up, I don't have the script up. Let
me find the script.

>> Gideon (48:41):
Hold on. Oh, it says it's line 361. And you said,
I, will not trust you. I nor longer stay in your
cursed company.

Yes.

>> Gideon (48:51):
And you said, I do not. You kept repeating the
line to get it.

I finally came it right, didn't I?

>> Gideon (48:56):
I know, but you still said do instead of will.

Oh, I see.

>> Gideon (49:00):
That was my note, okay. Otherwise, it was
fabulous. And I just want to point out that the
minute you had your first speech, everybody else's
stakes went up.

Oh, good.

>> Gideon (49:17):
It's just phenomenal to listen to you. You're so
good.

Thank.

You.

>> Gideon (49:25):
That's, That's all my notes for you.

Okay.

>> Gideon (49:29):
Maggie, you're back. Do you want notes?

>> Ursula (49:32):
Yeah, I'm here. Sure.

>> Gideon (49:35):
I think we all have to ask Jamie.

>> Ursula (49:36):
Get out my long scroll.

>> Gideon (49:39):
You're what?

I'm not.

>> Ursula (49:42):
Is she. I said I have to get out my long scroll to
take the notes.

>> Gideon (49:47):
Oh, no, not that many. first of all, we have to
talk to Jamie about pronouncing Lysander. other
people said lysander, and you started by saying
listen. Yeah, and I think you want the long why to
be consistent.

>> Ursula (50:02):
I did. I didn't realize that. Yes, I did. I did,
too. I thought that's what I said. But anyway.

>> Gideon (50:08):
Yeah, okay.

>> Ursula (50:10):
Lysander. Okay, let me find it. Let me get this
down here.

>> Gideon (50:20):
Would he have stolen away from sleeping Hermia? I.
I'll believe as soon. Not as soon as this whole
earth may be bored, but I will as soon believe
that this.

>> Ursula (50:34):
Oh, yes. Okay.

>> Gideon (50:36):
You get what I mean?

>> Ursula (50:37):
Because yes, it means, I believe this as,
truthfully, kind of. I can't think of the right
word, but, yeah, it doesn't have to do with time.

>> Gideon (50:46):
I'm as likely to believe this as I am to believe
that sooner.

>> Ursula (50:51):
Believe. Blah.
Yes. Right. Okay. So, And it. Did I add in words,
or did it just come off like I was saying?

>> Gideon (51:00):
I don't remember. I don't remember if you added
anything, but.

>> Ursula (51:04):
All right. You're just saying, be sure I've got
that meaning.

>> Gideon (51:06):
Yeah. it wasn't clear.

Yeah.

>> Ursula (51:08):
Okay.

>> Gideon (51:09):
And then let's see. Hermia.

Prefer.

Ah.

>> Ursula (51:12):
Soon as prefer.

>> Gideon (51:13):
Oh, at the very end, when you say, I am amazed and
know not what to say.

>> Ursula (51:18):
Yeah. I don't know.

>> Gideon (51:20):
The word amazed in Shakespeare's time was a little
more, extreme. It's not. Oh, you amaze me by
telling me that, you know, the moon is full
tonight or something. I'm. I'm stuck in a maze.
I'm bewildered. I. I'm dumbfounded. So she's just.

(51:41):
It's like. It's like she doesn't have a reason
about being amazed. She's just in a stupor. That's
what she's saying when she says I am amazed. Like,
what is going on?

>> Ursula (51:53):
Thank you.

The world is turned upside down. Yeah. You thought
was true is no longer true.

>> Gideon (51:59):
Yeah.

>> Ursula (52:00):
Okay. Thank you.

>> Gideon (52:01):
All right, back to Demetrius. are you with.

Okay, I'm with you.

>> Gideon (52:07):
Okay. Line. Starting line 76.
You added an E.D. to Ms. Prizen.

Yeah, I realized that. I just. Yeah.

>> Gideon (52:19):
Yeah. So, give me the line again. Just say me the
line.

Sorry.

It is 76. I don't have the numbers.

>> Gideon (52:25):
And you. You made passions plural, and it's
singular.

So it's prized mood.

>> Gideon (52:32):
Yeah, that's it. Okay. I'll just go through
Lysander, in. When you. Those, That speech at line
124.

Yep.

>> Gideon (52:45):
With Helena. These are like mini sonnets. they're
like. It's a quatrain and a couplet that Lysander
speaks, and then a quatrain and a couplet that
Helena speaks. So you want to bring out those
rhymes. So we hear it in as a kind of an anti.
Sonnet. Right there. It's a sonnet form or it's

(53:05):
the beginning of a sonnet form. But they're.
They're accusing each other.
So, ah. All I want to say there is just don't be
afraid of the rhymes. Let's hear them. Don't be
afraid of the rhymes. Great. It partly builds up
the experience for us. Demetrius. Crystal is
muddy. Line 142. You mean by comparison. By

(53:30):
comparison with the brightness of hue crystal,
which is bright, is muddy. I just. I didn't get
that sense of it, so.

Got it.

>> Gideon (53:40):
Demetrius, line, 174. And again at 1:53. Ah. At
353. This is just my. One of my bugaboos. Is the
word to. To, should be to and not t. Because when.
When you're in the back of the house, it doesn't.

(54:03):
If you say ta. Demetrius at line 254. Demetrius.

Bless you.

>> Ursula (54:12):
Thank you.

>> Gideon (54:15):
Yeah, I'd like you to bring out the antithesis in
that line. Entreat and compel.

Gotcha.

>> Gideon (54:24):
I just didn't hear the antithesis.

Gotcha.

>> Gideon (54:27):
Lysander. 58. 258. 258. Let me find it. I swear by
that which I will lose for thee. Oh, I just want
you to bring lose more. Great. I heard pronouns
instead of the word lose. And I'm, willing to lose
my life for you. In other words. Yeah. And lastly,

(54:53):
Lysander. I didn't write down the line number
shake. Shake thee from me.

After Ethiopia.

>> Ursula (55:06):
Like a serpent.

Shake thee from me like a serpent.

>> Gideon (55:09):
Or I will shake thee from me like a. Yeah, so what
I heard was shake thee from me as if the pronoun
were significant. But it's. You can. In
Shakespeare's line, you can hit the word from and
it means away from, in the direction away from. So
you can let that word have its stress in the

(55:29):
pentameter. I will shake thee from me like a
serpent. Yes.

Got it.

>> Gideon (55:37):
Great. That's it.

>> Ursula (55:40):
Fantastic. I was crossing them out right and left.
Gideon.

>> Gideon (55:46):
Okay, good.

>> Ursula (55:46):
But I came in a little late. I just want to say to
everybody, I like to think of the O, the magic O.
The big O is a nice little. Instead of pauses,
which we love to do in America. Pause, look
around, scratch our armpit, and then speak. he
gives you. It's kind of a, gas valve. O for things

(56:10):
to come out, for a motion to come through. It's a
nice big round vowel. So, a couple of. You were
really using them beautifully. I just want to
encourage you on that. When you have an O, it can
really be a. You can let things out.

We start with that. we start with an O. You know,
I mean, at the end of this is the woman, but not
this. The man with pucks on it starts with a big
O, that kicks this sort of scene off.

>> Ursula (56:40):
Right. and then I. Did Gideon, did you mention
saying drivest instead of dry vist?

>> Gideon (56:46):
No, I didn't.

>> Ursula (56:48):
So. Ah, drivest me past the bounds of maiden
patients. I think that's hermia, in the very first
section with Demetrius. if there's an apostrophe
st. And I don't know if the folger has that. I
don't have a folger, in front of me. But, usually
if there's a post vst, it means it's one syllable,
and Shakespeare uses that all the time. Otherwise

(57:09):
you get a little clunk of an extra beat. And, he
uses it all the time. Sweetst, dearest. Dryst.

>> Gideon (57:16):
Ah.

>> Ursula (57:17):
And it gives you some urgency. And then sometimes
there is an est, and that's two syllables. But if
you get that apostrophe s, t, you know, it's one
syllable.

>> Gideon (57:25):
Good. I just want to. I want to reinforce what you
said about the pauses, too. I didn't hear a whole
lot of it, but first reading, so I wasn't paying
that much attention. But, modern, theater wants
you to pause all over the place for subtext to
come swimming in. And Shakespeare does not want
you to pause where there isn't a pause.

>> Ursula (57:48):
Exactly.
And then just occasionally, I think a couple of
people did it. Just really look carefully at the
language. Are not you instead of are you not? We
would maybe want to say it the other way, but it's
purposefully that way, because it helps with the.
With the rhythm of it and helps with this. If you
honor the scansion, then you get to stress some

(58:09):
things that make the language clearer. So just
check and see if you haven't. I think it's Hermia.
Are not you Lysander? Am I not Hermia?
And then if you have questions, in earnest, shall
I say, you know, that if you have a question, it's
not just you. I'm picking on you, Hermia. I don't

(58:30):
mean to, but everybody has questions. Try not to
make them rhetorical. I think, I mean, we know
from the Folio that sometimes it's a question and
sometimes it's not. But if you have one, it's more
useful than making it into a statement and making
it rhetorical to really ask that person. And then
if. If you don't let them answer because you have
more to say, that's one thing. But it's. But it

(58:51):
really takes the energy forward. If you ask all
Those questions. And then I would just say enjoy.
Enjoy the sounds you get to make. Pierced through
the heart. You have those two little T's together.
There's a lot of lovely, you know, bead, acorn
made, not grass made. They're just really, juicy,

(59:11):
sounds that hurt people. That can hurt people or
make people feel loved.

That's all.

>> Gideon (59:20):
That's great. We're of one mind. Ursula.

And I also, wanted to say that, with Demetrius and
Hermia, when, you come in to the scene with why
rebuke you, him that loves you so? As well as
with, Lysander later, what's been happening before

(59:51):
you come in and start speaking? What has been
being said? Said before you come in and start, you
know, oh, why rebuke you, him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

>> Nathan Agin (01:00:07):
She thinks I murdered him. She does think I
murdered him. But that comes out in this scene, so
it could be something different beforehand.

>> James Newcomb (01:00:15):
Right, right. I'm just saying that you're coming
from someplace. Yeah. It's not just starting, you
know, statically, so that each, you know,
particularly with, Whereas, It come down, Hold on
a second. Let me. Why should you think, With

(01:00:46):
Lysander's line, why should you think that I
should woo in scorn? Scorn and derision never come
in tears. It implies that he's been making a vow
to her. Yeah, yeah. I mean, his adamancy, he
brings in and he's crying, he's sobbing, you know,

(01:01:11):
because why. How could I be, you know, how could I
be insulting you, you know, when, with my vows,
you know, I'm sobbing that people don't, you know,
berate people and cry, you know, I mean.

>> Gideon (01:01:25):
Right.

You know what I mean? I'm just saying that so that
there has been something said, there has been
something that's been happening that kicks off the
scene, that comes in with energy, is all I'm
saying. so we have a sense of that. This is an
ongoing conversation that we're picking up on now.

(01:02:03):
And the other thing that I was just going to say
is that, there are realizations within the scene
of, you know, Hermia, particularly about. As was
already discussed. But what is going on? How do I
get to the bottom of why this is happening? How do
I, you know, figure this out?

>> Gideon (01:02:24):
How do I.

How, you know, the desire, you know, it's like the
old tricks of being coquettish and, you know,
lovey dovey with lysand it's not working, you
know, so that there are tactical shifts that
people take with the language to try and figure
out what's going on or have a sudden realization

(01:02:46):
about what is going on. Helena has the. That as
well. We'll go through those. But it's one of the
things that rhythmically, in terms of punctuation
and change in energy that helps to shift the,
dynamic in the scene and keeps it from being one
note. Those realizations of. Wait a second. You

(01:03:11):
know what, Oh, I see now. You know, this is what
it is, you know, that. That. Those. Those shifts
like that, that you. It's not a. How do I say it?
A fait accompli, as it goes, but there are real
moments, and we'll find them, where you suddenly
have an epiphany about what's. What's happening

(01:03:34):
here or what needs to happen here. Or, just, Look
for those moments where there is a shift in energy
because of a realization, and then what that
tactic is, as a result of that realization, that

(01:03:58):
helps to break it up, helps to give punctuation to
the scene, helps to build the scene, helps to
build the chaos of the scene.

>> Gideon (01:04:05):
This.

That, you know, the, I mean, you know, because, I
mean, you're willing to die, Lysander, you know,
Demetrius, you know, it's a chivalric sort of, you
know, dual, you know, mentality that you're going
to go fight to the death.

>> Gideon (01:04:21):
It's a potential Romeo and Juliet going on here.

Absolutely. And the more I feel anyway, the more
intense the that is, the more, you know, I mean, I
like. For example, you see, I've seen in other
productions at the end where I'll follow thee
cheek by jowl, and they literally put their faces
together and run off stage. It's a funny bit, but

(01:04:45):
it's not really where it lives. You know, the
stakes cannot be higher. You know, it's life or
death. And there's something about that that's
gonna make it, I think, funnier, you know, so I'll
harp on that. Like, where do we. How do we find
those shifts? You know, it's like, You know, so

(01:05:10):
anyway, just leave it there. let's see. Okay, so
do we want to, Do you want to just start at the
top and. And work our way through? And if we have
something that we, want to see, stop you and go
back and, you know, we can. We can do that. Does
that sound good?

>> Nathan Agin (01:05:27):
Sounds good.

All right.

>> Nathan Agin (01:05:33):
Oh, why rebuke you him that loves you so lay

All right, let me stop you.

>> Gideon (01:05:41):
Right.

Michael. again, using that O. You know, I mean,
that can inform tremendously where you've been
coming from and what you bring into this.

>> Nathan Agin (01:05:59):
Right.

You know, In other words, there's a level of
frustration. It seems to me that you initiate this
scene with. With that vowel sound.

>> Gideon (01:06:12):
You are almost out of breath. You've been chasing
her. She's trying to get away because she doesn't
believe what you're telling her. You're lying to
her. And, you're at your wit's end.

>> Nathan Agin (01:06:24):
Okay.

Yeah. And it's like, I can't, you know, just, you
know. Yeah. But it does kick that scene off, you
know?
So, yeah, I'm just. I guess there's a lot of value
in that first O. Yeah, sure.

>> Nathan Agin (01:06:52):
Oh, why rebuke you him that loves you so lay

>> Ursula (01:06:59):
Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse, for
thou I fear hast given me cause to curse. If thou
hast slain Lysander in his sleep, being o' er
shoes in blood, plunge in the deep and kill me
too.

>> Gideon (01:07:17):
can I jump in?

>> Ursula (01:07:18):
Yes, of course.

>> Gideon (01:07:20):
Hit cause more and see how it feels.

>> Ursula (01:07:23):
Okay. Yeah. All right.
Let me.

>> Gideon (01:07:27):
Me.

>> Ursula (01:07:28):
I'm just doing on the screen, so I want to give
myself a note. Okay. so I would say now I. But
chai. But I should use the worse. For thou I fear
has given. Has given me cause to curse. More like
that.

Sorry, Maggie.

>> Ursula (01:07:45):
Yeah.

This is a new thought.

>> Ursula (01:07:49):
Okay.

You know, if. Which is very pointed. You know, if
thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, being
horsed shoes in blood, then kill me too. You know,
so it's a, You know, it's a. I think a sharper
take on that, you know. on him, you know, because

(01:08:13):
this is the first time that we hear somebody say,
I'm willing to die, you know, if you've killed
Lysander and there's cause for, you know, maybe
that happening, kill me too.

>> Gideon (01:08:32):
Don't take out the word curse. There are two C's
for a reason.

Uh-huh.

>> Gideon (01:08:37):
I want you to bring up cause, but not to abolish
curse, because that's the new idea.

>> Ursula (01:08:41):
Oh, okay. I didn't know. I left it out right in
the second line. Right.

>> Gideon (01:08:45):
Do you get what I'm saying?

>> Ursula (01:08:47):
I. I hope so.

>> Gideon (01:08:49):
We were talking. It's an antithesis between chide
and. Now that Was before. That's what I've done so
far. Chide. But I should do worse. What is that
worse? Cause to curse. You've given me cause to
curse.

>> Ursula (01:09:06):
okay.

>> Gideon (01:09:07):
Cursing is worse than child.

>> Ursula (01:09:09):
Yes. Okay. Okay. All right.

>> Gideon (01:09:11):
That leads to the dot. To being, Kill me too.

Yeah. Okay, and you're about to. And. And you're
going to lead into the statement that there's
nobody truer on earth than Lysander, which is
going to be proven false. Right. The stronger you
can make that statement as well, the better. I

(01:09:37):
mean, you're really like, you. You've. You know,
he's run out of gas. He's been chasing you. You
know, you've turned, and you. You let him have it
here and.

>> Ursula (01:09:45):
Okay.

You know, real, in very specific statements.

>> Ursula (01:09:51):
Okay. All right, so I'm trying it again.

Yeah, sure.

>> Ursula (01:09:56):
Okay.

Actually, let's start from the top. Michael. take
it from your line and we'll go. We'll lead right
into it.

>> Nathan Agin (01:10:03):
Why rebuke you? Him that loves you so, laboreth so
bitter on your bitter foe.

>> Ursula (01:10:10):
Now I but chide, but I should use thee. I'm sorry.
But I should use thee worse. For thou, I fear,
hast given me cause to curse. If thou hast slain
Lysander in his sleep, being o' er shoes in blood,
plunge in the deep and kill me too. The sun was

(01:10:35):
not so true unto, the day as he to me. Would he
have stolen away from sleeping Hermia? I'll
believe as soon this whole earth may be bored, and
that the moon may through the center creep and so
displease. Her brother's new with antipodes. I

(01:10:58):
think I missed something, but yeah.

No, no, no. I just want to point out that this
really sets your absolute, firm assertion and
unshakable belief in Lysander's love for you,
which is. He's going to. You're going to run into
him in a second here, and, It's all shifted. It's

(01:11:20):
all going to. And you. You know, it's like you're
what we were talking about before. How your world
gets turned upside down. What the hell? You know?
But. But this is. This is theirs. You're making
this statement for us, and we sort of know,
anticipate what might be happening. And when it

(01:11:40):
does happen, I mean, you know, your world is, you
know, rocked.

>> Gideon (01:11:46):
Right. Can I just add something about that image?
The center means the center of the earth.

>> Ursula (01:11:54):
Correct.

>> Gideon (01:11:55):
So she's saying, I equally well believe that the
moon, instead of going around the Earth could go
right through the center of it.

>> Ursula (01:12:04):
Right.

>> Gideon (01:12:05):
And displease her brother. That's the sun's
noontide with the Antipodes. Antipodes is probably
the people on the other side of the Earth. So the
people on the other side of the Earth would be
shocked to see the moon coming through the middle
of the Earth and just be in the sky with the sun.
That's what she. That's what.

>> Ursula (01:12:25):
Yes.

>> Gideon (01:12:26):
As soon believe.

>> Ursula (01:12:28):
Right. Which is crazy.

Uh-huh.

>> Ursula (01:12:30):
Yeah. She's trying to get.

>> Gideon (01:12:32):
That goes against the whole natural structure of
the universe. And that's what she feels about,
Lysander's.

>> Ursula (01:12:40):
Right. Yeah.

I'm just, you know. Yeah.

>> Ursula (01:12:44):
I'm trying not to get too frantic too soon, I
think.

>> Gideon (01:12:49):
I don't want you to be frantic, but you need. You
need to mean that unbelievable image.

>> Ursula (01:12:56):
Right.

>> Gideon (01:12:57):
As unbelievable as Lysander leaving you.

It's a formidable, firm statement, you know, that
leads to. The only way he would have left me is
you killing him.

>> Ursula (01:13:11):
So, after I get to the end of Antipodes, can I
pause there for a second or have I already come to
this conclusion that she's. That he's. It's like.
Is that just coming to her, or has she already
thought this?

You've already said it earlier in that.

>> Ursula (01:13:29):
Speech because I said you have cause to curse.

>> Gideon (01:13:32):
Right, Right.

>> Ursula (01:13:32):
Right. Okay. Right.

So, you know, it's the only explanation that makes
any sense to you. You know, he must have killed
him or he would never have wandered off. Uh-huh.

>> Gideon (01:13:49):
Which also goes against nature, because Lysander
and Demetrius, are basically friends, although
they were fighting over the other girl. Ah. Over
you before. So she. She is imagining. It's so
impossible to imagine that he would leave you that

(01:14:10):
it's easier to imagine that. That, Demetrius
killed.

>> Ursula (01:14:16):
Okay.

I mean, you know, I mean, you know, if we were
physical. Physicalizing this, you know, and this
is just, you know, this is my take on it, you
know, Other people have other takes, you know, but
I'd have her hit him, you know, so should a
murderer look so dead, so grim, you know, I mean,
I would, you know, or at least push him, you know.

(01:14:42):
I mean, there's a formidable fierceness, as we're
going to see throughout this scene with Hermia.
And there's a juxtaposition with her formidable
fierceness and her sweet coquette, you know,
loving, you know, lover, of Lysander, you know,

(01:15:06):
girlfriend, of Lysander, you know, that there's
always a juxtaposition you know, there's a
juxtaposition between those two hermias that we're
going to see, and this might be the first time
that we see a flare of that. So physically, I
would see that. But, you know, it can be, however
you want to do, some kind of physicalization, you

(01:15:27):
know, or a point, you know, or, to emphasize. So
should a murderer look so grim? You know, Because
you're right. It's not like you're losing it.
You're actually containing it. And you're telling
him, if you've killed him, you can kill me, too.
But I'm not entertaining any, you know.

(01:15:51):
Wooing from you. You know, you killed him, in my.

>> Ursula (01:15:55):
Opinion, so that's got to be the explanation. and.
Yeah, and his look is, it's just proving it.

Yeah. Yeah. so, ah, let's take it just from the
top again and go through, and then we'll continue
on. Okay, sure.

>> Nathan Agin (01:16:23):
Oh, why rebuke you him then?

Let me try that again.

>> Nathan Agin (01:16:27):
Oh, I rebuke you him that loves you so. Lay breath
so bitter on your bitter foe.

>> Ursula (01:16:35):
Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse, for
thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. If
thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, being o' er
shoes in blood, plunge in the deep and kill me
too. The sun was not so true unto the day as he to

(01:16:59):
me. Would he have stolen away from sleeping
Hermia? I believe as soon the whole earth may be
bored, and that the moon may through the center
creep, and so displease her brother's noontide
with the antipodes. It cannot be but thou hast

(01:17:23):
murdered him. So should a murderer look so dead,
so grim.

Go ahead. Sorry.

>> Nathan Agin (01:17:32):
Should the murdered look, and so should I, pierced
through the heart with your stern cruelty. Yet
you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear as
yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

>> Ursula (01:17:46):
What's this?

Okay, Michael, let me just ask you a question real
quick. Have you seen, Fortitude?

>> Nathan Agin (01:18:00):
No.

Well, I'm just going to throw it out because
there's a character in this show that is
absolutely besotted with this woman that wants
nothing to do with him and the kind of. How gutted
you are. But you can't not continue, no matter

(01:18:27):
what. You're just like, stuck. So it's that
powerless thing. I mean, there's nothing worse
than loving somebody that doesn't love you back,
you know? I mean, it's so. So, But you still

(01:18:47):
can't, you know, you're still compelled. So, you
know, it. No matter what you say, no matter what
you do, no matter what, you know, I can't change
the way I feel. Right, Right.

>> Gideon (01:19:08):
Can I just add that, Shakespeare's giving you a
lot of Rs, the letter R, to make that happen.
That's what those Rs are containing. and also,
cruelty should have three syllables.

Not.

>> Gideon (01:19:22):
Not cruelty, but cruelty.

Cruelty.

>> Gideon (01:19:25):
I exaggerated. I don't want you to say it like
that, but just give it its full syllables and then
make those R's pierced through heart, your stern
cruelty. Murderer. All those R's are, in a sense,
the river of the feeling that Jamie's talking

(01:19:47):
about.

It is.

>> Gideon (01:19:49):
So they'll support you when you bring those out.
They'll help you do that.

you know, it's like, it really.

>> Nathan Agin (01:20:00):
Yeah, gotcha.

>> Ursula (01:20:02):
Glimmering sphere, all of those. And he tries. I
mean, it's also diminished.

Yeah.

>> Ursula (01:20:09):
No matter what he does, like, he's trying. He's a.
It's a line. Even though you're hitting me, you're
so beautiful, honey. You know, and then. And then
a second later, it's the kind of the true
Demetrius. I'd rather, you know, give him. Give
him to my dogs. You know, real switch in poetic
language for her and the kind of language he feels

(01:20:30):
about.

Yeah, about him.

>> Ursula (01:20:40):
May I say, it just seems amazing because I felt as
I was speaking, speaking to him, like I could not
possibly be beautiful. You know, I'm so upset with
it. And so him saying this thing that I look
bright and clear, it's like, that. That's not
making his case to me.

And you say.

>> Gideon (01:20:59):
You actually say it. What is this? To my Lysander?
This is nothing.

>> Ursula (01:21:03):
Yeah, it's like you're just making me mad here.

>> Gideon (01:21:06):
Right. By the way, that was Maggie. Much better.
That time was really much better.

>> Ursula (01:21:12):
Okay.

A movable object against an irresistible force.

>> Gideon (01:21:17):
You know, it does.

No matter what you do, it gets. It gets worse. You
know what I mean? And neither, you know, no
matter. You can outrun him, you know, which is
what you've been doing. We can. We can assume, you
know, so.

>> Ursula (01:21:35):
Yeah, it's really. It's helping that you said
she's really trying to make sense. And, like,
nothing he's saying is making sense. And it's
like, that's just. It's just making it worse for
her. More pain. Do we want to keep going? Okay.

Yes, let's keep going.

>> Ursula (01:21:57):
All right. What's this to my Lysander? Where is
he? O good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

>> Nathan Agin (01:22:09):
I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.

Out.

>> Ursula (01:22:12):
dog out her.

>> Gideon (01:22:16):
Here are the places where there are two changes of
exactly what Jamie was talking about before she
goes. Ah, good Demetrius. She's just been telling
him that he's a murderer and he looks like a
murderer, and now she's going to try a different
tackle. What if I. What if I'm nice to him? What
if I beg him in a nice girly kind of way and none.

Of this is getting anywhere, none of this is
getting you any closer to Lysander. So, you know,
you know, maybe I can. I can, you know, cajole,
him to tell me, you know, and,

>> Gideon (01:22:49):
And then it shifts again.

Exactly. Yeah. I love that flat reading. that's
just, I'm sorry, but, you know, nothing you do is
going to make you more beautiful to me. But him,
I'd rather throw him to my dogs.

>> Ursula (01:23:08):
That's. I think that's where Demetrius lives.

Yeah, I do too. Not that he would do it. I don't,
you know, because I don't think anybody in this
group is a sociopath. I don't think anybody is
evil. You know, nobody's, you know, you're all
good people. You're just, you know, besotted.

>> Gideon (01:23:27):
Well, here he is besotted. And here she is telling
him she doesn't want him, she wants Lysander. So
that's going to do nothing but make him want to
get rid of Lysander.

Yeah, and here she hits him again. In my opinion.
No, it's like, out dog, out cur.

>> Ursula (01:23:45):
You know, so she'd be like pushing him.

Yeah.

>> Gideon (01:23:54):
It'S a shift again from, ah, good Demetrius, wilt
thou give him me? He says his line and then
suddenly you switch again. You're furious. Damn
you.

I mean, you know, you could stage this. So many
interesting, you know, like she, Demetrius could
be downstage and Hermia comes up, you know, behind
Margaret. Demetrius, what they're giving me, and
you think it's an aside. I'd rather give his
carcass to my hounds. Unfortunately, she hears it.
You know what I mean? You could be saying it under
your breath, you know, out to us, and she's behind

(01:24:26):
you, but she hears it and then boom, you know. Oh,
great. That's all I needed. So there's. There's a
possibility we could. We might. Michael, play with
that. That. It's like an aside, that,
unfortunately, she hears. But it's. It's easier to
do, you know, in physicality. But, anyway, So

(01:24:50):
what's this to my Lysander? Let's take it from
there, Maggie.

>> Ursula (01:24:53):
Okay. What's this to my Lysander? Where is he? Oh,
good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

>> Nathan Agin (01:25:06):
Rather give his carcass to my house.

>> Ursula (01:25:09):
Out, dog. Out, cur. Thou drivest me past the
bounds of maiden's patience. Hast, ah, thou slain
him. Then henceforth be never numbered among men.
O once tell true, tell true. Even for my sake.

(01:25:32):
Durst thou have looked upon him being awake. And
hast thou killed him sleeping? O brave touch.
Could not a worm, an adder do so much? An adder
did it. For with doubler tongue than thine, thou
serpent never adder stung.

>> Nathan Agin (01:25:53):
You spend your passion on a misprized mood. I am
not guilty of Lysander's blood, nor is he dead,
for aught that I could tell.

>> Ursula (01:26:03):
I pray thee, I pray thee tell me then, that he is
well.

>> Nathan Agin (01:26:10):
And if I could, what should I get therefore?

>> Ursula (01:26:15):
A, privilege never to see me more. And from thy
hated presence part I so see me no more, whether
he be dead or no. Now, she turns like that because
he's making a play for her, right? Is that.

>> Gideon (01:26:34):
Is,

>> Ursula (01:26:34):
She just. That just makes her completely sick of
him.

And if I could, what should I get there for?

>> Ursula (01:26:41):
Yeah, like, you think I'm gonna give you something
for this?

Well, yeah, it depends. It depends on the tactic
that Michael uses with that line. If it's
lascivious, right? I mean, that's gonna send you
off. I do go if it's genuine, you know, if it's.
If it's in earnest, like, if I do this, do I have

(01:27:07):
hope? You know, and you answer it with not a
prayer, you know, you know, it could be also very
sweet. And you also say you have the privilege. I
will give you the privilege never to see me more.
You know, if he tells you that he's killed

(01:27:27):
Lysander, there's something. There's a shift, I
think a little one. Maggie, right after that blow
up of outdog, outcur, thou drives me past the
bounds of the maiden's patience. Hm. And a new
sort of tactic of, you know, the other times

(01:27:51):
you've mentioned killing have been with a kind of
bravado. And also because how else could he. Why
else would he have disappeared? You've killed him,
you know, you must have killed him. But there is a
possibility that the Question. This question. Hast
thou slain him then? Is. Is really direct, really

(01:28:12):
specific, and really just tell me, hast thou slain
him then? You know, and then the thought, if
that's the case, then, you know, be never among
men. You know what I mean? So that there's just a
slight shift in tactic of really directly asking

(01:28:36):
him the question, you know, and then you go into
kind of hyperbolic speech about it, the rest of
it, you know, but there's something about setting
that up that has a softer, softer take on, that
question.

>> Gideon (01:28:52):
And I think the speech builds in the way you were
talking about before. Because she starts out in
that soft way, then, oh, brave touch. She's being
sarcastic. Then she accused him of being like a
worm or an adder. And then she has even the new
worst thought. You are an adder. That is, it's not

(01:29:13):
just like you're like an adder, you are an adder
because you did it. Double tongue and so on. So
there's from hast thou slain him then? Which Jamie
was talking about. There's a build through the
rest of the speech. Thou serpent. Now, serpent has
all kinds of overtones.

>> Ursula (01:29:31):
I would just offer. There's three questions and an
O. Yeah.

And an oh. The thing about it is that this is, you
know, when you do something like that, where
there's a softer, a new tactic in your strategy to
get the information you want, which, which is
where is Lysander? Where did he go? The only

(01:29:57):
answer I have because he's. Demetrius is following
me is that he killed him, right? So you come back
to that. But you ask him directly with that. And
Demetrius, your tactic coming back after she goes
through that, hyperbole, you can either go, go,
you know, be anxious about it and say, no, no,

(01:30:21):
you're look, you're. You're spending, Or you could
try and calm her, right? You know, tactic. One of
the tactics could be, you know, you spent trying
to let you spend your passion in a mispriced
prized mood. I'm not guilty, you know, he's not
dead. I don't know. I don't know where he is
either. But he's not, you know, as far as I know,

(01:30:44):
he's not dead. Maybe got eaten by a bear, I don't
know. But he's not dead as far as I know. And you
know, because there's something about shifting the
energy in a softer thing that then we get more
mileage out of when it explodes again. Otherwise
what tends to happen is everything becomes

(01:31:06):
Strident.

>> Gideon (01:31:07):
Right.

And that's the trap of this scene, is that it all
suddenly becomes strident. There's no new tactics
within it. There's no new revelations, and all of
the lovers become the same thing. And so the way
we can do that is finding those moments in the
language where periods are. Where semicolons are,

(01:31:33):
where, you know, as, ah, Ursula said, where O's
are, where you try a new tactic to get the
information you need. Yeah. Oh, you're. And you're
muted.

>> Anne Gee Byrd (01:31:52):
no one else has to leave. But I do have to leave.

Oh, shoot. Well, well.

>> Anne Gee Byrd (01:31:59):
But you can do that scene over again now that
they've had notes. Read them. So anyway, I'll see
you Monday.

Yes, see you Monday.

>> Gideon (01:32:09):
Thank you, Angie.

>> Anne Gee Byrd (01:32:10):
You bet.

Thanks, Angie.

>> Ursula (01:32:12):
Bye.
Nice meeting you.

>> Anne Gee Byrd (01:32:14):
Oh, good, good. to meet you. Bye.

>> Gideon (01:32:25):
Michael. I think. I think it'll help, It'll help
the exchange if instead of hitting the pronoun in
line 80, you go for the verb get.

Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:32:40):
Ah.

Okay.

>> Ursula (01:32:42):
I. It's been gone. I don't know if you're talking
to me or not.

Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:32:46):
And I just underlined it.
So.

>> Gideon (01:32:47):
Yeah, just. Let's just hear what it sounds like,
because the. The previous way, it's a little
cynical, but it sounds to me like Jamie suggesting
that,

>> Nathan Agin (01:33:00):
No, that it's earnest.

>> Gideon (01:33:01):
Yeah, that it can be earnest.

I mean, you know, M. Michael, I don't know. I just
know that is one tactic that you can take.

>> Nathan Agin (01:33:09):
Of course. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, whether it's here or
someplace else. But just look for. That's the
general thing I'm going to tell you about. As you
look through the text, as you go through it until
next Monday, look for those places where you can
change the rhythm. You know, you can change, how
you are going to get the information. What prompts

(01:33:38):
you to react, aggressively. What prompts you to,
you know, be in. In kind of amazement or
astonishment?

>> Nathan Agin (01:33:51):
I mean, it's. I'm. I, at this point, haven't had
the flower in the eyes. This is just Demetrius as
he is in love with her.

>> Gideon (01:34:05):
Right. Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:34:05):
And it gets geared up, when I do get the eyes
dropped, and then I go for Helena. but I mean, I
was just, as you're saying, to make this more. I
just was looking to try to make this different.
The love that I have for her be different than the
love that I have for Angie. Or in the other case.

>> Gideon (01:34:27):
Right.

>> Nathan Agin (01:34:27):
I'm just trying to keep it.

>> Gideon (01:34:29):
That's that. You're right. About that, because
when you get the juice, it's. It's not falsifying
you, it's making you true. It's revealing that
you've always loved Helena. in fact. And this love
of Hermia, It's almost as if you'd had that love
juice put on your eyes at the beginning of the
play.

>> Nathan Agin (01:34:48):
Right.

>> Gideon (01:34:48):
And it's a false thing. So I think that this line.
And if I could, what should I get? Therefore, by
the way? Therefore means for that.
It doesn't mean therefore. It means for that. What
will it get me? This is where I think you're
exactly right about Demetrius. Before, the flower

(01:35:11):
is put in his eye that, it's I want. And when you
wake up after the flower, it's worship you,
goddess, you divine.

>> Nathan Agin (01:35:24):
And it seems a little higher stakes there than
here. I'm just saying that I like the suggestion,
Jamie. I think this is a good way to make him
different in the two loves.

Yeah.

>> Ursula (01:35:39):
And I would just offer that, there's no following
her. You're worn out, right? She wears you out.
Whereas Helena, when you're in love with Helena,
there's no wearing out. Let's fight, let's go,
whatever. You know, Whereas for it, with Hermia,
you tried all these tactics, you know, talking
about Venus, you know, and nothing's working. And

(01:36:00):
so it's. It's kind of a. It's kind of not as big a
state. I think I'm gonna sleep for a while and
then I'll feel better. You know, I'll try again,
but I'm really tired right now. She is fierce, you
know?

Yeah. I mean.

>> Gideon (01:36:16):
Yeah.

I mean, Demetrius in this section can be a cad.
Yeah. You know, and so you juxtapose it, you know,
because. Because what he. What it really is, is
carnal more than it is idolatry. Right. You know,
because you never get the sense that, At least I
don't with. With Hermia. I mean, with. With
Helena, when the guys are besotted with the juice,

(01:36:40):
that it is carnal. Right, Right. It's the,
Adoration of the Magi. You know, it's like she's
something godly as. As Gideon said, she's a
goddess. You know, this can be carnal. I just. I

(01:37:02):
just would love to, you know, use your best James
Dean, you know, whatever. Because. Because she is
getting more and more agitated, you know, so there
is just in terms of the, tone of it, just to play
with rhythm a little bit. And what? because there

(01:37:24):
can be a false aspect to it, but that, you know,
it can be also pretty compelling. Compelling. you
know, in what? You know, he's not dead. I didn't
kill him, you know, but I can help you get out of
here. You know, I can help you. You know, let's. I

(01:37:46):
can. I can help you try and find him. You know,
even though I want to throw his carcass through my
hounds, you know, it's just. Whatever that is, you
know, it's like, will you. Will you.

>> Gideon (01:37:55):
Will you be nice to me? Will you. Is it possible?

Nice? If I'm nice and I help you? Will you be nice
to me?

>> Nathan Agin (01:38:02):
What's it going to take?

You know, can we start a relationship? Can we go
past this? You know, just calling me a murderer
and the worst person on earth?

>> Nathan Agin (01:38:14):
Yeah, I.

>> Gideon (01:38:16):
When we.

I just want to make sure. Are we scheduled for two
hours? Is it five to seven? Or is it only supposed
to be an hour and a half?

>> Gideon (01:38:25):
We're not scheduled, as far as I know. But I do
have to go, so,

Well, okay. I wasn't sure about that because I,
you know, I. I could go for a while. I just love
this stuff.

>> Nathan Agin (01:38:37):
Yeah, we. We don't have a firm end. I mean,
different. You know, each group kind of. I mean,
sometimes the groups felt like six, 30 was good,
and they wrapped up there, and other groups wanted
to go until 7, like you said.

>> Gideon (01:38:50):
Said.

>> Nathan Agin (01:38:50):
I'm sure there are some groups that would go till
nine. so it's just kind of figuring out what
everybody, can do for the moment.

I mean, let's. Why don't, Why don't we call it a
night? You know, it's been great that we kick off
on this. And,

>> Nathan Agin (01:39:05):
Well, she says that she. I mean, Angie said she'd
have more time. You know, I'd be willing to go for
two hours, but, you know, an hour.

I would be willing to go two hours, depending on.
I don't know. What about you?

>> Gideon (01:39:18):
if I plan ahead, I can. Yes.

Okay.

>> Gideon (01:39:22):
If I know we're going to go two hours, I'll plan
for it.

Is there a better day? No, it's Monday for me.

>> Nathan Agin (01:39:30):
This works for me.

This works okay. Works for me, too. I'm just.

>> Gideon (01:39:36):
People are coming home from work, I presume I'm
retired, so I can start earlier, but I don't think
other people. People can.

I don't know what work is.

>> Nathan Agin (01:39:49):
I get the sense that Jamie would work on this all
day if he could.

Yeah, I mean, you Know, there's all these people.
I met this guy the other day, and he's just moved
down, bought a house. He worked for a tech company
in Marin. and he said thousands of small tech
company employees are moving to Southern
California, because it's cheaper. and they realize

(01:40:14):
this is the norm now. Nobody has to work in what
he does anyway. Nobody has to go into an office.

>> Gideon (01:40:21):
Right, Right.

So you're going to see a migration.

>> Nathan Agin (01:40:25):
Of people where they want to live.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, hey, this is really
fun, guys. yeah. So, take a look at it and just
see where there's a shift. See if there's a, you
know, even if it's kind of seems arbitrary or, I
don't know, just, you know, look for them. I know
there's. There's very specific ones, but you can

(01:40:50):
really play with tactics as the scene goes on, you
know, and the revelation of how weird the world is
and how, you know, intense it's suddenly become,
and how, you know, that is golden, I think. So
next Monday.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:10):
Yeah, I'll just jump in here. You know, I won't
keep, anyone who does need to go, since there are
some attendees, on the call if they had questions,
of any of you guys, or. Or about the scene. If
anybody can and wants to hang out to see if anyone
has any questions, great. But, if everybody needs
to go, that's fine, too.

I can hang out.

>> Gideon (01:41:33):
I need to go. So I will be happy to answer
questions.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:36):
Yeah. And I'll share your contact info. Gideon and
Ursula, put it in the chat so I can share that.

>> Ursula (01:41:41):
Yeah. And dinner's ready whenever you're ready,
Jamie.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:46):
We'll all be over in 20 minutes.

>> Gideon (01:41:51):
Bye. See you next week. Bye, Gideon.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:53):
Thank you.

See you, Gideon.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:55):
so, yeah, if any of the attendees have any,
questions. And of course, with this platform, with
the exception of Jamie's dinner, you guys can hang
out, ah, as long as you want and chat. You can go
for another four hours. but, you know, that's all
on you guys. it was wonderful to listen to. It was
just fun to hear this scene come to life. I mean,
as you guys all know, reading it, it's so

(01:42:19):
different from hearing it. And there's just so
many subtleties and things like that that you just
sometimes, at least I don't catch on the page,
that it takes somebody, you know, speaking it and
that it just makes it so much more fun.

Yeah. Yeah, it does. and it's. And the glory is,
man, it's always different. It's always, it's a
paradox because there are certain rules about the
language and then we try and, you know, honor
those rules of the language and the structure of
the language, but it's coming out of one person's
mouth that has not done it before or maybe has

(01:43:00):
done it before. But even if you had done it
before, you haven't done it with this person
before. And it changes the dynamic. It's always in
flux. There's no way to nail it down. Yeah, I
always, you know, I'm a fight director as well.
I've just started teaching at ucsd and you know, I

(01:43:20):
talk to, the students about, you know, when we're
working on a technique, you know, it's always, you
know, if we're doing sword fight, fight, you know,
if we're doing rapier fights or broadsword fights,
you know, that it's always targeting and distance
and rhythm, you know, and keeping it specific, you
know, and those things always vary, you know, and
you try to be perfect, you know, but the reality

(01:43:44):
is that you're never going to be perfect. No
matter what it is you do, it's never going to be
perfect. Right. The glory is in the attempt.
That's where the nobility lies, is in the attempt
of making it. This time it's going to be the best
it's ever been. Right. You know this. I always
feel that way when I start a show. You know, we

(01:44:07):
all gather around the table and it's the most, you
know, exciting, moment before the rehearsal
starts. When we all are there, it's like going to
see a play as well. When they used to have
blackouts or curtains before the curtain rose or
before, when it went to blackout, that was the
perfect moment in the theater because nothing else

(01:44:30):
had happened yet. And everything was promised
everything. And then it opens and it starts and
you start. The critical mind goes, oh, you know,
and you just go through it, you watch it and that
happens. But, and it's true with a production, you
know, like, you go like, oh, well that's gonna
need work. Oh man, I don't know what's going on

(01:44:51):
here. but there's always at the beginning, the
perfect moment and the attempt to make it perfect,
knowing you can never do that.

>> Nathan Agin (01:45:07):
Well, I think as you mentioned, it's a fun to see
this collection, this foursome work on these
parts, together. When I got on, Angie and Gideon
were talking and you know, Angie and I were joking
about, that it's probably been a while since she's
been offered to play Helena. and yet I think she

(01:45:27):
brings a lot of great. I think she brings a lot of
great energy to the part. I mean, she's a
wonderful actress, so it's not really a surprise.
but, it's just fun seeing her, bring Helena to
life and just the different things you might not
expect. And so that's a lot of fun. And I think
we're gonna see that with, everybody.

Yeah. That made me think about. This would, be
interesting if you could theatrical it so that the
lovers, throughout this scene are all different
ages. They age in the scene in Dream Logic so that
they're, you know, sometimes older. You'd have to
have several actors doing it who are similar, but

(01:46:10):
you. You know it so that you see that kind of
shift, you know. you know, I've seen attempts to
do. Like. There was Penny Metropolis in Ashland,
did a Magritte take on, on her Midsummer, which

(01:46:34):
worked pretty well in terms of Dream Logic. And
there was a kind of askew set, you know, a little
door that opened up that the fairies came out of.
And there's, you know, attempts to do something
that. Because conceptually you can take this so
many places. Robert LePage in this scene, you

(01:46:57):
know, they did it in a mud pool and they got
filthy. They were covered with mud. And at the end
of it, after, Theseus and Hippolyta, come in and,
you know, find them and invite them, that they
rose up and in silhouette there was this rain that
fell down that just washed all of the mud, which

(01:47:20):
was a sort of metaphor for the chaos of the. Of
what had happened, you know, and they were
cleansed. You know, it's just like. There's so
many ways that you can take it. You, The language.
And that's kind of what we're working on with the
language in this scene too, of finding those

(01:47:42):
places where you take a different tactic vocally,
you know, emotionally, you know, shift, shifting
it in a kind of dream logic way that it's. You're
being buffeted and trying to maneuver your way,
which you oftentimes are in a dream, you know,
maneuvering your way, navigating your way through

(01:48:03):
the dream. and there's something about. In this
scene that there's something inherently in the
structure of the rhythm of the language that is
there, to be mined.

>> Nathan Agin (01:48:26):
I must admit, I did text work on this, but I was
under the impression we were going to. Starting
with Lysander and Helena's entrance. So then when
you were like, oh, we'll start with Demetrius and
Hermia, I was like, oh. And while we're here, I
was literally printing it off my computer because
I like to work in my hand and I get it. And I was
like, cool. This is cool.

But I just thought it would be fun to kick it off
because those two. There are two scenes. When I
looked at it, both scenes start from a, like, a
sense of, like, angst, you know?

>> Nathan Agin (01:49:00):
Michael, you're a pro. Don't try to get out of it.
I tried.

Dinner's ready.

>> Nathan Agin (01:49:11):
Okay, wonderful.

>> Ursula (01:49:12):
Thank you for all your help. This is been
fantastic listening to you, although I missed
about the last half hour, but. Nathan, it's
recorded.

>> Nathan Agin (01:49:20):
Yeah, it's recording. I'll send out a link and,
I'll. And I'll just say quickly for anyone who can
make it. We're doing kind of a social hour
tomorrow at 5. you know, if you can show up and
you can show up late or whatever. It's just a
chance for everybody who's part of this to get
together and have a little bit more social
interaction, because I think we could all use
that. So, yeah, we'll do that. And then we have
another scene, Wednesday at 5 and another scene

(01:49:42):
Thursday at 5. So we got. We got a full slate this
month. But, thank you guys so much for your work
tonight. And, I'll be in touch via email.

>> Ursula (01:49:48):
Privileged. I feel privileged.

Good. Well, good. Me too.

>> Nathan Agin (01:49:52):
Great to be here. Thanks a lot, man.

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A Midsummer Night's Dream (3.2), Week 1: "Love's Labyrinth" - Lovers Fight | The Rehearsal Room

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}A Midsummer Night's Dream (3.2), Week 1: "Love's Labyrinth" - Lovers Fight | The Rehearsal Room