Hamlet (3.4), Final Session: "Voices Within" - Confronting Gertrude | The Rehearsal Room - The Working Actor's Journey

Episode Transcript
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>> Nathan Agin (00:00):
Hi everybody. My name is Nathan Agan. Welcome to the Working Actors
Journey rehearsal room. we started this project in June
2020 and it came out of what we could do
with all the time during the pandemic. for those
who are new here, what you'll see tonight is
not meant to be a final performance, but rather a
continued work in progress. This is just the

(00:20):
next step of the rehearsal. it is
also an opportunity for artists of different
generations and backgrounds to collaborate,
learn from one another and to continue the lineage of
honing this craft by doing. the rehearsal
room continues the great theatrical, history of
apprenticeship where newer and younger artists get to
see up close how professionals work after

(00:42):
30 plus years. The questions to ask, how to
explore, how to communicate with one another, how to
take direction. and we can also explore
different casting, being more conscious to
gender, age or race than
theaters sometimes can be. and we
can bring artists together from all over the place. Sometimes
it's people that haven't worked together for 20 years just because of

(01:04):
geography, or time or schedules. so
that's always ah, a wonderful reason
to bring people together. And as
you'll see tonight, we're exploring a scene in
a different way, having one character played by two different parts.
And I'll let the participants of, you know, explain and
share more of what that is and I think you'll pick it up as we

(01:25):
go. but I, I do
want to say we, you can join us and get replays of
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want to thank our current patrons, Joan,
Michelle, Christian, Jim, Magdalene, Ivar, Claudia
and Cliff. Thank you very much for supporting us, helping us
keep the virtual lights on and
administrative stuff. and we're doing these every

(01:47):
month. So now next month, February a little bit different.
we're doing weekly sessions and I'm planning to pull something
from our archive. We've done almost,
or close to 30 different workshops.
it's possibly going to be something from Richard
iii, seen from that play. You know,
got to make the final selection very soon. But you can sign up
to receive both video and audio replays of those.

(02:11):
and those will probably be available maybe Wednesday or
Thursday over the weeks of February.
and I'll be sure to send all those who have signed up
here, information in the email of how you can
get involved if you want to continue finding out
more about how this work all comes together. on a weekly
basis. You can learn more there. and if you do

(02:31):
have any questions for the group tonight, please put
them in the chat and we'll get to those at
the end. and I think that is
it from me. I will have the group do a
very quick round of introductions just so everybody
listening can kind of get acclimated of who is doing
what. And then we'll have a very quick.

>> Paul Nicholas (02:52):
Uh-huh.

Overview and context of the play that has brought
us to this point, in the,
play. So with that, I will turn it over to our
director, Paul Nicholas, and I will see you guys at
the end for a little Q and A. So have fun.

Thanks, Nathan.
as Nathan said, I'm, J. Paul Nicholas. I am,
directing this fun house.
and even though she doesn't have the character name behind
her name, pass it over to
Kathleen, who is playing Gertrude.

(03:31):
Go ahead. Want to introduce yourself?

>> Kathleen Turco-Lyon (03:32):
Oh, hello. hi. I'm Kathleen Turco
Lyon. Happy to be here. always
happy to discuss,
Shakespeare and nerd out with
colleagues that enjoy the
work. Yeah.

Max.

>> Max Herzfeld (03:54):
I'll go next.

Great.

hello, everyone. I'm Max, and I'm
playing half of Hamlet.
And this is my second project with the Working Actors
Journey. And I'm so honored to be in this
group of such intelligent and
passionate actors and
artists.

Charlotte.

>> Charlotte Northeast (04:19):
Hello, everyone. My name is Charlotte Northeast, just like the
direction. I am playing the other half of
Hamlet. I'll let you decide how you want to
characterize us after you hear the reading.
this is my
fourth. I don't know. Nathan will know.
go around with this workshop, and it's always. It's

(04:40):
always an adventure, so I'm glad to be here.

And last, but certainly not least,
hi, all.

>> Cassie Alexander (04:48):
I'm Cassie Alexander. I am an actor, and
I've been serving this room as dramaturg because I'm a big
text nerd. Delighted to be here and
hope you are all well.

You are a lot of things beyond an actor. Ms.
Cassie. Cassie, do you want
to say a few words about, like,
where we are in the story, or do you want to do that later before
we do the final read or not at all? What
your call, your choice.

I would be happy to cede to you if you'd like to talk about,
your vision for two
Hamlets. I think that's maybe the more
interesting thing if you want to talk about that at
all.

So. Okay. For those people who are
listening, because the people in this room have heard it before,
for years. I was,
curious, fascinated by the
soliloquies. And,
you know, everyone says how indecisive the

(05:49):
character is. And I've always been fascinated by the fact that it
sounded to me like he was arguing with himself,
and I me trying to figure out why,
and what his motivations were from both sides of the arguments.
And then I directed a student production of Hamlet,
and the person that I cast to play
Hamlet said to me,

(06:12):
this is just way too many lines. I have schoolwork
to do. I. I, can't learn all these lines. And then the idea popped
into my head, well, what if we had two people sharing the
lines? And of
course they both thought that I meant one
of them would play the first half of the play and the other one played second half the play. And I
said, no, both of you on stage together, playing it together. And then

(06:32):
we could really see both sides of him,
of the character, trying to work his way through
all the challenges and all the decisions and all the.
All the pressures and stresses, all the
slings and arrows, as it were,
that he had to face, which I thought was
a crazy idea. But it worked. It

(06:53):
turned out really well, and it worked. And since then I've been like, fine
tuning the text to see where
the right. I don't know if there's any right
divisions, but to see where the most effective divisions are
in the lines and to try
to identify what
parts of Hamlet are we looking at? It's like,

(07:14):
is one half is ego and the other half is insecurity.
Is one half like, super
aggressive and the other half very passive?

I don't know.

And maybe it's all of that. And there are a lot, many more
divisions that we could name. And maybe it's all of that
depending on the context, depending on the scene. and
there are there, as I've said to these guys, they are not
always in opposition. There are some scenes, this one
being one of them, where they're actually
at times pretty aligned.

(07:44):
anyway, I don't like to hear myself talk too much,
so I'm done.
What else you got, Cassie?

I don't know that I have anything.

I think that's the, That to me is the exciting nugget
of, what we've been exploring for the past couple of weeks.

Okay, then we will work under the
assumption that most people listening to this
are somewhat familiar with the play
and with the characters and kind of
know what's going on. I think they'll know what's going on enough to get
what we're doing. So let's get
back into our rehearsal if everybody's cool. Yeah.

(08:23):
Thumbs up. Yeah. Cool.
first, Cassie, did you see the latest version I
sent you with the stage directions? Like the one from five minutes ago?
Okay, why don't we
go through those? You and I can see
them. Why don't we tell everybody what they are?

(08:43):
And do you agree with them? Cassie, do you like my choice for
option one over option two in that second one?
Okay, let me just say it out loud. Let's just have everybody.

So I have two questions. Initially, looking at this, you
have highlighted in green the
act and scene numbers. Do you want that to be read aloud?

I think so, yeah. If we're going to be reading stage directions, then
let's say what actancy you were in.

Understand?

Unless you disagree. So this is what I friends.
the first thing we will say is Cassie will say
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3. Claudius tries to
pray.
after Claudius says, all may be well,
Cassie says, sorry, stage directions are
Claudius kneels, Hamlet enters

(09:33):
with his sword. And I like that.
So that we don't need to interrupt Hamlet's lines to say, he draws
his sword. Is that cool? With that,
the next thing we will hear is after,
up sword and know thou a more horrid hint.

(09:53):
Stage direction is Hamlet. She, she.
I'm so glad I don't have to say that. She
sheaths his sword.
Have fun with that.
We will not hear Hamlet exits
this physic what prolongs I sickly days.
I will just ask the Hamlets to turn off their

(10:13):
cameras. In fact, Max, I
just had an idea. When
you say my mother stays, why don't you turn off your camera
so Charlotte has the stage to herself to talk to
Claudius.

Okay.

And then after sickly days, Charlotte, turn off your camera.
Then we will hear scene four,
Queen Gertrude with Polonius.
We will not see Polonius, but Queen Gertrude will
pop on screen and we will hear Polonius talking to her.
And after Gertrude says, I hear him
coming, we will hear Polonius hides

(10:50):
behind the arras. So
let me ask you all a question. Should we say curtain or is Eros.
Okay,
you're muted. Go ahead, Max.

just like for accessibility, probably curtain, since it's
just a stage direction. Or
tapestry.

Is that what you were going to say, Kathleen?

I was going to say Eris, but maybe people don't know what that
is. So
either way doesn't matter.

Thoughts, Cassie?

Does it matter? Can we say Hamlet hides,
Polonius hides. I'm sorry. Yes.

Well, originally, that's what I had was Polonius
hides. But then later on we are going to
say Hamlet
stabs Polonius through the.

Curtain.

So because of that, I think we need to say Polonius,
hides behind the curtain.

Sounds okay.

Okay. With curtain, everybody.
I mean, I like ours too, but curtain is easier to understand,
especially in a stage direction.
speaking of that. So we're gonna hear. I hear him
coming. Polonius hides behind the arras.

Behind the curtain.

Sorry. Curtain. Sorry. I'm switching it. I'm switching it
right now. I'm
switching it right now. So we don't sacrifice that shared line. Let's do it this
way. Cassie, I. I'll warrant you.
Fear me not withdraw.
No, leave it. Leave it where it is.

(12:41):
What do you say?

Shared line either. I don't know that you.
She's. She's instructed him to withdraw.
Is it implied? It
feels implied to me.

Yeah, but because we're doing stage directions,
I, feel like we should say it. Because we're not seeing him on screen.
I feel like we should say it.
What I was going to say was she could say, fear me not withdraw.
And then you say it. And then she says, I hear him coming. Now, Mother, what's

(13:17):
the matter?

But it also, as written, if I may,
gives. Not that we're doing it, but gives
time for the action to happen. I hear
him coming. There's a couple of beats,
that could prolong.
Because of a director's request,

(13:42):
Hamlet's entrance.

So that I agree. Let's leave it as written. So she.
I hear him coming. Stage direction. Polonia sides behind the
curtain. And then. Now, Mother, what's the matter?
Let me just update mine to curtain.
The next time we hear stage directions.
is how. Now a rat. Dead for a ducket.
Dead. Stage direction is. He stabs

(14:05):
Polonius through the curtain.
the next. And I think last time we hear stage
directions is after as kill
a king. Ay, lady, it was my word. The
stage direction is he reveals Polonius's body.

(14:25):
And I think that's the last time we hear a stage direction.

So we're not waiting for any stage directions around the ghost entering or exiting.
Is that correct?

No, but you're going to have sound cues. Fun.
the sound cues is how you will know the ghost is there. And that's also how
you will know the ghost is leaving if the person
running the sound cue remembers to do it.
Any of those stage directions need to be repeated, everybody.

(14:54):
Good.
Okay. any thoughts since last
Week, Kathleen and I had a
email exchange about, one of her
lines. But anybody else have any thoughts,
new ideas, questions, concerns?

(15:18):
No? All right,
M. I say we go through it one
time.
We, have a chat about it with some notes and stuff,
and then like at
9, somewhere between 9 and 9:15,

(15:39):
we blast through it again.

Can I offer something, Paul?
This week I've just been so
interested in thinking about how the scene
changes pace, rhythm and
atmosphere two or three
times.

Yeah, I agree.

In the scene, it's a great
opportunity. I always crave,
you know, getting off zoom and getting in the room.
But, so that's
the kind of.

Thing that I'm going to be listening for in this go through. So I'm
letting go of a lot of the technical stuff and just
saying for the rhythm and meaning.

Yeah,
yeah.

and. And actors. And Cassie, please, if you
hear something while we're reading that
sticks in your ear, please, let's talk about it after.
Cool.
Let's. Let's rock and roll. Let me turn off my
camera.

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3. Claudius tries
to pray.

O stubborn knees, and
heart with strings of steel be soft as,
sinews of the newborn bay.
All may be well.

Claudius kneels. Hamlet enters with his
sword.

Now might I do it pat?
Now he is praying. And now
I'll do it.

And so he goes to heaven, and.

So I am revenged.

That would be scanned.

>> Max (17:38):
A villain kills my father, and for that
I, his sole son, do this same villain send to
heaven. Why, this is hire and
salary, not revenge. He took my
father's grossly full of bread, with all his
crimes broad blown, as flush as May.

And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven?

>> Max (17:59):
But in our circumstance and course of thought,
tis heavy with him. And am I then
revenged to take him in the purging of his
soul when he is fit and seasoned for his passage.

No.

No.

>> Max (18:13):
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid
hint.

Hamlet sheathes his sword
when he is.

>> Max (18:21):
Drunk asleep, or in his rage,
or.

In the incestuous pleasure of his bed.

>> Max (18:30):
At game a, swearing or about some act
that has no relish of salvation in it. Then
trip him that his heels may.

Kick at heaven, and that his soul may be as
damned and black as hell, whereto it goes.

>> Max (18:45):
My mother stays.

This physic but
prolongs thy sickly days.

Scene 4. Queen Gertrude with Polonius.

He will come straight. Pray you be round with
him.

Give me.

Forgive me. I'll say it again. You want me say it again?

Yep.

Please, he will come straight.
Pray you be round with him.

I'll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw.
I hear him coming.

Polonius hides behind.

Go ahead.

Say it again, Cassidy.

Polonius hides behind the curtain.

>> Max (19:32):
Now, mother, what's the matter?

Hamlet, thou hast thy father much
offended.

>> Max (19:38):
Mother, you have my father much offended.

Come, Come. You answer with an idle tongue.

Go, go, you question with a wicked
tongue.

Why, how now, Hamlet.

>> Max (19:49):
What's the matter now?

Have you forgot me?

>> Max (19:53):
No, by the rood, not so. You are the
queen, your husband's brother's wife.

And would it were not so, you are
my mother.

Nay, then I'll set those to you that
can speak.

Come, come and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass where you may
see the inmost part of you. What wilt
thou do?

Thou wilt not murder me? Help. Ho.

What?

Help.

Oh, m. No. A rat. For the duck,
it dead.

He stabs Polonius through the curtain.

Me?

What hast thou done?

>> Max (20:36):
Nay, I know not. Is it the king?

Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is
this.

A bloody deed, is almost as bad,
good mother, as kill a king and
marry with his brother.

As kill a king?

Ay, lady, was my word.

He reveals Polonius body.

>> Max (20:59):
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool,
farewell. I took thee for thy better.
Take thy fortune. Thou find' st to be too busy
is some danger.

Leave wringing of your hands.
get you down.

Down.

Is that you, Max?

I have that marked as me.

Okay.

Sorry, I don't have that.

I have that marked as Charlotte.

maybe mine's mismarked.

Is that. Did we change it? I think maybe we did.

Possible. So, Charlotte, where do you have me re.
Entering?
Thank you.

So we're not.

Let's. Let's go back to. Let's go back to. He
reveals Polonius's body. And
Max,
you. You. I, think you have
m. Immediate regret
about what has happened. You really liked Polonius. He was
a fool. He was a fool, but he was entertaining. And you

(22:02):
knew that he cared about your dad when your dad was
alive. so you can be more
kinder and regretful about what has happened once
you realize, oh, my God, this is who I really killed.

Got it.

Let's go. From he reveals Polonius's body.

And just to confirm, Max is just.
Is coming in on and let me ring your heart.

Correct. You are saying. Peace. Sit you down. Right. Thank
you. And I'm sorry if I was the one who
screwed that up last week?

No, no, that was me.

I honestly m. Don't remember. So it's all good. It's all good.

Ready, Cassie? Yep.


>> Max (22:40):
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool,
farewell. I took thee for thy
better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find' st to be too busy is some danger.

Leave ringing of your hands.

>> Max (22:57):
Peace, Sit you down, and let me
wring your heart. For so I shall, if it be made
of penetrable stuff, if damned custom.

Have not brazed it so, that it be proof and
bulwark against sense.

What have I done that thou, darest wag thy tongue
in noise so rude against me?

>> Max (23:15):
Such an act that blurs the grace of blush and
modesty, calls virtue hypocrite.

Takes off the rose from the fair forehead of an
innocent love and sets a blister
there, makes marriage vows as
false as dicer's odes.

>> Max (23:34):
Deed, as from the body of contraction plucks
the very soul, and sweet religion makes a
rhapsody of words.

Heaven's face doth glow with
trystful visage, as against the doom
is thought sick at the act.

I, Me? What act? Ah, that roars
so loud and thunders in the index.

>> Max (23:56):
Look here upon this picture, and on
this, the counterfeit presentment of two
brothers. See what a grace was seated
on this brow. Hyperion's curls, the
front of Jove himself.

And I, like Mars, to threaten
or command a station like the herald
Mercury new lighted on a heaven kissing
hill.

>> Max (24:18):
A combination and a form indeed, where
every God did seem to set his seal, to
give the world assurance of a man. This
was your husband.

And look you now what follows.
Here is your
husband, like a mildewed
ear, blasting his wholesome brother.
Have you eyes? Could you
on this fair mountain leaf to feed and
batten all this more?

ha.

Have you eyes.

>> Max (24:51):
You cannot call it love,
for at.

Your age the heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,
and waits upon the judgment. And
what judgment would step from this
to this sense?

>> Max (25:07):
Sure you have else could you not have motion?
But sure that sense is apoplexed.
For madness would not err nor sense to
ecstasy was ne' er so thrall'd. But it reserved
some quantity of choice to serve in
such a difference.

What devil was't that thus had cozened you
at hoodman? Blind
eyes without feeling,
feeling without sight, ears without hands or
eyes, smelling sans all,
or but a sickly part of one
true sense could not see.

>> Max (25:42):
O shame, where is thy blush?

Battle. How,
if Thou canst m mutiny in a matron's bones.
To flaming youth, let virtue
be as wax and melt in her
own fire.

>> Max (25:58):
Proclaim no shame when the compulsive ardour
gives the charge. Since frost itself as
actively doth burn and reason
panders will.

I might speak no more. Thou turns my eyes into
my very soul, and there I see such black and
grained spots as will not leave their
taint.

Nay, but to live in the rank
sweat of an ensemble bed,
stewed in corruption,
honeying and making love over the
nasty sty.

No more. These words, like daggers enter
in my ear. Oh, speak to me no more.
These words, like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet, Hamlet A. Ah.

Murderer and a villain. A slave
that is not 20th part the tithe of your
precedent lord. A, vice of kings, a,
cut purse of the empire, and the rule
that from a shelf of the precious diadem
stole and put it in his pocket.

No more.

A, king of shreds and patches.

Me.

>> Max (27:06):
And hover over me with your wings, you heavenly
guards. What would your gracious figure?

He's mad.

Do you not come your tardy son to chide that,
lapsed in time and passion, lets go by the important
acting of your dread command?

>> Max (27:24):
Oh, say.

Do not forget. This
visitation is but to whet thy
almost blunted purpose.
But, look. Amazement on thy mother
sits. Oh, step between
her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest

(27:47):
works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.

How is it with you, lady?

Alas, how is't with you, that you
do bend your eye on vacancy,
and with the incorporeal air do hold
discourse? Forth
at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
and as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, your bedded hair, like
life in excrements, start up and stand an

(28:20):
end. O
gentle son, upon
the heat and flame of thy distemper sprinkle
cool patience. Whereon
do you look?

>> Max (28:33):
On him.

On, him.

>> Max (28:36):
Look you how pale he glares. His
form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to
stones would make them capable.

Do not look upon me,
lest with this piteous action you convert my
stern effects, and what I have
to do will want true coloured
tears, perchance for blood.

To whom do you speak this?

>> Max (29:03):
Do you see nothing there?

Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.

>> Max (29:10):
Nor did you nothing here?

No, nothing but ourselves.

What? Look you there.

Look.

Now.

It steals away. My father in
his habit as he lived.

>> Max (29:27):
look where he goes even now, out at the portal.

This is the Very coinage of your brain.
This bodiless creation
ecstasy is very cunning in.

My pulse, as yours doth temperately keep time
and makes as healthful music.

>> Max (29:50):
It is not madness that I have uttered.
Bring me to the test, and I the matter will
reword which madness would gamble
from. Mother, for love of
grace, lay not that flattering unction unto your soul,
that not your trespass but my madness
speaks.

It will but skin and film
the ulcerous place, whilst rank
corruption, mining all within, infects
unseen.

>> Max (30:19):
Confess yourself to heaven.

Repent what's past, avoid what
is to come, and do not spread the
compost on the weeds to make them
rancourt.

>> Max (30:31):
Forgive me this my virtue. For in the fatness
of these pursy times, virtue itself must.
Vice must. Virtue itself
of vice must pardon beg, yea, curb
and woo for leave to do him
good.

Hamlet.

thou, hast cleft my heart in twain.

All throw away the
worser part of it and live the
purer with the other half.

>> Max (30:58):
Good night.

But go not to my uncle's bed.
Assume virtue, if you have it not.

>> Max (31:07):
Refrain to night, and that shall lend a kind of
easiness to the next abstinence, the next
more easy, for use almost can change the
stamp of.

Nature and either hold the devil or throw
him out with wondrous potency.

>> Max (31:22):
once more come good night,
and when you are desirous to be blessed,
I'll blessing beg of you.

The same. Lord, I do repent.
But heaven hath pleased it so to punish
me with this and this
with me, that I must be their scourge
and minister.

>> Max (31:46):
I will bestow him and will answer well
the death I gave him. So again, good
night. I must be cruel only to be
kind. This bad begins and worse
remains behind.

One word more.

what shall I do?

Not this by no means, that I
bid you do. Let
that loat king tempt you again to
bed. Pinched wanton on your
cheek, call you his master mouse, and
let him, for a pair of reachy kisses
or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,

(32:23):
make you two ravel all this matter
out. I essentially am
not m in madness.

>> Max (32:35):
Twere good you let him know
for who that's but a queen, fair, sober,
wise, would from a paddock, from
a bat a gib such dear concernings
hide. Who would do so?

Be thou assured,
if words be made of breath and breath of life,
I have no life to breathe what
thou hast said to me.

>> Max (33:03):
I must, England, you know that
I.

Had forgot to so concluded on
there's letters sealed.
And my two school fellows, whom I will, trust as I
will adders fanged, they bear the mandate.
They must sweep my way and marshal me
to knavery. Let it work.
For tis the sport to, have the engineer hoist with his

(33:29):
own petard and shall go hard.
But I will delve one yard below their
minds and loathe them. M At the moon.

M. Ah.

Tis most sweet when in one
line two crafts directly meet.

this man shall set me packing.

>> Max (33:51):
I'll, lug the guts into the neighbor room. Mother.

Good night.

>> Max (33:55):
Indeed this counselor
is now most still.

Most secret and most grave
was a.

Life of foolish breeding. Knave.
Come, sir. To draw toward an
end with you.

Good night, Mother.

Fabulous.
that was
less than 20 minutes.
Thoughts, reactions? Anything
jump out at you?

(34:47):
No, Nobody.

Something did jump out at me for the first time.
at the very end,
when he says I must to England, you know that. And
she's forgotten all about it because of what's been going
on. And that sense of,
you know, now I'm alone with
my husband and now I have to like, track

(35:16):
what's going on and I don't even. I won't even
have my son near me. Nearby, I think
she. It begins,
her. The part of her story
where, she's
alone. She. She's truly
alone. She doesn't have a friend

(35:36):
really at court. Because now I think
she's. She's looking over her shoulder quite a lot.

That is a great, great observation.

So ramps it.
Yeah. I think rather than slow her down after
this, I think it speeds her up. As the play speeds
up is. There's some. Perhaps it
would be really fun to explore
physically, how
she physically now moves through the world.

(36:08):
You know, maybe there's different kind of movement.

Yeah.

and then of course, when Ophelia comes in, you know, I
mean, that is like so freaky,
that whole thing.

Brilliant. Kathleen. I didn't even. That didn't even
dawn on me. I had never thought is that once
he leaves and you now have this
secret, you have nobody to share it with.
That's brilliant. Right.
Since we're there. Oh, I don't like using the word since
to mean because, Because we're there.

(36:42):
I put a note there, Max, that
after she says, I have no life to breathe,
what thou has said to me.
That is the end. That's the end.
And if we were on stage,
there may be a hug there
so you can take a. A beat

(37:03):
of satisfaction. I don't know how the
other Hamlet feels. That's up to the other Hamlet.
But there is a sense of satisfaction that your mother is on
board. She says, I'm not going to tell him. Not going to say a
word about this. I got your back.
And then you come up with this, oh,
by the way, you remember about that thing,

(37:26):
which now that based on what Kathleen just said, maybe
you are also realizing
that you are going to be alone. Because I'm going to go to England,
so maybe that's why you're telling me. But
it's it that can be a nice, intimate moment.

I can even see an embrace there, you know, and
just if we were.

On stage, I think I would build in some kind of embrace
there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It also bolsters the argument I'm mad in Craft.

Yeah.

The fact that it's not that ready answer. I'm
gonna them all up.

It.

It.

It's.

It proves his point.

Yes, yes,
yes. Brilliant, Charlotte. Like, that's what
motivates him to say it as well as you're
gonna be alone. Because,
I'm thinking about me being mad in Craft reminded me that I'm
gonna up Gilden Cern and whatever his name is.

Right. And who signed the letters? Claudius did.

Right.
Brilliant. But that was
a very long
director likes to hear himself talk note
for just saying, take a beat there.
all right. Any other thoughts before I

(38:45):
go through my thoughts from the tippity tippity, toppity
toppity.

I mean, also kind of in that
moment with Gertrude, a new moment
that I think we discovered together that was fun was
that there is like a shift in the middle of that line where
we were like, I'm saying I must England. And then there's the
realization of her surprise. And it's like, wait, you know that.
So there was a fun discovery there.

that's nice. I like that. Because
there is no question mark after you know that. So. Yeah.

M.

I like that. Yeah.
Okay. I'm going to the tippy. The toppy.

I'm enjoying thinking about all the
disconnects that happen in this place.
So very many.
I mean, goes without saying almost, but,
the dismantling of something
solid, of something once not
necessarily good, but whole.

Being. And that's what the family,
the kingdom or the character family.

And ultimately the country,
the family, the kingdom, the court,
the extended court, the country, and ultimately
the world. You know, I mean, so
interesting how, it
starts off almost,
I don't know

(40:20):
there's a lot of home scenes.

Home.

We're at home. You know, we're at home at court.
And then it just becomes m. More
disconnected, but bigger. More disconnected
and then bigger. More disconnected and then bigger.
I mean it's, it's gorgeously constructed, I
think. I mean I, I actually never, I've

(40:43):
only seen a four and a half hour version and it,
even then it was cut.
Yeah, it was a lot to sit.

Through, but when done
well, when it's done well, it's not that hard to sit through.

It was worth it. It was worth it.

Tonight being evidence of that claim.
everybody comfortable with the stage directions?

Yeah.

Cool. All right. going back to the top,
Max, Charlotte is
giving us a very
convincing,
performance that this half
of Hamlet has the sword out and is
going to kill him.

I jumped it though. Sorry, Max. I did jump it,
but I know where timing is
now.

But so what I'm saying, Max, is you
need to stop her from
killing him with. That would be scam.
Well, m, if we were on
stage, she would have the sword in her hand like this, about to
kill him, and you would grab her hand. But we don't have
that. Because you could grab her hand and then say it, but we don't have

(42:04):
that. So you got to stop her with the words.

But she has her own line before I speak.
That's. And so he goes to heaven and so I'm revenged.
So when we just did it now, she was already
questioning her actions before.

Yeah, that, yeah, that's what I mean by jumping it. I,
I had already started to equivocate and I shouldn't.

So should I say that line to stop you?

No, no, that would be scary.

I think it's, my thinking is flawed there
and I just, Charlotte fought against the
line for a second. So I, I think
it's. If I just keep the energy of now, I'll do it. And so he goes to
heaven and so I am revenged. And that's when the sword is up. That's what I
jumped.

Got it.

I knew it as soon as I did it. And I knew I you up. So I'm sorry about
that.

So, yeah, so you, so you'll say.

Heaven, but you're still thinking like heaven.

>> Max (42:50):
Just means he's dead.

Yeah, it's like. And then. Yeah, yeah,
hold on.

Okay.

Because I'm, I think I'm driving right towards revenged.

Yeah.

And, and I haven't really. I, I, I, I've
only thought of the journey. But I didn't think of what that journey meant.
I'm just thinking revenge. And so you stopping me
helps. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, so, Max, your half of the brain
hears the word heaven and goes, oh, wait, no, no,
no, no, wait. We can't do
that.

Yeah.

Now what? Despite what I just said,
this is tricky, because what we had agreed was
it's one idea. If
you do this, it will be read as
a villain kills my father, blah, blah, blah.
So you need to stop her with
the line, but don't stop after scanned.

(43:45):
That's a very, very tricky note. I'm sorry.
especially. And I also. So. Hi, Kitty.
And also, Is
that Ruggles?

This is Riggles.

Yeah.
you also don't need to rush at all, Max, even though I'm m saying you
need to stop her with urgency. Don't need to rush. Because
we do need to hear that argument about why we
shouldn't do it, because this is what would happen to us.
And we do need to hear phrases like hire and salary.
Okay. And I noticed he stumbled over a couple

(44:27):
of words, probably because you were rushing or going a little
fast. I'm not sure why, but I know you'll get it. I'm not worried about it.
a little ways down. Max. and
course of thought is heavy with him. And
am I then revenge? Am is in a stress
position, not I.
Okay, what I heard was, and am I then

(44:48):
revenge.
Sorry, I'm making notes as I go.
Oh, I love the exchange after you put the sword away.
Loved it. That was beautiful,

(45:12):
guys. don't get mad at me and my little skill
stanchion. Nerdiness, please.
offended.
Mother.

You.

There's no way to not stress the U in
that line. Am I correct?
Am I right?

The, sound in mother, you mean?

No, mother has to be a trochee because it can't be
Mother. Mother. I'm talking about the you.
He has to hit the you. Because that's the point
he's making. You just told him that he has
offended his father, and he's saying, no, no, no, no.
You have offended my father. Right? There's no way to
avoid hitting the you. Am I right? Anybody?

I agree.

I think that's.

You agree. So it up the
scansion, doesn't it? So it's two truckies. It's
mother, you have. You have.
Mother, you have. No, it can't be. You have. It
has to be. You have my father much offended.
It's weird. But that's what it has to be. So you. You got it, right, Max?

(46:26):
I just caught it as I, was listening.

Yeah, that one was fun because I
was echoing Gertrude's
Hamlet and it's like, mother, that's
fun, right?

I like that. But notice she hits the verb,
thou hast thy father much offended. But
you have to hit the pronoun there. It doesn't make sense.
Unless. No, let's not even bother. Let's not even go
there. it just, it's just so much
clearer. Mother, you have my father.
Much offense. Yep. It's just weird sketching. That's

(47:02):
fine.
And if we had more time, we'd get into a lengthy discussion about
why. Anyway, let's
move on.
What was that? Is that something

(47:23):
that requires attention?

No, it was a sound my computer made.

By the way, I did notice that a couple of times,
on all of you, all three of you, the
first sound of your line was lost.
And I'm wondering if that's a setting in. In Zoom that we can
affix or what? What do you all think?

Probably timing.

Timing.

Yeah.

We just have to get a tiny breath because
Zoom just can't catch up.

Remember in the old days, Zoom used to have this thing on the upper left that said
original sound, and you could check it. Now it's not there.

I. I have it.

I haven't seen it in a long time.

It's a setting you turn on.

Oh, okay.

Sound, for musicians is off on mine.

Does anyone know? Is it better or worse when doing a reading
like this to turn off sound for musicians or turn it back
on?

I think turning it on is helpful.

Sound for musicians on.

That's my understanding. Because then it doesn't like clip.

And where is it? Is it under Audio Advanced? Where is
it?

If you go into your audio settings, it should be
there under Audio Profile.

Yep, I see it.

And then when you click that, then the choice to turn it on and
off shows up on your window in the actual Zoom
call.

I see. Okay, so it should be off or it
should be on.

Should be on to preserve the original
audio.

Okay, got it, got it. Oh, but now I hear.

No, that happens.
the solution to that would be headphones.

No, I'll just turn it on. Okay,
so whoever has it on. Okay, now it's gone. The echo is
gone. So whoever had it on just turned it off. Oh,
there's a choice for echoing.

Am I echoing? No, I'm not.

Under Audio Settings, under Audio
Profile, Original Sound for musicians. There's a choice for
Echo Cancellation. Let's see what happens.
Let's see if I can still hear myself echo. No. Look at
that. Okay, cool.

I turned off Echo. I turned on Echo
cancellation as well. Is it still working?

Yep.

I do think the platform's gotten a little bit better.
It's not that you can talk over each other or jump a
line or something, but it's
faster. Do you know what I mean?
it's not as bad as it used to be.

Max, line 34. A
bloody deed.

Yes.

What are you there? You have, like, a.
10,000 choices of what you're playing with that line, which.
What are you playing?

Well, since we talked about regret, I think
that's. I, think in that moment, Hamlet's experiencing the
shock of putting it all together. Like,
is it not the king? It's like, bloody deed. What
are you talking about? So there's a shock element of
shock. There is what I was.

Okay, as long as it's very different
from what Charlotte. The energy that Charlotte's coming in with,
which is ignoring what just happened and turning
it around and throwing it back at her at, your mother.

Right. Like, I'm looking at this guy I just killed, and
she's like, well, that's nothing compared to what you've done.

Okay, that's cool. But remember, you don't know
who it is yet, but. But you can play the shock.
I like that. I like that choice.
Thou wretched, wretched, intruding fool. You can go
even.
Oh, what a horrible note. This is going to
be even sadder.

(51:11):
what I originally wrote was gentler, kinder,
real regret. Do you
remember when
you were, ah, at Ophelia's? No,
forget Ophelia. Not that bad. Do you remember when you were holding
Yorick's skull and you said, oh,
man,

(51:33):
just think, the memories I had with this guy.
Now he's gone. Look, and we all get reduced
to this. It's almost that. It's almost
like, oh, no, not Polonius.

Oh, like killing him was a part of
my own childhood.

Yeah. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean. I
didn't know it was you. It's that kind of feeling. Let
your other half be like, ah,
fuck that, dude. Let's. Let's. Let's talk about what the.
What we really came here to talk about.

Got it.

why did I highlight this word?
Oh, I think it just. I don't know what happened, Max. That blurs
the grace and blush of modesty. I Highlighted Bl.
And. But I didn't tell myself why? I don't
remember.

I mispronounced it. Maybe it was like blush.
You said it funny.

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty.
So, despite what I just said, when you're talking to
Polonius's dead body, you are regretful, and you're like, I'm
sorry, man, but once your other half
is like this. You
sit down, Mom. I want to talk to you. Now you can join in on
that.

Yeah.

So what you did with and let me ring your heart was absolutely perfect.
Don't change that.
Beautiful, Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I love.
I'm loving the rhythm of it. I thought I would have more to say about the rhythm, but
I don't. But I will say this.
Charlotte, are you okay? Can you find

(53:11):
a beat or two before rebellious
hell, or is that weird?

Yeah, I can. And I. I remembered that note after I
steamrolled right past it. So.

Yeah,

You know how I do.
yeah. Okay.

And if you're going to say mutiny, then take out the. Ah.
Mutiny in Matron's bones.

Okay, I did. I had so many notes on that that
I didn't know what it was. I'm just gonna take it out right now.

So it's either mutine in a matron's bones or mutiny in
Matron's bones.
Kathleen, you caught yourself with that thing and you corrected it.

(53:59):
I love. Oh, my gosh. Charlotte
and Kathleen, I love the pace up
to when the ghost enters. That's exactly what it needs to be.
Don't say anymore. I got more to say. I got more to say. No, stop.
No, I got more to say. Boom. Ghost enters. Loved it. Love
it. That's. I think that's the rhythm. It's got to build and build and build and
build.

(54:20):
Oh, there's a question for y'. All. Could you hear my sound
cues?

Yes.

Oh, cool.
Charlotte, how do we
let. How do we make it clear that do not look
upon me is to the ghost without a

(54:45):
stage direction? How do we do that?
Line, please, so no one thinks you're talking to
Gertrude.

Yeah. What line, please?

145.
maybe.

I mean, I was. I was looking off this way, but I can do
that more. I. I can. I could sell it. I'll figure something out.

Or maybe look up into the ceiling if you have the
line memorized. But if you don't have the line memorized, I don't want you to leave it.
I don't know.
I'm going to call the exit queue a little bit later.
But don't worry about that.
finally, is this. Finally, is this the last thing I have to

(55:30):
say? No, I have a couple more
max. Once you go to confess yourself
to heaven.
So the energies of the two sides of
Hamlet are sort of matched. Once you go to
confess yourself to heaven, you can turn down your
fire, Let Charlotte live up here.

(55:50):
Now you can be,
soft and intimate with your mom.
Because now you're talking about we can still
save ourselves and get our souls can still go to
heaven. All the things you
taught me as a child, I want you to remember.
I think so. Confess yourself to heaven. Forgive me.

(56:12):
This, my virtue, all that stuff can be easier.
It can be easier for you.

Okay.

Which helps to bring
Charlotte's half, to bring the temperature of
that half down. That was not a
note for you, Charlotte.
We talked about that already.

(56:38):
Engineer. Yep, that's it. That's all
I got.
Cassie, what you got?

That was great. I think because we ended our last
rehearsal with the,
With the scansion exercise. It was fun to hear
the energy and the rhythm throughout.
And despite zoom always makes
the. The pass offs funky between the shared
lines. But I thought that there was so much life and all three

(57:09):
of you were really playing with each other in a really fun and beautiful way.
It just felt like a minute since we had done the whole thing
from top to tail without a stop. And
I enjoyed the ride.

I just thought of a question.

Yes, sir?

Since we were looking at the lines on 175.

Yes sir.

I was curious if yay is a
verb or if it's like
virtue itself of vice must pardon beg.
Yay. Curb and woo. Like.
Or is it.

It's. It's adding emphasis to what you said
before. It's almost like saying,
in fact.
Virtue must do this. Yes.
Go this far. So it's
almost like,
cranking it up one level.

Got it. Yeah, that's what I thought it was. I just wanted to make sure because I was
like, wait, is it a verb?

It's almost like a Stevie Wonder song when all of a sudden, near the
end, he just changes keys and goes up here and you're like, whoa,
Stevie, what are you doing?

Yeah, Curb and woo.

it's almost like you're saying. Yeah, it's not even just that. It's
this, right.

Virtue itself, of vice must pardon beg. Yea.

>> Max (58:34):
Curb and woo.

It's like amping up the energy.

Curb in this sense, in this Context, I think,
means to kneel.
Is that right, Cassie? So curb means here to
kneel and beg
to and which. Which. And the point you're making is
virtue. Something virtuous would never
do, that would never ask vice.

(59:01):
Virtue would never turn to vice and ask for pardon. What?
but now in these times of
decadence and opulence, even
virtue has to beg vice of pardon.

For leave to do him good.

Yeah. And again, no need to rush.

No rushing.

Are you looking something up, Charlotte?

You're mute.

Yeah, I just, No, nothing, nothing
major. Just following the conversation.

And that section there, Max, I think,
that's a nice contrast if you are being gentle and
saying, you know, I can't believe
that this is what we're living in while
Charlotte is going, you need to ask for
forgiveness, Mom.
It's a nice contrast.

(01:00:14):
Any thoughts at all? Any thoughts at all?

>> Max Herzfeld (01:00:18):
It must be so jarring for Gertrude to be like
getting gentle and good cop and bad cop at the same time.

>> Paul Nicholas (01:00:25):
Yeah. Remember, this is not a
helpful.

>> Kathleen Turco-Lyon (01:00:30):
It's helpful in the, in the mad. Especially in the
mad part, to be, you know,
and he kind of arrives that way. He's been
acting weird for a while,
so. Yeah,
I like it. The different voices,
very different.

Remind me after Polonius and
Claudius used Ophelia to
trap him for the
get thee to a nunnery scene. Did they tell you about that?
Did you know that that happened? I forget.

You know, I'd done the play. I'd done the play twice. And
the first time, and it was so many years ago, I
barely remember it. Paul. But the director made
a choice that I would stay
with Polonius and Claudius
as they eavesdropped on that
scene, which was interesting,
I thought, and it was kind of like,

(01:01:26):
put that in your bag of information.
you know, almost as if they
were pretending to give her a little bit of
empowerment in the situation. But she doesn't
have any lines. Is my.
Could have been the cutting, but I think she doesn't have any lines,
so. And then I don't remember the second time

(01:01:48):
I did it. And again, this was years ago, years ago.
I don't think I was even in that scene. It was
the guys conspiring.

Well, choose whichever one serves you for this
scene. Do you know about that Ophelia
interchange or not? Like, is this
your first exposure to his quote, unquote
madness?

Well, I think he's.
I, think I'm aware somehow
he's acting strangely during
the players scene.
But you know what?

M. Mad but mad no.

But mad no. I think
there is a surprise in this
closet scene when she says, alas, he's mad.
It's almost as if to say,
fuck, that's the reason
why this is going. So I can
kind of justify it that it is her

(01:02:50):
first close up, connection with him
behaving just like this.

I'm just remembering something. And I'm sure that's why Cassie came off mute
to remind me, isn't it? Go ahead.

>> Cassie Alexander (01:03:02):
Oh, no, I was, I was just enjoying. Enjoying
Kathleen's observation. I'm not sure what you're.

I just remembered that Polonius came to both of you,
king and queen, and said, I figured out what's going on. Your son
is mad. Mad. Call I it.
So either you took that seriously or you didn't. And
now you're watching him talk to his dead father
and you're making that reconnection and going, oh, wow.

Yeah, right.

And then he tells you, hey, I'm not mad. I'm just
pretending.

Right?
yeah, that would be an interesting thing to play within. In
performance and I think, or in rehearsal.
it's, it's, it's. What it is for her above
all is a
goddamn shame and, and a horror

(01:03:58):
that now he's no use
to the family, to the world. He.
If he's mad, he's going to be put away
and how can I live without him?
So.

Which is maybe why you agree I won't tell a soul
that you're. You're pretending to be m. Mad.

Correct. And, And I think from that
moment on, I think her trajectory for
a moment is to try to quell him,
just to try to calm the situation
down, get a hold of you. You know,
ecstasy is very cunning when you're,
you know, this is, this is taking
control of your brain, you know, like you would a friend or

(01:04:40):
a.

Loved one, de escalate the situation
would de.

Escalate. Yes, indeed. That's a great word.

Speaking of which, Charlotte, I love how you're handling
ecstasy. That's a. That's a very nice
turn away from what just happened. And she's now going to
have you. She just opened a gate for you
to walk down this different avenue. I'm
loving how you're playing that.

I have a question.

Yes, please. Yes, go ahead.

scansion wise in 62.
Because that line seems to have like, an extra
foot and makes
a healthful music. It is not madness.
I'm curious, like, where the emphasis
naturally lands there.

62.

It is not madness or it is not madness.

You sure? It's 62.

162.

Oh, 162.

Sorry.

Is that an extra foot? Cassie, what did we talk about when we scan
this? And makes as, healthful music?
Oh, yeah. And makes as, healthful
music.
It is not madness.

Which is funny if the line about madness is very
disorderly.

Yeah, well,
the stressed syllables are
mix, health, muse,
is, and mad.
So we can. We probably should
start. We probably should not take too much time to
figure out which, grammatical

(01:06:24):
descriptions to give these feet. But
we can read it as 5ft
if you come right on in on Charlotte's music.
And as long as we hear you say is not,
it is not Magnus.

(01:06:49):
Got it.

Thank you.

You can really slow it down there, Max, because Charlotte is
like, going at a good pace
there. You can bring it back down in terms of pace,
not intensity in terms of pace.
Should we rock and roll? What do y' all think?

Aye, aye, Captain.

Can I have a two minute pee break?

Yes.
Bio break.

Thank you.

Back in a few.

Unless, you meant actual peas. Unless you wanted to, like, eat a pea.
then. We'll.

(01:08:07):
M.
Okay.

(01:09:43):
mad call I it.
M.

(01:10:12):
All right, I'm going off camera. And, You guys good?
Everybody good?

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3.
Claudius tries to pray.

Bow stubborn knees,
and heart with strings of steel be
soft as sinews of the newborn babe.
All may be well.

Claudius kneels. Hamlet enters with his sword.

>> Charlotte Northeast (01:10:47):
Now might I do it pat?
Now he is a praying. And
now I'll do.

Do it.

And so he goes to heaven. And so
am I revenged.

>> Max (01:11:00):
That would be scanned. A villain
kills my father, and for that I, his sole son,
do this same villain sent to heaven. Why,
this is hire and salary, not
revenge. He took my father
grossly, full of bread, with all his
crimes broad blown.

As flesh and as may how his audit
stands. Who knows save heaven?

>> Max (01:11:24):
But in our circumstance and course of thought,
Tis heavy with him. And am I
then revenged to take him in the purging
of his soul when he is fit and
seasoned for his passage?

No.

No.

>> Max (01:11:42):
Up, sword, and know thou a more
horrid hint.

Hamlet sheaths his sword
when he is.

>> Max (01:11:50):
Drunk, asleep, or in his rage.

Or in the incestuous pleasure of his
bed.

>> Max (01:12:00):
At game a, swearing or about
some act that has no relish of salvation in it.
Then trip him that his heels may.

Kick at heaven and that his
soul may be as damned and Black
as hell whereto it goes.

>> Max (01:12:17):
My, mother stays.

Physic but prolongs
thy sickly days.

Scene 4 Queen Gertrude with Polonius.

He will come straight. Pray you, be
round with him.

I will warrant you. Fear me not.
Withdraw. I hear him coming.

Polonius hides behind the curtain.

>> Max (01:12:46):
Now, mother, what's the matter?

offended.

>> Max (01:12:53):
Mother, you have my father much offended.

Come, come. You answer with an idle tongue.

Go, go, you question with a
wicked tongue.

Why, how now, Hamlet.

>> Max (01:13:07):
What's the matter now?

Have you forgot me?

>> Max (01:13:10):
No, by the rood, not so. You
are the queen, your husband's brother's
wife.

And would it were not so, you are
my mother.

Nay, then, I'll set those to you
that can speak.

Come, come and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see
the inmost part of you.

What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?

Help, ho.

What, ho. Help.

Come out, rat. Dead, for a
ducat, dead.

He stabs Polonius through the curtain.

O, I am slain.

O me, what hast thou
done?

>> Max (01:13:57):
Nay, I know not. Is it the king?

What a rash and bloody deed is this.

A bloody deed almost as,
bad, good mother, as kill a
king and marry with his brother.

As, kill a king?

Ay, lady, was my
word.


>> Max (01:14:22):
How wretched, rash,
intruding, foolish. Farewell.
I took thee for thy better.
Take thy fortune. Thou find' st to
be too busy is some danger.

Leave wringing of your hands. Peace,
sit you down, and let me.

>> Max (01:14:44):
Wring your heart, for so I shall, if
it be made of penetrable stuff.

If damned custom have not brought raised it
so, that it be proof and bulwark against sense.

What have I done, that thou darest wag
thy tongue in noise so rude against me?

>> Max (01:15:01):
Such an act that blurs the grace
and blush of modesty, calls
virtue hypocrite.

Takes off the rose from the fair forehead
of an innocent love and sets a
blister there, makes
marriage vows as false as dicers
oaths.

>> Max (01:15:21):
Oh, such a deed as from the body
of contraction plucks the very soul,
and sweet religion makes a, ah,
rhapsody of words.

Heaven's face doth glow
with trystful visage as against the
doom is thought sick at the act.

me? What act that roars
so loud and thunders in the index?

>> Max (01:15:46):
Look here upon this picture,
and on this, the counterfeit
presentment of two brothers. See
what a grace was seated on this brow.
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove
himself.

An eye like Mars, to threaten
or command. Ah. A station like the
herald Mercury, new lighted on a
heaven kissing hill.

>> Max (01:16:12):
A combination and a form indeed,
where every God did seem to set his seal,
to give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband.

Look you now, what follows.
Here is your husband,
like a, mildewed m ear
blasting his wholesome brother.
Have you eyes? Could you on,
this fair mountain leave to feed, and
batten on this moor?

Ah.

Have you eyes?

>> Max (01:16:49):
You cannot call it love, for at.

Your age the heyday in the blood is tame, it's
humble, and waits upon the
judgment. And what judgment would
step from this to this?

>> Max (01:17:04):
Sense sure you have, else could you not
have motion. But sure that sense is
apoplex'd for madness would not
err nor sense to ecstasy was
ne' er so thrall'd, but it reserv'd some
quantity of choice to serve in such a
difference.

What devil was it that thus hath
cozen'd you at hoodman? Blind?
eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
ears without hands, or eyes, smelling
sons all, or but a sickly
part of one true sense could not so mope.

>> Max (01:17:41):
O shame, where is thy blush?

Rebellious hell,
if thou canst mutiny in matron's poor bones,
to flaming youth, let virtue be as
wax and melt in her own
fire.

>> Max (01:18:02):
Proclaim no shame when the compulsive ardour
gives the charge, since frost itself as
actively doth burn, and reason
panders will speak no more.

Thou turn' st my eyes into my very soul, and
there I see such black and grain rich spots as
will not, not leave their taint.

Nay, but to live in the
rank sweat of an ensemd bed,
stewed in corruption, honeying and
making love over the nasty sty.

Speak to me no more. These words like
daggers enter in my ears. No more,
sweet Hamlet.

A murderer and a villain, a
slave that is not taught 20th part, the
tithe of your president lord, the vice
of kings, a cut purse of the empire,
and the rule, that from a shelf
this precious diadem stole
and put it in his pocket.

No more.

A king of shreds and
patches.

>> Max (01:19:14):
Save me, and hover o' er me with your
wings, you heavenly guards.
What would your gracious figure?

Alas, he's mad.

Do you not come to. Do you not come your
tardy son to try that, lapsed in time and passion?
Let's go by, at the important acting of your
dread command?

>> Max (01:19:37):
Oh, say.

Do not forget this
visitation is but to whet thy almost
blunted purpose.
But look. Amazement on
thy mother sits. O,
step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest

(01:20:00):
works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.

>> Max (01:20:09):
How is it with you, lady?

how is't with you, that you do
bend your eye on vacancy. And
with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits
wildly peep. And as, the
sleeping soldiers in. In the alarm, your bedded
hair, like life in excrements,

(01:20:34):
stand up. And,
like life in excrements, start
up and stand on end.
Gentle son, upon the
heat and flame of thy distemper sprinkle cool
patience. Whereon do you
look?

On him.

>> Max (01:20:59):
Look you how pale he glares.
His form and cause conjoined,
preaching to stones would make them capable.

Do not look upon me,
lest with this hideous action you convert
my stern effects. And
what I have to do will want true
color. Tears perchance for blood.

Do you speak this?

>> Max (01:21:29):
Do you see nothing there?

Nothing at all, yet all
that is I see.

>> Max (01:21:36):
Nor did you nothing here.

No, nothing but ourselves.

Why, look you bear.
Look how it steals away. My
father in his habit as he lived.

>> Max (01:21:50):
Look where he goes even now, out at the portal.

This is the very coinage of your brain. This
bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning
in.

My pulse, as yours doth temperately
keep time. And makes us healthful music.

>> Max (01:22:11):
It is not madness that I have
uttered. Bring me to the test, and I the
matter will reword which madness would gamble
from. Mother, for love
of grace, lay not that flattering unction to
your soul, that not your trespass but my
madness speaks.

Will but skin and film the ulcerous
place. Whilst rank corruption mining
all within in facts unseen.

>> Max (01:22:40):
Confess yourself to heaven.

Repent what's past,
avoid what is to come. And
do not spread the compost
on the weeds to make them ranker.

>> Max (01:22:54):
Forgive me this my virtue. For in
the fatness of these pursy times.
Virtue itself of vice must
pardon, beg, yea, curb
and woo for leave to do him good.

Good, unless thou hast
cleft my heart in twain.

throw away the worser part of it. And
live the pure with the other half.

>> Max (01:23:19):
Good night.

But go not to my uncle's bed.
assume a virtue if you have it not.

>> Max (01:23:28):
Refrain tonight, and that shall lend
a kind of easiness to the next abstinence,
the next more easy. For use
almost can change the stamp of nature.

And either hold the devil or throw him out with
wondrous potency.

>> Max (01:23:44):
Once more Good night. And when you
are desirous to be blessed, I'll, blessing beg of you.

For this same lord, I
do repent. But heaven hath
pleased it so to punish me with this and this with me
that I must be. Be their scourge and minister.

>> Max (01:24:06):
I will bestow him and will answer well
the death I gave him.

So, again, good night.

>> Max (01:24:14):
I must be cruel only to be kind.
This bad begins and worse
remains behind.

one word more, good lady.

What shall. I do not.

This by no means that I bid you do.
Let the bloat king tempt you again
to bed. Pinch wanton on your cheek,
call you his mouse. And let him, for a pair of richie
kisses. Or paddling in your neck with his damned
fingers. Make you to ravel all this
matter out. That I

(01:24:49):
essentially am not in madness,
but mad in craft.

>> Max (01:24:55):
Twere good,
fair, sober, wise.
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a,
gib such dear concernings hide.
Who would do so?

Be thou assured.
If words be made of breath and breath of life. I
have no life to breathe what thou
hast said to me.

I must to England.

>> Max (01:25:30):
You know this?

Alack, I had forgot.
Tis so concluded on.

So letters sealed.
My two school fellows, whom I will trust as I will
adders fanged, they bear the mandate.
They must sweep my way and marshal me to
navery. Let
it work. For tis the sport to have
the engineer hoist with his own petard.

(01:26:01):
And shall sh. And shall go hard. But
I will delve you one yard
below their minds. And blow them at the
moon.

Oh.

Tis most sweet when in one
line two crafts directly meet.

This man shall set me packing.

>> Max (01:26:23):
I'll, lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother.

Good night.

>> Max (01:26:27):
Indeed. This
counsellor is now most still,
most secret and most grave.

Who was in life a foolish, prating knave.
Come, sir? To draw
toward an end with you.

>> Max (01:26:48):
Good night, Mother.

Absolutely brilliant.
I am overwhelmed with how brilliant that was.
Your thoughts, anyone?

I felt like
the gentleness carried through. Little bit more this
time. At times it
broke. But having that anchor in gentleness
kind of helped ground a perspective.
And there were times to, like, let her have

(01:27:42):
it. But mostly I just felt
confusion and betrayal
and, like, a, longing to
have her just say, like, I'm wrong. I'm sorry. Like,
you're right. And that started
to, like, shape a lot of where I was coming from.

I. I think I saw a lot of their previous
relationship in this scene that I never felt before.

Their relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude or.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The, the, the
closeness that they once had.
I, I felt that a lot more in the, in the,
even in the, like, in the nastier moments, the way they play with
each other. I feel like in better
times they, they might have had a little bit more fun and this,
what, they were using it as barbs and weapons, but

(01:28:30):
I, I, Yeah, I, I definitely felt that
the, the heartbreak of that relationship breaking and coming apart and
breaking again and then, and then the. I've got to go, Mom.
You know, I felt that in a different way tonight.

Seems like in the
play, one of the themes, at least
that come out for me is how
much, and I guess you could argue, you know, how much does each
of the characters need this, but
how much each of the characters needs to hold on
to something. you know,

(01:29:10):
needs just to hold on
to something that's not going to throw them overboard or get
them killed or,
And it would be fun to explore that
with. Interacting with, for
example, other people on, on stage or the

(01:29:32):
set or props. Props or
costumes, you
know.

Nathan, are you listening? I think we're saying
we want to take this live.

>> Nathan Agin (01:29:46):
always excited to hear that people want to keep working,
on the scene. and yes, it has, it
has come up before. Just like, okay, when, when do we get to do the
rest of this? And, and I've heard it from audiences too. So,
no, that's, it's, it's, it's great that it,
stimulates your, your ideas for this and,
and, you know, certainly the,

(01:30:09):
the feeling that, okay, I never want to
look at this text again. hopefully that's not where people are
at at the end of four weeks. I mean, these scenes are so rich.
and there's so much going on with these characters up to
this point and of course, course after, that. There's just so much to
explore. well, wonderful, wonderful.

Before you start, before you start, Nathan, I want to make sure Kathy gets her
voice in the post, in the
post mortem. I didn't want to leave you out. Thank you,
Paul.

I just really want to shout out the, the beat that we were talking about
just before we did the reading that Kathleen observed and
how beautiful that was in performance.
and I think that speaks to. There's
always something to discover. That's the beautiful thing about these
texts. Every time you spend time with them, you
just peel another layer of the onion. And

(01:30:55):
that beat really sang Kathleen. So thank you
for that magic.

>> Nathan Agin (01:31:03):
Wonderful. Excellent. Well,
yeah, to Jump into
some questions and get people talking a bit.

Little.

>> Nathan Agin (01:31:12):
Little bit more. I would love to hear,
from the actors. maybe we can start with the Hamlets or one of
the Hamlets. What,
challenged you? What, what surprised you about
the character? Certainly approaching it from,
you know, two different, angles.
you know, I imagine for most people it's a character

(01:31:35):
you have some familiarity with or, or. Or maybe
you've, been part of the play or done a monologue or
whatever, but now working on it in this
way. What illuminated things for you or
what? again, yeah. What surprised or challenged you? I'd love to hear from
either of the Hamlets on that.

for. So I've played. I've done this once.
Well, no lies. I played Ophelia thousand
years ago. but more recently I
played Laertes, who's just a
firebrand.
so that's where my. I naturally go as
a. As a performer, so to the

(01:32:16):
point where sometimes I could get lost in it. And
so I think having that was
a challenge for me. And so to have
Max's, you know, lovely
energy and lovely like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
hey. You know, the cerebral and the. And
the. The heart. Because I think I'm
sometimes, you know, and. And

(01:32:39):
it was. It was like having that stop gap,
but in. In a fully
embodied human. And it was just.
It made that easier and it made that,
more organic for me. And I
appreciated that. And to have those moments of
connection between the two of us when we. When we
all came to. When we both came together in. In our

(01:33:00):
thinking was we didn't talk
too much about that. They just happened on their own. So I thought that
was really. That was. That was great. So what I
perceived as a challenge actually became like a really lovely, beautiful
thing.

So thank you, Max.

Actually. Thank you. And I was actually going to say the same
thing. How it really does feel like
counter melodies that are playing simultaneously,
where we each get to like, focus on one instrument instead
of like, perhaps the classic Hamlet is like, always jumping
from instrument to instrument because he's all over the place with
where so much is going on. But

(01:33:37):
getting to take a step back and process
one thing and find a through line from a.
I felt that same sort of, like,
I've always felt like, oh, I'm not
strong enough on stage. I'm not like, I gotta be more
cutting. I have to be more aggressive. And
to kind of find an of. And

(01:34:00):
like, especially approaching a role like Hamlet, who is
so driven,
I often think, like, oh, I can't Play a
role like that because it's like my energy
is so soothing and calm. But it's
nice to kind of feel like I have a side of Hamlet.
So that actually did feel easier in that sense where I got to, like,

(01:34:21):
let myself be me and let you be you.
And we both found that compliment. So thank you,
Charlotte.

>> Nathan Agin (01:34:30):
Well, and I would, you know, speaking as an
observer, it would be very interesting,
as an actor, or perhaps for either of you or
anyone watching, to go back to
any of the text, the monologues with
the. The two opposing, energies
and then trying to do that as one actor, you know,

(01:34:51):
like, you know, bringing. You know, because you're.
You're familiar. Like, oh, right. That was. This was. This
was Charlotte or this was me or this was Max or what. You know, whatever.
So that I think what it. What it does or what I'm seeing
is it really kind of heightens how a lot of,
classes or teachers will try to get actors
to be very specific of what are you doing

(01:35:11):
with each line and how might your tactics be shifting
or what's happening in this moment or how does that inform the next
moment? Because it's very easy to just kind of
paint things with very broad strokes and,
by really, you know, embodying. By using
two actors to embody the two sides, you get
very specific takes on the different lines. So I think
it'd be very, Very, very interesting to

(01:35:34):
see how that would inform just
one of you, you know, doing Hamlet, because you. You. You just
have what. What you remember the other person doing, in
your head.

And.

>> Nathan Agin (01:35:44):
And again, it doesn't mean that you, would do it the
same way as the two of you had done together. You may find new things
and. And explore different ways, to continue
that. That journey. But I think that would be really interesting to.
To. To explore as a solo actor now having this
experience. I, I'd
love to hear, from Cassie,

(01:36:05):
you know, dramaturgically. Was there anything that
really stood out to you, you know, by working on the
play that, you know, maybe you hadn't noticed as much,
in the past or. Or, you know, anything that really
intrigued you or interested you about the play that
maybe you want to continue exploring?

Well, I think it's so fascinating to take these,
particularly Hamlet's soliloquies and have them be spoken
by two different people. And I think the,
What really excited me about the way that Paul divided
the, The two. The two sides of that coin
was that we were really, sharing.
Sharing the words in the midst of lines. The two

(01:36:43):
Hamlets had shared lines together. And that
sense, that sense of kind of passing the
baton and continuing to lift the energy is
really exciting, particularly.

Or grabbing the baton.

That's true.

Well, particularly as the two of them are trying to figure out which
Hamlet is going to be the decision maker in this
moment. so I thought that that was really
fun to play with. and
you would think over zoom, the lag
would get in the way. And it's
delightful to see that that shared

(01:37:17):
energy continues to persist, assist even in this
virtual platform.

>> Nathan Agin (01:37:23):
Excellent. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. and
Kathleen, I know you said you worked on the play,
before, what was it like for you as
an actor working on Gertrude this time?
yes, of course there were two Hamlets that you were working
opposite. but were there things about
Gertrude that stood out to you? you know,

(01:37:43):
during this exploration that whether or not you played
this character in the play, in the past, that, that now
you, Now you noticed
and, and you are on mute before you start talking.

Yeah. I'm not
sure it. This, this iteration
shifted my,
my overall idea of her arc, but it
certainly deepened it. And I'm always
in love with getting into a process
with a. With a new director,

(01:38:17):
no matter if I've done the play or
not. Because it's really their concept and
their cutting that is going to determine,
how I,
actively move through the arc.
Because that's probably not going to change too much.
You know, her story is going to be her story.

(01:38:40):
However,
in this iteration, I was so much
more sort of deeply aware that
she is a responder. A responder. A
responder of all the stuff that gets
thrown. But at the very, very end. End,
that taking of the cup and

(01:39:02):
drinking of that cup purposefully
is an act of forward
motion. And
it's. It's what makes her,
you know, for lack of a better word, a
heroic character. Not just a put upon
one and a victim of her circumstances.

(01:39:24):
You know, unfortunately it kills her.
But what other. What other choice does she. If
that's the one thing she can do? And
then I realized today that. That actually
if. If we're looking at Ophelia's climbing up the
tree as a suicide m.
That that's her greatest effort toward

(01:39:47):
solving what, whatever situation she
can't put together,
toward solving it, towards solving
the problem. one other thing was that,
this time around I became more aware,
Paul, of The. And thanks, everybody, for
weighing in on the quarto, the differences between

(01:40:09):
the quartos, because I had never really paid attention to
that and. And not really paid attention
to the fact that a lot of scholars think the Quarto 2 is
better. it was great to become aware
of that. And I think when I've done this
play, both times, the text
in this scene has been
significantly cut down. So it was really good

(01:40:31):
to do it fully.
or almost fully. I mean, that silly
story about the ape and the box
and thinking he's going to fly. Yeah, great.
Cut that. It's so
upsetting.

Much respect, if not all of the
respect and gratitude is deserved by
Dr. Gideon Rappaport, who,
is one of, if not the
foremost authority on
Shakespeare's texts, who has been, by the
way, recently written a book on.
Is it on Hamlet, Nathan, or is it the whole canon?

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:10):
Yeah, he wrote, he created an annotated,
his own annotated version of Hamlet, of Hamlet.

when did that come out?

Four weeks ago. Like, the week before we started. It was really. Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:22):
Ah, it was right at the end of the year. Right, right. end of the
year. Beginning of the year. Somewhere in there.

But is he writ or an American?
Do we know?

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:31):
He's an American. He's based in San Diego.

Yeah. And he's. He's worked these
workshops, occasionally.

>> Nathan Agin (01:41:38):
Yeah, he was just part. I think
he was. I try to keep everything straight in my head, but I
believe he was just part of our
workshop in December. but, yeah, he's
done many, many of these. so he's. He's. He's great,
you know, very passionate about the text and,
you know, making it as clear as possible and,

(01:42:00):
and all that. So, So, yes, yeah, people
can, you know, check out, Gideon's, version of Hamlet, and then he
has another volume, of
kind, of introductions to a lot of the plays and.
And his thoughts and. And ideas on many of them. And
he even called, Created a podcast version, of that
so people can kind of pick and choose what sections they might want

(01:42:20):
to, you know, learn about different plays. But, yeah, no, I'm
glad. He was very, helpful in m. This, as well. I had a
good chat, you.

Know, and started and. And talking
specifically about. It wasn't a chat, it was an email exchange
specifically about the differences between the Folio and the Second
Quarto and other versions. And he was very, very
helpful. Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:42:40):
Oh, good, good, good. and you know,
it's. I. I wanted to bring up another point about
the scenes. And, you know, it might be a
simple point, but I think sometimes it can be so helpful,
especially when you guys have the time.
I really enjoyed when you would talk about
other scenes and, well,

(01:43:01):
what does Hamlet know about what. What
happened before and what does Gertrude know? You know, was Gertrude
present? And even the things that, you know,
happened between the scenes. You know, did Polonius ever
tell, you know, share this with Gertrude? You know, like, I think that was just
really. I mean, as an audience member,
really fascinating to think about it, like, oh, right. You know,
we often think about the play ends as soon as the actor, like,

(01:43:24):
leaves the stage. But there is this whole world
going on, of. Of all these
interconnected scenes that we never see. and
it's just interesting. There's no right or wrong. It's just really
fascinating to explore how might that
inform this moment or
what's to come. So I thought that was just,

(01:43:44):
a really fun tactic, that you employed,
that may not be obvious, for
a lot of people working on these scenes that it's like, well, right.

What.

>> Nathan Agin (01:43:53):
What happened in the scenes that we're not seeing and, you know,
what's. What's the connective tissue there? So,
to Paul and the group. I really enjoyed that, those
discussions specifically.

You know, it's interesting. You just made me think that,
You know, long about before the player
scene and how that's getting set up is Hamlet
seems like he's the only spy at court. Right.
And that once we, You know, he's just spying
on the situations of what could be
happening. But as we. As the

(01:44:24):
play propels forward, everybody
becomes that guy.
You know, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are pulled into
it.

Polonius.

Polonius is pulled into it. Gertrude is pulled into it.

Ophelia is pulled into it.

the, Yeah.

Yeah.

It's almost like the whole play starts
playing with a different gesture or something
as it proceeds,
interested to how that. How that
would physically, be
reflected in the set design, in the costumes. And
the. The furtiveness is there.

(01:45:05):
Furtiveness that creeps in.

You know.

>> Nathan Agin (01:45:09):
I remember hearing this story of,

I think.

>> Nathan Agin (01:45:12):
I think it was, for the play American
Buffalo. And, the director was working with
the actors and. And it was.
He wanted to kind of give this conspiratorial,
note. And he just mentioned to one of the actors,
can anybody hear you? Out the window. And
it just. It made the actor, like, become aware

(01:45:33):
of what he's saying and how loud he's saying it and
who else might be hearing it out the window, but
just those little things that, like, you know, might inform the rest of
the actor, the characters throughout this play of
who's listening, how big is the castle, how intimate are the
rooms, how close to each room is the other room, and
all those things that you can start to think about of, like, you know, really the world of

(01:45:54):
the play. of.

Yeah.

>> Nathan Agin (01:45:56):
Who's. Who might be around the corner that
I don't know is around the corner. You know, all those things that just continue
to add to the fun of what's going on.
And, the,
you know, It's come up in these workshops before. It's like, how
do you, create this sense,
that at any time an act, a

(01:46:17):
character might stop speaking, but then they keep going, you
know, they. Because they have more time.

Text.

>> Nathan Agin (01:46:21):
So it's like, it's. It's creating that unpredictability,
even in the text that we're all familiar with of.

Of,

>> Nathan Agin (01:46:27):
You know, is an actor. Is a character done speaking? And no,
they have more to say, or now another character enters
and everyone's surprised that that character showed up. You know, all those
things. So I. I think what I'm speaking
to is that, you know, your exploration of the text,
as a group just fires off so many more
ideas that are just fun to explore and

(01:46:48):
think about. So I think it's really, exciting.

And.

>> Nathan Agin (01:46:51):
And yes, we'll have to look for funding for you guys to
be able to do this, in person somewhere. but, no,
I think. I think it was really fun to,
approach a text like this with two. Two actors playing
one. One character. We've kind of done. We've done
shared roles and all that kind of stuff, but never
two actors at the same time were working on the same
text. So, yeah, that was. It was very fun.

(01:47:13):
is there anything in the closing moments here
anyone else would like to share about the experience
or what they're, excited
about looking at this play in the future or anything like that?

I would like to just extend my gratitude to everyone
here for
agreeing to do this craziness, this
madness, as it were. I'm sure
when you heard the idea, you
were all like, is he completely
insane? and hopefully you don't
think that anymore.

(01:47:49):
You know, it's impossible for me to say how grateful I am for you
to try it, to be willing to do it and then to
do it so frigging well. Thank you so much.

>> Nathan Agin (01:47:58):
Well, you're. You're very, on behalf of
the audience, I'm thrilled that you all did
it as well. and I'll say, for my money, this is not as
out there as seeing a production of Hamlet in
space. So, at least this is a little bit more
grounded in the text. and so it
was really enjoyable, just getting a

(01:48:18):
much deeper appreciation of, these characters in this
particular scene. So, yeah, my thanks to everybody as well.

Thank you, Nathan.

>> Nathan Agin (01:48:28):
All right, wonderful. Well, we'll just kind of wrap up the public, ah,
portion of this evening. again, thank you to all of the
artists here. for those, who
are watching, you know, we'll, you know, send you more information
via email if you'd like to stay involved again next month, I'm going
to pull out an archive of one of our
workshops so you can see, what we've done in the past. I think

(01:48:48):
it'll be really fun to revisit that. You can get audio and video
replays of those, those weeks. And then moving
forward, we'll have new live
rehearsals. That's the plan from March,
forward. And, that's it. Thank you so much
for being part of the, working Actors Journey
rehearsal room. We hope you had a great time and look forward
to sharing more with you again soon. All right, take care.

Bye.

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Hamlet (3.4), Final Session: "Voices Within" - Confronting Gertrude | 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;}Hamlet (3.4), Final Session: "Voices Within" - Confronting Gertrude | The Rehearsal Room