HAMLET GUIDE
The Broad Stage presents
Hamlet
17\18 SEASON
THEBROADSTAGE.ORG/EDUCATION
STUDENT MATINEE
FRIDAY APR 6, 2018 11 AM GRADES 9–12
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HAMLET GUIDE
Jane Deknatel Director, Performing Arts Center EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS STAFF Ilaan E. Mazzini, Director of Education & Community Programs Alisa De Los Santos, Education & Community Programs Manager Mandy Matthews, Education & Community Programs Associate Jen Bloom, Curriculum Specialist/Teaching Artist
THE BROAD STAGE 1310 11th Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 Box Office 310.434.3200 Fax 310.434.3439 info@thebroadstage.com thebroadstage.com
Education and Community Programs at The Broad Stage is supported in part by The Herb Alpert Foundation Barbara Herman, in honor of Virginia Blywise The California Arts Council Johnny Carson Foundation City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Leonard M. Lipman Charitable Fund Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Sony Entertainment Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Ziering Family Foundation, a Support Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
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EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Phone 310.434.3560 education@thebroadstage.com thebroadstage.com/education
HAMLET GUIDE
Greetings from The Broad Stage! Dear Educators,
Shakespeare is not easy material for students. I have offered lesson plans that require them (and you!) to speak and physicalize the text. Shakespeare’s plays are meant to be read, seen, heard and spoken multiple times over several years. Upon every exposure to the text, there is more understanding. Every student has used repetition to perfect something—algebra problems, a move on a computer game, a piece of music, an athletic maneuver. It is important they don’t give up. Reminding students about challenges they have overcome might help them feel prepared for the mental wrestling they will need to do. When the epiphany comes, when that a-ha comes, it is worth it! Engage your students on their frustrations with the text. Share your own. If it’s been awhile since you engaged with the text, I encourage you to read the play, or at least watch a good film version. (My personal favorite is Campbell Scott’s) There is no shame in using a resource like No Fear Shakespeare as a place to get started. Bedlam will only be using 4 actors to perform their interpretation of Hamlet. This is an amazing feat, but may be challenging for students who are also wrestling with attending their first play, or first Shakespeare production. Setting and character will change in an instant, and the audience’s imagination will have to fill in the blanks of where the scene is taking place, and which characters the actors are portraying. On top of that, while there are a ton of spectacular events, there are many moments in Hamlet that require following an actor’s psychological progress. The audience will need to listen and be in tune with the actors’ voices, the quality of the ensemble’s listening, and the words in a more intense way to appreciate the story. In an era of soundbites and tweets, the nuances of biting into a giant, complex drama can be intimidating. Please use this Study Guide to prepare your students for the unique challenges and opportunities of engaging with a play. The directing and acting exercises included in this curriculum are intended to be experiential, as is going to the theatre. I have been directing and teaching acting for almost twenty years to students of various ages and abilities; every day I am stunned by how quickly theatre can open hearts and minds. Giving students permission to speak poetry, make art, and discuss a character’s point of view in a more sophisticated way is extremely valuable. I truly hope these exercises empower educators to make space for risk. Please contact me if you have any questions or hesitancies, or any feedback on how these lesson plans might be more clearly stated or aligned with your curricular goals. Don’t hesitate to contact the Education & Community Programs team at The Broad Stage with questions or ideas. Very best, Jen Bloom
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I am thrilled that you are bringing your students to see Bedlam’s production of Hamlet at The Broad Stage. You are opening the door for students to have a life-long relationship with live theatre, and with one of our most treasured playwrights who laid the foundation for so many of the stories and characters we love today. Exposing students to Hamlet and his story can help frame discussions around revenge, the stereotypes of “madness”, the relationship between parents and children, young love, as well as the very nature of performance. We hope wrestling with Hamlet’s ideas, and the words Shakespeare put in his mouth, serves your students as well.
HAMLET GUIDE
Contents
Lessons Lesson 1: Turning Words into Pictures – 5 Lesson 2: Character Collage: Who is Hamlet? – 10 Handout 1: Quotes from Hamlet - 14 Handout 2: Character Collage Worksheet - 15
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Handout 3: Hamlet Act II, Scene I - 21 Handout 4: Two Soliloquies - 22 Lesson 4: Playing Multiple Characters - 23
Additional Resources An Inerview with Director, Eric Tucker - 26 Hamlet Synopsis Grid - 27 Hamlet Synopsis - 28 Character Summary - 29 Glossary - 30 Investigating Soliloquy - 31 Scansion Guide - 33
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Lesson 3: Words, Words, Words! - 16
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson 1: Turning Words into Pictures Lesson at a Glance
Lesson Objective: Using three-frame tableaus and imagined environments, students create stage pictures which show major themes, plot events, character relationships and locations in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Duration: 60 minutes, not including introduction lesson
Standards: CCSS Speaking and Listening, Grades 11-12, 1b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed. CCSS Language, Grades 11-12, 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. VAPA Theatre, Grades 9-12 Advanced: 2.3 Work collaboratively as designer, producer, or actor to meet directorial goals in scenes and plays from a variety of contemporary and classical playwrights. Concepts/Vocabulary: Blocking - onstage movement of an actor, created in collaboration with a director, showing character and story. Composition/Stage Picture - the overall visual effect on stage created by the actors, scenery and lighting, demonstrating key moments on the plot, theme and character. Environment - the location, including the visual and atmospheric world of the play, sometimes called the setting. Depth – objects or characters staged in the foreground, middle ground and background of a stage picture. Diagonal Lines – lines that travel from one corner of a stage picture to opposite corner. Event - a dramatic moment in the plot. Lateral Lines – either horizontal or vertical lines. Levels - objects or characters staged in high, middle and low positions relative to one another. Theme - the central topics or main ideas of a piece of theatre or literature. Collaboration - creating as an ensemble, following direction. Tableau - a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene. Ensemble – a group of artists performing together. Guiding Questions: How does a director and ensemble tell the story of a play using stage pictures without a big set? How does composition/stage picture contribute to plot, theme and character development?
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Materials: A small open space or moveable chairs, desks, benches etc., full text of Hamlet, dictionary
HAMLET GUIDE
Introduction In order to be successful with the activities in the following lessons, students must be familiar with the plot and characters in Hamlet. Have students complete the following using the actual text, No Fear Shakespeare or a movie version. Working in small groups, have students chart one of the following plot lines and relationships by act throughout the play: Hamlet/Ophelia/Polonius Hamlet/Ghost/Claudius/Gertrude Hamlet/Laertes Hamlet/Rosencrantz/Guildenstern Hamlet/Horatio Note: Emphasize that it is not necessary to understand every word in the text. Focus on understanding the plot and themes. Once complete, groups share the plot lines one Act at a time while a class scribe records the events on the board. By the end, the class will have reviewed the major events of Hamlet.
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Discuss a director’s tools of depth, levels, diagonal lines and lateral lines for creating composition that tells a story on film. Have students analyze the use of depth, levels, diagonal lines and lateral lines within their stills. Ask students to discuss their stills with a partner. What do you think is happening? What are the characters feeling? What about the composition gives you a hint?
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Mini Lesson: Visual Storytelling through Composition As a homework or in class assignment, have students find a screen shot of a favorite moment from a television show or film that represents the story without explanation.
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson Plan Mini Lesson: Stage Pictures Step 1: Place students in teams of 5. Each team will have one minute to create the setting you call out (i.e. beach, kindergarten, jungle, etc.) in a space in the room. Encourage other students to participate by analyzing the scene or making adjustments to the composition. Prompt students to use furniture, their bodies and sound effects to make the setting appear. Step 2: Now add a simple events with beginnings, middles and ends (i.e. birth, death, surprise party, stealing money, marriage proposal, car crash, etc.) to each setting. Show each event in three tableaus: beginning, middle and end.
Warm Up: Circle Gesture Game Ask students to stand in a circle and refer to the list of plot points on the board. Have students create a gesture and phrase to describe the plot point of their choice. Moving around the circle, each students says the phrase and performs the gesture with feeling appropriate to the event, and other students mirror the phrase and gesture back. Stage Pictures in Hamlet Note to educator: To complete the next activity, students will need access to the full text of Hamlet. TASK: Students investigate the text and create tableaus in small groups to better understand the language and composition used in major plot points of Hamlet.
1. Put students in small groups of about 6 and have them elect one director per group. 2. U sing the act-by-act plot list, each group selects a plot point to investigate and stage in three tableaus (beginning, middle, end). Remind students of the etiquette of collaboration: listening to others’ ideas, letting go when your ideas evolve, etc. The whole group will collaborate but ultimately the director will decide what to keep. 3. Have each group read their scene together, highlight a short section that captures the heart of the event (see Page 9 for an example – Act III, Scene I), look up any unfamiliar words, and discuss characters’ feelings line by line in the section they have chosen (i.e. What might Ophelia’s “Rich gifts wax poor…” line mean?) 4. S tudents will ask questions of the text to better understand the underlying theme within the plot. Students may also want to refer to the plot on the board to review character’s backstories up to this point. Example Questions for Act III, Scene 1: Should her father have made her do this? Why or why not? How do you think Ophelia feels when Hamlet pretends he does not know about them? Does this contribute to her death? Do you think Hamlet feels badly for lying here? Is he in control or out of control?
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Staging Events to Show Plot and Themes in Hamlet
HAMLET GUIDE
5. Give students 10 minutes to create the scene in three tableaus, using the questions and answers from above to inform their choices. Note: Encourage actors to show physical actions and feelings through facial expression and body language. 6. Have the groups share their tableaus. Ask the audience: What does the composition tell us about the characters’ feelings and relationships? What are the relationships you see developing and changing? How do the actors show what character they are playing? What is the environment? What themes do you see? ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • Students use their bodies, space and a simple set to convey plot. • Groups collaborate effectively. • Tableau progression demonstrates student understanding of basic plot structure. • Students’ textual analysis is reflected in the composition of their tableaus. • As audience members, students identify elements of composition and connect those elements to characters’ relationships and feelings.
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Student Reflection What was difficult about using tableau to represent an event? Was there one element of composition that you found particularly effective for communicating characters’ relationship or feelings? How was it useful? How did it feel to collaborate with a director as an ensemble?
Take it Further! If tableau is a particularly effective tool for your students, you may take the time to challenge students to tell the entire story of Hamlet in a 5 minute “slideshow” of tableaus. The challenge here is to make each character’s inner change over time evident throughout the course of the play.
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PURPOSE: To learn how to effectively use tableaus to better understand plot, themes and how a director creates a stage picture.
HAMLET GUIDE
Example: Act III, Scene 1- Event- return of letters OPHELIA My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them. HAMLET No, not I; I never gave you aught. OPHELIA My honour’d lord, you know right well you did; And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord. HAMLET Ha, ha! Are you honest?
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OPHELIA My lord? HAMLET Are you fair? OPHELIA What means your lordship? HAMLET That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty OPHELIA Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? HAMLET Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. OPHELIA Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. HAMLET You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not. OPHELIA I was the more deceived.
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HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson 2: Character Collage: Who is Hamlet? Lesson at a Glance Lesson Objective: Introduce students to the themes of the play, and major facets of the character, Hamlet. Students will use their bodies, voices, gestures, quotes from the play and original writing to present “character collages” of Hamlet. Duration: 60 minutes
Standards: CCSS Reading for Literature Grades 9-10: 3.0 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. CCSS Reading for Literature, Grades 11-12, 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) CCSS Writing, Grades 11-12, 3d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. VAPA Theatre, Grades Nine-Twelve Advanced: 2.1 Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, create characters from classical, contemporary, realistic, and nonrealistic dramatic texts. Concepts/Vocabulary: Character – person or other being a narrative work. Gesture - a physical movement that communicates feeling or images. Myth/Legend - a non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical. Playwright – a person who writes a script and constructs a main idea of a play for the stage. Source material - original, authoritative or basic materials utilized in research, such as diaries or manuscripts. Guiding Questions: Why do playwrights re-create characters that audiences have seen multiple times before? Why are audiences drawn to characters driven by mental illness and/or revenge? What makes a character “more human” than a stereotype? Is Hamlet sane, insane or both?
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Materials: Handout 1: Quotes from Hamlet, Handout 2: Character Collage, paper, pens, index cards
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson Plan
Warm Up: Circle Gesture Game Ask students to stand in a circle. One student says “When I think of Hamlet, I think of _____” and says the word or phrase (madness, skulls, Ophelia, swordfights, etc.) with feeling and adds a related gesture. Moving around the circle, each student says a different phrase and performs the gesture with feeling appropriate to the phrase, and other students mirror the phrase and gesture back. Mini Lesson: Silent Mini Scenes In the spirit of the play-within-a-play, have the students show tableau versions of the moments below by drawing scenes from a hat.
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Joyful Moments Hamlet reunites with his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. (II, ii) Hamlet, who is a theatre fan, meets up with the acting troupe. (II, ii) Hamlet eavesdrops on the Gravedigger. (V,i) Heart-Wrenching Moments Hamlet watches his mother happy with her new husband. (I, i) Hamlet returns Ophelia’s letters, even though he still loves her. (III,i) Hamlet restrains himself from killing Claudius while he is praying. (III, iii) Frightening Moments Hamlet sees his father’s ghost, and learning King Hamlet was murdered. (I, iv and I, v) Hamlet accidentally stabs Polonius. (III, iv) Hamlet realizes he is going to die. (V, ii) Moments of Insight Hamlet watches Claudius at the play within a play, and realizing his father’s Ghost was telling the truth. (III, ii) Hamlet wrestles with the fine line between playing “madness”, and falling into it. (III, i) Hamlet learns of Ophelia’s death, and realizes he is partly to blame. (V, i)
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Students find the scene in the text and work to stage the tableaus, keeping in mind the following questions: Why do we respond to complex characters? How are humans complex?
HAMLET GUIDE
Hamlet is haunted by a Ghost, and driven by revenge to commit an act of violence in order to restore a country’s rightful leadership. Despite this irrepressible drive, Hamlet is presented as a complex, conflicted character full of passion and intellect. He experiences quiet moments of deep insight, deep anger, and searing grief. But Hamlet also has moments of simple joy and palpable fear. These complexities are what make him human. TASK: Students discuss, research and write about Hamlet in order to better understand the complexity of the character. Examine Shakespeare’s Words Distribute different quotes said by Hamlet or about Hamlet on Handout 1. Students read the quotes out loud to a partner, and the listener will repeat words they heard that describe Hamlet. Ask students to choose the one word they heard that most defines Hamlet to them. (Ideally, partners will have chosen two different words.) Partners explain their choices to one another and collaborate to create a gesture that encompasses both descriptors.
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Discuss similarities and differences in classic and contemporary characters motivated by revenge. Shakespeare did not invent the trope of the prince motivated by revenge. Why do you think revenge-based characters were popular before Shakespeare developed Hamlet? Who are other contemporary characters driven by revenge? Why is this kind of character still popular?
Research and Analysis Research and discuss the different sources that Shakespeare used to create his Hamlet. Ask students to research characters that pre-dated Hamlet but were also driven by revenge. Write a short analysis exploring how a playwright can be inspired by myth, legend, popular character types and modern issues to create a larger than life character who embodies audience’s millennia-long fascination with revenge.
Part 1: Character Collage Distribute Handout 2: Character Collage. Select a small group of students to demonstrate a character collage before students work independently. Have students pick a direct quote from Handout 1 or a descriptor of Hamlet from the earlier exercise to complete the prompt sentences in Handout 2: Character Collage. Note: Each student should pick a different facet of Hamlet to highlight.
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Bring the class back together and lead a short discussion about Hamlet’s nature. Is it realistic for one person to be this complicated or is it only possible because he is fictional? What is the one motivation to which Hamlet continually returns?
HAMLET GUIDE
In an open space in the classroom, have one student stand and speak their sentence or quote from the text, and then freeze in a representative gesture. Then, one by one, have each student join the original student in the space with a statement and frozen gesture until each student has contributed. Note: if possible, each student should physically connected the group to result in a 3D character portrait. Next, all students will complete the same process in small groups of 5-7 in five minutes. At the end of five minutes, each group presents their collage to the group. Demonstration of Learning & Assessment Collages portray Hamlet as a complex, human character who has both drive and conflict. Students in each group speak contrasting statements, perform clear gestures that depict feelings, and have focused eyes.
Writing Prompt: Hamlet was a Prince who suspects his uncle killed his father in order to steal the throne, and steal his father’s wife, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Hamlet only suspects, because he was told by a supernatural entity claiming to be his dead father. Hamlet is not sure it is the truth. Using a mix of modern day language and Shakespeare’s strong vocabulary, put Hamlet in a confrontational scene with his a. uncle, b. his mother, or c. The supposed Ghost of his dead father. NOTE: The other character can be silent if students prefer to craft a monolgue. Students read and perform their scenes, using the physical gesture ideas explored in the character collage. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • Students demonstrate their own interpretation of Hamlet through statement and gesture. • Students remember or examine specific moments in the text. • Students try writing speeches a character might say in a given circumstance. • Students understand how a playwright can shape a character. PURPOSE: To better understand the complexities of Hamlet and how a playwright shapes a character on the page. Student Reflection What was easy and challenging about creating a scene or monologue to perform as Hamlet? Why are we as a society still fascinated by a revenge-based character driven to madness?
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Part 2: Creating Text for a Complex Character Students will write a 60 second scene or monologue using what they observed in the classes’ character collages and the quotes in Handout 1. The scene must highlight 3-4 different qualities of Hamlet. Students may work alone or in pairs.
HAMLET GUIDE
“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.”
“Conscience doth make cowards of us all.”
— Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
“Am I, then, reveng’d, To take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and season’d for his passage? No. Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent…”
— Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene iv
“the dread of something after death, The undiscover’d country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?”
“I must be cruel only to be kind: Thus bad begins and worse remains behind –“
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene i
“I will speak daggers to her, but use none; My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites…”
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene i
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene iv
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene ii
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” — Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii (Polonius about Hamlet)
“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.” “I will be brief: - your noble son is mad: Mad I call it; for to define true madness, What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?”
— Hamlet: Act III, Scene i
— Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii (Polonius about Hamlet)
“I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.” — Hamlet: Act V, Scene i
“Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak Like a John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing; no, not for a king Upon whose property and most dear life A damn’d defeat was made. Am I a coward?”
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” — Hamlet: Act I, Scene v
—Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii “Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angles sing thee to thy rest.”
“One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”
— Hamlet: Act V, Scene ii (Horatio about Hamlet)
— Hamlet: Act I, Scene v
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Handout 1: Quotes from Hamlet
HAMLET GUIDE
Handout 2: Character Collage Students complete the following sentences. They start in neutral. One by one, they speak their sentence, or their chosen quote from the text, with an accompanying gesture that moves the whole group into a human “collage”.
I feel
.
I like
.
I love
.
I dislike
.
I despise
.
Queen Gertrude makes me feel
.
The dead King Hamlet makes me feel
.
Claudius makes me feel
.
I feel
about Ophelia.
I believe
.
I hope that I can
.
When this is over I’d like to
.
I am Hamlet. (Said together.)
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I am Hamlet. (Said together.)
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson 3: “Words, Words, Words!” Lesson at a Glance Lesson Objective: Students will read and analyze monologues from Hamlet by using simple gestures and experimenting with vocal variety to demonstrate character’s emotional, intellectual and philosophical progression over the course of a play. Duration: 50 mins
Standards: CCSS Reading for Literature, Grades 9-10, 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. CCSS Language, Grades 11-12, 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. VAPA Theatre, Grades Nine-Twelve Advanced: 2.1 Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, to create characters from classical, contemporary, realistic, and nonrealistic dramatic texts. Concepts/Vocabulary: Vocal variety - using word inflection, breath and pitch to find music and feeling in language. Theme - central topics or main ideas of a piece of theatre or literature. Rehearsal - the time when an actor practices ways of saying, moving and feeling words before performing them in front of an audience. Monologue - a long speech by one actor in a play or movie, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program. Operative words - key words that help denote plot, character and thought progression. Guiding Questions: What does a playwright consider when s/he puts his/her own words in a character’s mouth? How do word choices, emotion and rhythm help communicate the inner struggle of a character? How does a playwright build a speech towards a point or realization/epiphany? How does an actor create a complex, changing character using only voice and gestures?
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Materials: Handout 3: Hamlet Act II, Scene I (excerpt), Handout 4: Two Soliloquies, pen and paper
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson Plan Note from Teaching Artist, Jen Bloom Words, Words, Words! Hamlet speaks more than any other Shakespeare character in the canon, and has major epiphanies while speaking. He talks at length to himself, and to other characters. This means the actor and director will need to focus on the sound and feeling of the actor’s voice and movement of the body to demonstrate Hamlet’s internal struggle and conclusions. The audience will need to be in tune with the actor’s voice and words to appreciate the psychological story. The sheer number of words can be difficult for a young audience. This lesson attempts to attune students to the actor’s process of creating a character, and will prepare them to listen in a more engaged way.
Understanding a Character’s Thoughts using Words and Voice Read Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” with the full class and/or Ophelia’s “O, what a noble mind is o’erthrown…”, which follows Hamlet’s soliloquy. 1. Ask for a student volunteer to read for the class. Instruct the student to read straight through to the next line when there is no punctuation, and to pause if there is punctuation. Also, instruct the student to emphasize the operative words: nouns, verbs, and adjectives. There are typically 3-4 per line. (Underlined in first two lines) “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life.”
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Homework Assignment Have students read Act II, Scene 1 for comprehension. Encourage students to research a scene synopsis for help and to look up any words they are unfamiliar with. This scene offers insight into both Hamlet and Ophelia’s state of mind before approaching Hamlet’s, “To be or not to be” or Ophelia’s soliloquies in Act III, Scene 1.
HAMLET GUIDE
Discussion The class brainstorms themes, plot points or people from the play that brought Hamlet to this moment in Act III, Scene 1 and scribes records them on the board. Ask: Who has had an epiphany while talking to themselves? Warm-Ups Body Have your students stand up next to their desks. Do 25 jumping jacks together while counting them aloud. Afterwards, place one hand on your belly and one on your heart, and take three deep breaths. Count to 4 on the inhale, hold for 2, count to 4 on the exhale, hold for 2. Voice: I can place my voice anywhere I’d like. Have students stand in a neutral position with their feet shoulder-width apart and repeat after you. Put your hand on the top of your head and say “I can” in a higher pitched voice. Feel vibrations in your palm.
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Put your hand on your heart and say “my voice” in a lower pitched voice. Feel vibrations in your palm. Put your hand on your belly and say “anywhere I’d like” in a deep voice. Feel vibrations in your palm. Words Round 1 Have the class stand in a circle. Ask students to say a word and create a gesture to coincide with that word. Review the definition of gesture as a class: a physical movement that communicates a feeling or portrays an image. Example: One student says “lightning bolt!” in a deep, powerful way, and points their finger to the ground. The next says “kitty cat” in a purring voice and cleans their face with their hand. Next, everyone should repeat the word and gesture in an exaggerated manner. Repeat this process until every student in the circle has contributed. Round 2 Use the same steps, now choosing words or phrases from the brainstormed list from the board. Example: One student says “Fear” in a small voice, and holds his arms with eyes darting. Everyone mirrors and repeats the word with feeling. The next says “Boredom” and brings her fingers to her temples.
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Put your fingers on the front of your throat and say “place” in a medium pitched voice. Feel vibrations in your fingers.
HAMLET GUIDE
Round 3 Now, ask students to use adjectives that can describe the human voice. Technical: high, low, loud, soft Emotional: happy, sad, irritated Characteristics: snobby, wise, enthusiastic, open-minded Using the phrase “I know that”, students practice different feelings in their voice as prompted by their chosen adjective. Back to the “Words, words, words!” TASK: Students will read one or two soliloquies with meaning and movement in order to better understand the character’s operative.
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Lesson Progression Divide students into small groups of five and ask each students to re-read the soliloquy of their choice out loud in their groups. Direct students to look up any words they do not understand. A Note on Resistance: Some students might have resistance to the sheer difficulty of the text. Talk about this. Like any difficult athletic maneuver, piece of music, or algebraic equation, Shakespeare’s words require multiple repetitive attempts to grasp meaning. Don’t give up! As the group analyzes the text, ask them to discuss possible meanings of each phrase one line at time. Does Hamlet or Ophelia have any epiphanies? What are his/her questions? What is his/her inner struggle? Students should underline the operative words and circle fun words to say. Words may have more feeling when spoken, and phrases might have a lower or higher pitch depending on the characters’ inner questions. Ask students to also choose one or two small gestures to demonstrate what Hamlet or Ophelia is talking about.
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Have two volunteers read the soliloquy again. Prompt them to look for contrasting or repeated nouns or ideas, which they can emphasize as they read. Ask: How might an actor use vocal variety to change his/her voice over the course of the play to reflect the changes a character undergoes? What does a person with inner conflict sound like? What does an epiphany sound like?
HAMLET GUIDE
One at a time, students rehearse ways of reading the soliloquies out loud that demonstrate vocal variety. In between readers, groups discuss any meanings or insights that have become clearer. Demonstration of learning Student volunteers can read in front of the class, using a music stand if possible so their hands are free for gestures. Classmates identify the volunteer’s vocal variety and gestures.
Post Play Discussion Discuss the performance of the actor playing Hamlet. How did he communicate the character wrestling with his inner conflict over time using his voice, gestures, and energy?
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PURPOSE: Students are able to discuss and demonstrate how a playwright uses a monologue to facilitate a character’s major realization.
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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • Students use vocal variety, breath and gesture while reading. • Students slow down and take their time with interesting words. • Students use physicality or gestures to demonstrate feeling and characters’ epiphanies.
HAMLET GUIDE
Handout 3: Hamlet Act II, Scene I (excerpt) LORD POLONIUS Enter OPHELIA How now, Ophelia! what’s the matter? OPHELIA O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
OPHELIA My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul’d, Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
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LORD POLONIUS With what, i’ the name of God?
LORD POLONIUS Mad for thy love? OPHELIA My lord, I do not know; But truly, I do fear it. LORD POLONIUS What said he? OPHELIA He took me by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all his arm; And, with his other hand thus o’er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stay’d he so; At last, a little shaking of mine arm And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He raised a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being: thatz done, he lets me go: And, with his head over his shoulder turn’d, He seem’d to find his way without his eyes; For out o’ doors he went without their helps, And, to the last, bended their light on me. THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
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HAMLET GUIDE
Handout 4: Two Soliloquies HAMLET “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
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Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life.” OPHELIA O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck’d the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch’d form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
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When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson 4: Playing Multiple Characters Lesson at a Glance Lesson Objective: Students discuss, brainstorm and demonstrate the different ways the same actor can play multiple parts using improvisation. Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Access to the internet. Student hats, coats, scarves, layers, simple objects from their desks or backpacks to create characters.
Concepts/Vocabulary: Characterization - a tool to show point-of-view, plot and personality. Doubling – occurs when one actor plays multiple roles in the same production. Physicality – the physical being of a character; the manner in which an actor moves to portray a character. Vocal Placement – visual technique used to teach about vocal register and resonance. Guiding Questions: How does an actor use her/his voice, body and energy to play different characters in the same play, sometimes without leaving the stage? How does personality manifest itself in a character? Note: Bedlam will only be using 4 actors to perform their interpretation of Hamlet. This is an amazing feat, but may be challenging for students who are also wrestling with attending their first play, or first production of Shakespeare.
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Standards: VAPA Theatre, Grades Nine-Twelve Advanced: 2.1 Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, create characters from classical, contemporary, realistic, and nonrealistic dramatic texts.
HAMLET GUIDE
Lesson Plan
Introduction Watch these clips of actors, Kate McKinnon and Robin Williams perform a variety of different characters. Kate McKinnon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ-cmwlIHL4 (My Top 10: Kate McKinnon SNL Characters/Impressions) Robin Williams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1lNVJfNyIE (10 Best Robin Williams Movie Roles) NOTE: some strong language.
Movement Warm up Create a space inside or outside for students to walk around the room. Ask students to first walk around naturally, but then to explore movement based on a concept or idea that you call out. The main concepts are to move with heaviness, lightness, fast, slow, bound, unbound, direct or indirect. Below are some examples. Let your elbow initiate your movement around the space. Travel around the room using a locomotor movement (hop, slide, skip, crawl, etc.) Travel around the room in a straight pathway. Now travel in a curved pathway. Walk around the room with a steady beat. Now walk with an uneven or syncopated beat. Move lightly around the room as if you are walking on the clouds. Move around the room as if you were running late for school. As students explore, prompt them to examine what feelings come up for them in each movement and what type of character might move in each manner (i.e. walking in a straight line might make them feel confident, while walking a curved pattern might make them feel lost or indecisive).
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Based on what students observed in the videos, list all the ways an actor might change herself/ himself in order to communicate different characters. Make a list on the board. (Voice, Body, Intensity, Personality and all the ways personality manifests: manner, energy, speed, eye contact, etc.)
HAMLET GUIDE
Perform Multiple Characters TASK: Students will use physicality and vocal placement to portray different well-known characters. In small groups of 3 or 4, have students select a common story with multiple characters, such as a fairy tale, to tell in a movie trailer format. Challenge students to utilize the gesture, beginning/middle/end, and vocal and operative word techniques they learned in previous lessons. Give students 10 minutes to create their movie trailer fairy tale, making sure that each student portrays at least two different characters. Students can use anything they have with them (hats, coats, scarves, layers, simple objects from their desks) to help them differentiate between characters. At the end of their working time, groups will share the trailers, and audience members will give feedback on the ways in which actors changed character successfully.
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PURPOSE: To prepare students for Bedlam’s doubling of actors in Hamlet by understanding how an actor creates multiple characters. Student Reflection How did it feel to play two or more characters in one scene? What was the most challenging part about differentiating between the characters? Why? Why do you think a director would opt for having one actor double two characters? Could this potentially add anything to the production?
Post Play Discussion How did the four actors of Bedlam create the more than thirty characters in Hamlet? Did you see differences in vocal placement and physicality as actors changed between characters? Was the doubling clear or was it confusing? What, if anything, would you have done differently in the production?
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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • Students work effectively in a group to tell a story in movie trailer form. • Students use vocal placement, energy and physicality to play multiple characters. • There is a clear difference between characters played by the same student.
HAMLET GUIDE
An Interview with Director, Eric Tucker 1.
What do you remember about learning Shakespeare when you were a teenager? When did you fall in love with his plays? I don’t remember much about reading Shakespeare in school. I do remember watching films, like Zeferelli’s Romeo and Juliet and a couple versions of Hamlet. But I really fell in love with the plays in college when I started acting in them. Speaking that text is intoxicating.
2. What drew you to tell the story of Hamlet right now, in 2018? How will your production be unique to you and your
company? I think Hamlet is always timely and always worth telling. It’s about a person’s search for truth, both inside himself and in the world. I think that’s certainly topical today given our current political climate. It’s about the people who lead us. Bedlam strives to boil productions down to the text and use only what is necessary to tell a story. This production of Hamlet focuses on the text, the actors and the relationship with the audience. 3. How has your relationship to Hamlet’s story changed over your career?
When you play Hamlet you have to bring all of yourself to the role. Anyone can play Hamlet because we all have that role within us. So you access it with all you have at the time you’re playing it. I’ve had the good fortune of playing it at three different times in my life when very different things were happening for me and because I’m always changing and going through different things, my relationship to Hamlet can’t help but change. My Hamlet has deepened and matured over the years and I was much more grounded and assured in the role the last time I played it.
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I think it forces the audience to listen to the play more carefully. You have to sit forward and lean in a bit more. As an audience member you have to stay focused or you’re liable to miss something when so few people are playing so many roles. I think the play becomes that much more about the actors and their relationship to text as they must find the changes in character right in the text. 5. Do you have a favorite quote, passage or character? What, who, and why?
There are so many that it’s tough to choose just one and different lines resonate more deeply the different times I’ve played it, but the last time I found a very deep place with these lines of Hamlet’s: What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? I think it’s because I referred to the audience while saying them and there was a connection between myself and each person I spoke that to. I could feel the beauty of Shakespeare’s words and the depth of something so true and I the audience was feeling that as well. We were all galvanized by his genius. 6. How do you accomplish the difficult task of directing yourself?
In most plays I’ve found a rhythm in directing myself and I usually have an assistant director who takes my place on stage at certain moments so that I can watch the composition of a scene, but in Hamlet it’s difficult. The role is so incredibly huge and demands so much and I think an actor playing the role really needs a strong outside eye. But I’ve found that every note I give the other actors I can take myself and that really helps. Bio: Wall Street Journal DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR 2014. Off Broadway: Vanity Fair (The Pearl); Bedlam’s Sense and Sensibility (Off Broadway Alliance Award, Lortel nom., Best Director, Drama League nom., Best Revival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Drama League nom. Best Revival, WSJ Best Classical Production 2015; NY Times Critics’ Pick), Bedlam’s Saint Joan (NY Times/Time Magazine Top 10; Off Broadway Alliance Best Revival 2014), Bedlam’s Hamlet (NY Times Top 10; Time Out NY/ Backstage Critics’ Pick), Tina Packer’s Women of Will. For Bedlam: Hamlet/Saint Joan: McCarter Theatre; Central Sq. Theater (Elliott Norton: Outstanding Visiting Production/Outstanding Ensemble, Boston Globe Top Ten); Dead Dog Park, New York Animals (World Premiere by Steven Sater/Burt Bacharach), Twelfth Night and What You Will (NY Times Critics’ Picks), The Seagull (WSJ Best Classical Production 2014), Sense & Sensibility (NY Times Top 10, NY Times/WSJ/Time Out Critics’ Picks). Other: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Two River), Disney’s Beauty & The Beast (OSF); Pericles (APT); Sense and Sensibility (The Folger Theater, 8 Helen Hayes nominations including Best Director and Best Production), Copenhagen (Central Square Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (HVSF), Mate (The Actors’ Gang). Eric received his M.F.A. from the Trinity Rep Conservatory. He resides in New York City where he is Artistic Director of Bedlam. THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
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4. What does telling a story with a handful of actors playing multiple parts bring to the text?
HAMLET GUIDE
Hamlet Synopsis Grid
I, 1
Horatio and Guards encounter the Ghost. Horatio sets out to tell Hamlet of Ghost.
I, 2
Claudius delivers a speech about missing his brother and his marriage to Gertrude. Hamlet is still in mourning. Hamlet’s invited to be part of the watch and looking out for the Ghost.
I, 3
Polonius questions Hamlet’s love for Ophelia as Laertes leaves France. He also forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet.
I, 4
Hamlet goes with Horatio on his night watch and Hamlet sees his father’s Ghost for the first time.
I, 5
Hamlet speaks to Ghost and is told to avenge his father. Hamlet swears his friends to secrecy.
II, 1
Polonius orders his servant to spy on Claudius. Ophelia tells Polonius of Hamlet’s weird behavior.
II, 2
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to inquire about Hamlet’s abnormal actions. Polonius confirms his suspicions about Hamlet, and announces the Player’s arrival.
III, 1
Claudius and Polonius watch as Hamlet delivers the “to be or not to be” speech. They come to the conclusion that Hamlet is mad.
III, 2
Hamlet and Horatio get visual confirmation of Claudius’ guilt from watching his reactions to the play.
III, 3
Claudius orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius while he’s praying.
III, 4
Gertrude and Hamlet confront each other about Hamlet’s mental state and Gertrude’s perceived betrayal. Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius.
IV, 1
The King and Queen discuss what to do about Hamlet- in his madness- killing Polonius. They send for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
IV, 2
Hamlet taunts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as he is confronted about Polonius’ death
IV, 3
After Polonius is murdered, Claudius’ company search for his body. Hamlet is then sent to England where Claudius has arranged his death.
IV, 4
Hamlet speaks to Fortinbras’ captain on his way to England. Hamlet contemplates war and peace, and resolves to commit to bloody thoughts.
IV, 5
The king and Queen are exposed to the depth of Ophelia’s insanity as a result of her father Polonius’ brutal death.
IV, 6
Horatio gets a letter: Hamlets has escaped, and is back.
IV, 7
Claudius and Laertes plot Hamlet’s demise. Gertrude reports that Ophelia has committed suicide
V, 1
Hamlet contemplates death. Hamlet disrupts Ophelia’s funeral while insulting Laertes in the process.
V, 2
Hamlet and Laertes duel while Gertrude drinks poison. Hamlet murders Claudius; everyone dies; Fortinbras becomes the King. Hamlet is honored after death.
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(and Hamlet might not be sure himself)
HAMLET GUIDE
Hamlet Synopsis Guarding the castle at Elsinore, Marcellus and Bernardo tell Horatio that they have seen the ghost of the dead King Hamlet. The ghost reappears, and they decide they must tell the dead King’s son, Hamlet, about it. Hamlet is present at a reception being given by his uncle Claudius, who has just married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Claudius is sending ambassadors to Norway to stop a planned invasion by young Fortinbras. He gives Polonius’ son Laertes permission to return to France. Hamlet reflects on the hasty marriage, and learns of the ghost’s visit. That night he meets the ghost, who reveals that King Hamlet was murdered by Claudius, and Hamlet willingly agrees to be the means of revenge. He warns Horatio and the others not to speak of what has happened, even if he should behave strangely.
Meanwhile, travelling players have arrived, and Hamlet asks them to perform The Murder of Gonzago before the King, so that he and Horatio can judge Claudius’ guilt by his reaction. When one of the players enacts the poisoning of a king, Claudius leaves in high emotion. Gertrude asks to see Hamlet, and Polonius decides to hide in the room to hear what is said. Hamlet arrives in his mother’s room, and kills the person he discovers in hiding, thinking it to be Claudius but finding it to be Polonius. He argues fiercely with Gertrude. The ghost appears, restraining Hamlet’s anger towards his mother, and reminding him of the need for revenge. Claudius instructs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take Hamlet immediately to England. Ophelia descends into madness. Laertes returns, blaming Claudius for his father’s death, and is incensed to see Ophelia in this state. Claudius persuades him that Hamlet is to blame. When Claudius receives a letter from Hamlet reporting his return to Denmark, he plots with Laertes to kill him. They arrange a duel in which Laertes’ sword will be unblunted and poisoned. Claudius will also poison a drink, which he will offer Hamlet. Gertrude arrives with the news that Ophelia has drowned. Hamlet meets Horatio on returning to Elsinore. On the way, they see two men digging a grave, and Hamlet talks to the first, reflecting on the skulls he finds. They discover that the grave is for Ophelia. Hamlet reveals himself to the funeral party, grappling with Laertes and proclaiming his love for Ophelia. Later, Hamlet tells Horatio how the trip to England was a subterfuge for his death, arranged by Claudius, and how he managed to escape. Osric enters with news of the proposed fencing match, and Hamlet accepts the challenge. With Hamlet in the lead, Gertrude toasts him, and drinks from the poisoned cup. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned rapier, and is then wounded with it by Hamlet. Before he dies, Laertes blames Claudius, and Hamlet kills the King. Hamlet, close to death, passes the Danish succession to Fortinbras, and instructs Horatio to tell his story. Synopsis adapted from Shakespeare’s Words by David Crystal & Ben Crystal, Penguin, 2002. www.shakespeareswords.com
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Polonius bids farewell to Laertes and warns his daughter Ophelia against Hamlet’s courtship. Later, she tells Polonius of a strange visitation by Hamlet, and Polonius reports to the King and Queen that rejected love is the cause of Hamlet’s supposed madness. Hamlet’s fellow students Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, invited by the King to find out what is wrong. Polonius arranges for Ophelia to meet Hamlet where he and Claudius can observe them. Hamlet and Ophelia argue, and Hamlet, having become suspicious about being observed, tells her she should go to a nunnery. Claudius is convinced that love is not the cause of Hamlet’s behaviour, and decides to send him abroad.
HAMLET GUIDE
Character Summary Hamlet - The Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist. About thirty years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts. Claudius - The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere. Gertrude - The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth. Polonius - The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia.
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Ophelia - Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death, she remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river amid the flower garlands she had gathered. Laertes - Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet. Fortinbras - The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet. The Ghost - The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain whether the ghost is what it appears to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior. Osric - The foolish courtier who summons Hamlet to his duel with Laertes. Voltimand and Cornelius - Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking. Marcellus and Bernardo - The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost. Francisco - A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. Reynaldo - Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes.
Character summary adapted from SparkNotes.
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Horatio - Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet’s death, Horatio remains alive to tell Hamlet’s story.
HAMLET GUIDE
Glossary Blocking - onstage movement of an actor, created in collaboration with a director, showing character and story. Character – person or other being a narrative work. Characterization - a tool to show point-of-view, plot, and personality. Collaboration - creating as an ensemble, following direction. Composition/Stage Picture - the overall visual effect on stage created by the actors, scenery and lighting, demonstrating key moments on the plot, theme, and character. Depth – objects or characters staged in the foreground, middle ground and background of a stage picture. Diagonal Lines – lines that travel from one corner of a stage picture to opposite corner. Doubling – occurs when one actor plays multiple roles in the same production. Ensemble – a group of artists performing together.
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Event - a dramatic moment in the plot. Gesture - a physical movement that communicates feeling or images. Lateral Lines – either horizontal or vertical lines. Levels - objects or characters staged in high, middle and low positions relative to one another. Monologue - a long speech by one actor in a play or movie, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program. Myth/Legend - a non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical. Operative words - key words that help denote plot, character and thought progression. Physicality – the physical being of a character; the manner in which an actor moves to portray a character. Playwright – a person who writes a script and constructs a main idea of a play for the stage. Rehearsal - the time when an actor practices ways of saying, moving and feeling words before performing them in front of an audience. Source material - original, authoritative or basic materials utilized in research, such as diaries or manuscripts. Tableau - a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene. Theme - central topics or main ideas of a piece of theatre or literature. Vocal placement – visual technique used to teach about vocal register and resonance. Vocal variety - using word inflection, breath and pitch to find music and feeling in language.
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Environment - the location, including the visual and atmospheric world of the play, sometimes called the setting.
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Investigating Soliloquy A soliloquy is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “an instance of talking to or conversing with oneself, or of uttering one’s thoughts aloud without addressing any person.“ It is derived from the Latin solus, ‘alone’, and loqui, ‘to speak’. In the theatre, soliloquy is a malleable term. It is generally explained as a character speaking either to themselves, to another character onstage (and unaware of the speaker’s presence), or to an apostrophe. In literature, an apostrophe is a figure of speech by which a speaker addresses things, abstract concepts or people who are absent.
Whether internally or externally spoken, in Shakespeare a soliloquy is predominately used to demonstrate internal stories, centered on problem solving. They are very much plot points which are happening inside of the characters. This frequently begins with an implication or outright statement of a problem, such as to be, or not to be: that is the question. The character then explores the problem systematically, exemplified in Hamlet’s realization of the fearful unknowns inherent in death: To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life… Sometimes the character reaches a conclusion, such as Iago’s epiphany regarding the destruction of Othello in Act One Scene Three: …How, how? Let’s see:-After some time, to abuse Othello’s ear That he is too familiar with his wife… I have’t. It is engender’d. Hell and night Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light. Sometimes the speaker’s conclusion is doubtful, or seems a stalemate. Sometimes the character is interrupted by another character, as Gloucester is by Clarence in the famous opening of Richard III: This day should Clarence closely be mew’d up, About a prophecy, which says that ‘G’ Of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes.
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Sometimes it is clear that a soliloquy is spoken aloud within the world of the play, for example when it is overheard by another character. When the definite overhearing or interaction of another character is absent, soliloquy has been frequently conceptualized as the dramatization of an internal process: the device makes the inner world of the character accessible. When overhearing is absent, we may imagine that the audience is privy to the inner monologue of the character, and the soliloquy itself is an abstraction. This can extend to soliloquies where a character or apostrophe is not identified. These often seem to be direct addresses to the audience, and are particularly frequent in villains: see, for example, many of the soliloquies of Iago in Othello.
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Sometimes we cannot be sure whether a character’s deliberations would have continued, had they remained alone (or seemingly alone) with their thoughts. Let us consider Juliet’s lines, in Act Two Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet: JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ROMEO [Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.
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JULIET
ROMEO I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo. JULIET What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night So stumblest on my counsel? First, we note that Juliet is definitely speaking aloud: she is overheard by Romeo. Juliet’s lines, which (though interrupted by an aside) are given without awareness of Romeo’s presence, meet the criteria for soliloquy. She is (she thinks) alone, on her balcony, speaking to a person who she believes is not present. She states the problem (the blood feud between Capulet and Montague, which forbids her love of Romeo) in the line tis but thy name that is my enemy, and attempts a solution by justifying the abandonment of family names in favor of a romantic relationship. She concludes that for the sacrifice of his name, which is not actually any part of him, Romeo will gain Juliet. At this moment, he announces himself to her, agreeing to the terms he has overheard. We may make observations which apply to most soliloquies, but in practical application we discover that soliloquy is a varied and complex storytelling form, rather than a singular device repeated again and again in different settings. Perhaps the easiest way to determine whether or not a given speech is actually a soliloquy is to look for the element of solitude (whether real or perceived), and then pay attention to the story in the speech. If the story is progressing within the character, if a problem is being examined or solved, if some resolution is required on the part of the speaker before the larger story of the play can proceed, then you are working with a soliloquy.
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Scansion Guide By Jonathan Redding ‘Scansion’ means the work of analyzing the rhythm of metrical poetic verse. ‘Metrical’, in this sense, means only that the verse is composed of units of similar length; the word derives from the Greek metron, which means ‘measure’. Metrical verse has taken many forms throughout the ages, preceding even written language in the oral traditions of the ancient Greeks: their verse was felt, rather than written, and used to manage and give form to very long poems which were performed through a mixture of memorization and improvisation within the rhythm. This was the original dual purpose of rhythmic speech: to give pleasure to the hearer, and to lend form to the speaker. As written language evolved, first in the Greek alphabet and then in the Latinisation which accompanied the Roman empire and gave birth to the romance languages, the concept of rhythmic speech transferred to the written form and became systematized: it was given rules and variations, similar to music, and elaborated into many different types and sub-forms over the centuries. When rhyme is not present but metrical rhythm is, which is often the case in Shakespeare, poetry is called ‘blank verse’. In the plays and poems of Shakespeare, when we say the word verse we are referring to iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter means that the measured rhythm (meter) is made up of five (penta) distinct units, and in the English tradition the word ‘feet’ is used to describe these units. The word ‘iambic’ tells us what kind of unit makes up each line: an iamb is a unit of speech with two syllables, where the first is unstressed and the second is stressed. One famous example of a normal iambic line from Midsummer can be found in Helena’s speech at the end of Act 1 Scene 1:
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Each of these five sections is an iamb: “love LOOKS”, an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. So that, as pure rhythm, a normal line of iambic pentameter is often taught as: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM Another series of iambs begins Hamlet’s most famous speech, with a well-known line we will examine more closely below. To think of a normal iamb, you need only remember: to BE / or NOT / to BE However, returning to our example from Helena above, an actor may also approach this with a different sensibility, and consider that the first two ‘feet’ of the first line may be trochaic instead of iambic. This is one of many variations on the normal meter Shakespeare commonly employed: a trochee means a reversed foot, one where the heavy stress is first and the light stress second. Read this way, with two trochees and three iambs, the line would be emphasized: LOVE looks / NOT with / the EYES / but WITH / the MIND The trochees would pull the attention of the listener to the beginning of this particular line and thought, making it pop out of the rest of the speech. Another famous example of a trochaic line is from the beginning of Richard III: NOW is / the WIN / ter OF / our DIS / con TENT Beginning a play about a usurper with a trochee is a subtle indicator of things to come: from the very first syllable of the play, Richard’s nature is made clear. He jumps the gun. He seizes control from his first breath. To remember a trochee, remember Richard III seizing control: NOW is / the WIN / ter
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love LOOKS / not WITH / the EYES / but WITH / the MIND and THERE / fore IS / wing’d CU / pid PAINT / ed BLIND
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Another common variation Shakespeare used in his verse is the ‘feminine foot’, which is comprised of a first unstressed syllable, a middle syllable which is stressed, and then a third unstressed syllable. “da DUM da.” Often this is used at the end of the line as a ‘feminine ending’, whereby an eleventh syllable is added to the final foot of a line. The most famous example of this technique comes from Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy: to BE / or NOT / to BE / that IS / the QUES tion There is a sense of vagueness that comes in to the ending of the line here, and therefore a sense of vagueness to the thought contained in the line. Feminine endings sometimes indicate that a character is puzzling something out, or thinking quickly on his feet. There are other types of three-syllable variations, including the dactyl: this is when the first of three syllables is stressed followed by two unstressed. Consider this speech by Iago, in Act 3 Scene 3 of Othello: Note if your lady strain his entertainment… MUCH will be / SEEN in that. / IN the / MEAN time Let me be thought too busy in my fears… Iago sometimes uses dactyls when he is landing a blow against the mind of Othello. In the middle line above, the whole meter is irregular: two dactyls followed by two trochees. It breaks the rhythm and ensures that the thought will land with particular importance on Othello’s ear (and ours). Iago uses more dactyls than any other character in Othello. Another three-syllable variation is the anapest, or two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. This can sometimes convey a sense of rushing, a higher momentum leading to the stress. An example from Part II Henry IV, Act 2 Scene 1:
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The anapest here draws the attention of the hearer to the most significant facet of the accomplishment being discussed: that the towns in question were put to rout “in a DAY”, as opposed to a longer time. Yet an actor could scan this meter more strangely still, which gives us an opportunity to examine the last two significant variations on the two-syllable foot in Shakespeare: the spondee, which is two strongly stressed syllables in a row; and the pyrrhic, which is two unstressed syllables in a row. For example, an actor could choose this reading: YOU MADE / in a DAY / my lord / WHOLE TOWNS / to fly This reading has no regular iambs: it is a spondee, followed by an anapest, followed by a pyrrhic, another spondee, and another pyrrhic. It is worth noting that, usually if you find a spondee, or two strong stresses, the same line is likely to contain a pyrrhic of two unstressed syllables to balance it out. What happens when we read the line in this way is that the person accomplishing the heroic act (‘YOU’) is emphasized, along with the act itself (‘MADE’) and the qualifiers which make the act unusual (‘in a DAY’ and ‘WHOLE TOWNS’). In order to make this emphasis stand out, the actor would ‘throw away’ the feet containing the honorific (‘my lord’) and the action of the towns (‘to fly’). These terms: iamb, trochee, feminine foot or feminine ending, dactyl and anapest, spondee and pyrrhic, are the most important scansion terms with which we begin to approach Shakespeare’s poetry. Scansion is not, however, an exact science- it is an art, open to debate and interpretation, and one which rests often on texts and whole languages which have evolved over the years. We do not always know how words were pronounced in Shakespeare’s English, and on top of the different units of scansion there is a world of choice available to performers in terms of truncating words, pushing words together (called eliding), and creating additional effects in lines through the use of caesura (pauses) and elongated vowel sounds. This introduction is meant to be precisely that: a touchstone to open your students to the awareness of this field of study, and its importance to an actor who wishes to interpret plays written in verse. Should you or any student wish to examine scansion more completely, many excellent texts are available, including Shakespeare’s Metrical Art by George T. Wright published through University of California Press; Shakespeare Without Fear by UCLA Chair of the Dept. of Theatre Joseph Olivieri; as well as celebrated American poet Mary Oliver’s Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse.
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you MADE / in a DAY / my LORD / whole TOWNS / to FLY