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Week 1 – Shakespeare and Stoppard (Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern scenes) – The Rehearsal Room

explicit language So don't be surprised!

Published June 11, 2024 | Last Updated June 18, 2024 Leave your thoughts »

As mentioned last week, we’re now posting the FULL weekly sessions of new Rehearsal Room workshops – so let’s kick it off!

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Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

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Total Running Time: 2:01:01

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About the Scene

Our group is working on Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and they will also look at the beginning of Act 2 in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

CREATIVE TEAM

  • DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade
  • DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport
  • And the PLAYERS: Marcelo Tubert, Nick Cagle and Dan Cordova

Scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library here and here for the Hamlet sections.

BOOKS

Dr. Gideon Rappaport has written three books on Shakespeare:

  • William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Edited and Annotated
  • Appreciating Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare’s Rhetorical Figures: An Outline

Thank you to our current patrons Joan, Michele, Christion, Jim, Magdalen, Ivar, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

And there’s more!

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

Click here for the transcript!

Nathan Agin

Well, welcome everybody. Thrilled to see everybody once again. And, and thank you for signing on with this another crazy experiment where we’ll put these out there and, and we’ll see what the reaction is. But I, I really believe strongly that all of the great work that’s been happening in these sessions over the years deserves a larger audience. And I, and I hope that not only people that just enjoy these plays can get something out of these sessions in terms of understanding them deeper or, or a deeper appreciation. But people who wanna work on this material, whether they’re aspiring to work on this material or even if they’re professionals, but just haven’t looked at this play yet, or want to direct it or want to act in it, that, that this can give them some ideas and some sense of, well, how do I, how do I even approach this? 

So thank you all for being here. 

And yes, for anyone watching, I’m, I’m Nathan Agin. I’m the host and producer here of the Working Actors Journey, and, and we’re here in the rehearsal room to work on some Shakespeare and Stopper this month. So wonderful to dive into this collection of material. And I just wanna do a couple things real quick at the top. I I think it’s always great to do just some quick introductions. This group, I think maybe everybody’s worked with just about everybody else or, or almost everybody else in some capacity. But it’d be good to just for the viewers at home to kind of orient maybe where people are or where you find yourself at this moment. 

If you’re working on something or you’re particularly excited about a project right now that would be fun to hear and and what you’re, how, how you’ll be involved over the next month. ’cause I know we have some fluid casting because, and I will say very quickly, if you’re enjoying what you’re seeing, you can support this project through Patreon. There’ll be a link below. And I just wanna give a shout out quickly to our, some of our patrons, Joan, Michelle, Christian, Jim Magdalene, evar, Claudia Cliff, and Jeff. They’re all at the co-star level or higher, trying to make everything fun. So, so you can go over there and, and see what might make sense in terms of throwing, throwing a few shekel our way to keep the administrative lights on, and as this grows and we can do more. So that’s, that’s my little pitch for that. But let’s get to the team here. 

That’s why you’re all here and why we’re all assembled. And so if we can do just a quick round, I, I’ll, I’ll turn it over to, to, to Jeffrey, our director, and then we can go from there. And then, and then it’ll be your rehearsal. So Jeffrey, you’ll be first. 

Geoffrey Wade

Great. My name is Geoffrey Wade. I’m the director of this. I’ve done several of these before. 

I’m in a, a Esta Suites in Tempe, Arizona at the moment. I’m in a, a play called True West. We’re in our last week of production here. So there there’ll be a little coming and going. My my wife has just arrived with the dog, so, And 

Nathan Agin

she’s also in the play, which, which is wonderful that you guys get to work together 

Geoffrey Wade

so Often. Yes, yes. We’re working together. It’s, it’s a, it’s a great, great and unusual and fun thing to do. 

Marcelo Tubert

And you part, 

Geoffrey Wade

pardon? I 

Marcelo Tubert

couldn’t get the dog apart, 

Geoffrey Wade

but listen, we, we thought of it for a while. The, the director was, she was, 

Nick Cagle

she 

Geoffrey Wade

was almost there, but no little too much going on. I, I’ve done, for people who haven’t seen this, I’ve done, this is maybe four or five of these. I’ve done 

Nathan Agin

something 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. With a wonderful variety of people. I know all of, I know Marcelo and Nick and Daniel from, from different places, different amounts of time and different ways. We met. And Daniel and, and I met actually through this, through the Working Actors’ journey scenes. So all of that is great. I’ve worked a number of times at Gideon and he’s a fantastic dramaturg. And what else? I I just, I love Hamlet. I got to play it once when I was in college, and it was a great experience. Oddly, I can remember lines from that better than I can remember lines from the show. I’m doing eight times a week occasionally. 

And I, I’ll get into, as we actually start to rehearse, you’ll, you’ll hear more about how I feel about the play. I also love Rosen Kranz and Gil Stern are dead. I think it’s a great modern classic, and I, I think I’ve said about enough. I, Gideon, why don’t you introduce yourself and then we’ll start on the actors. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. I’ve been teaching Shakespeare all my adult life that’s close to 50 years almost. 

And when I retired from full-time teaching, I started writing books. So I’ve published three books on Shakespeare, an addition of Hamlet, a book called Appreciating Shakespeare, and a little book called Shakespeare’s Rhetorical, Shakespeare’s, what did I call it? Shakespeare’s Rhetorical, what is it called? 

Nathan Agin

Thank you. 

Nick Cagle

I 

Gideon Rappaport

knew there was a word I was losing Shakespeare. 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, 

Daniel Cordova

we’re not gonna Sell many copies unless you can remember the title. 

Gideon Rappaport

Shakespeare’s Rhetorical Figure’s, an outline. It’s for, it’s for Shakespeare nerds. I’m working on two more now, which one is a collection of my talks and reviews, and another is a little book on paradox. 

And I’m publishing them myself because the publishing industry has gone, I don’t know where, but not, not where I need it to be. So, and that’s, that’s enough. I’ve done a lot of these working Actors Journey rehearsal rooms and it’s wonderfully fun for me because I love being able to spend the time on the text. And I think that’s the key to doing Shakespeare. Well, so I 

Nathan Agin

Fantastic Marcelo, how about you? 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, hey everybody. I’m happy to be here. This is also fourth or fifth time. I think I was in on the ground level when, when you first started Nathan. Right. And it’s always such a, a pleasure to do this. 

I always, I always like to do Shakespeare ’cause it scares me. Things that scare me are good for me and for my growth and, and everything I’ve had, I’ve known Jeffrey for a long time. We’re members of the Anti Ts theater company together. Nick, I’ve also, I don’t think we’ve worked together Nick, but we’ve certainly known each other. And, and Gideon has been, there are many of the projects I’ve worked with too. It’s been so, it’s been, it’s been really, really nice. I’ve just come off a really interesting, they call it salon readings, Jewish stories that are compiled. They’re, they are, there’s a theme. The one I worked on was immigrants and people submit their stories to this organization called The Braid. 

And then they are, the stories are looked at and they’re gone through. And there, there’s a show that’s put together and we did 14, 14 shows the last two up in Northern California. And just interesting, wonderful process of beautiful, beautiful stories of immigration and being myself, an immigrant, my family and myself. Yeah, they, and, and, and also Jewish. They were, they were just very, very lovely. Great writing. So that is nice. And then working a bunch of voiceover stuff and stuff that I normally do to make a living on camera and, and stuff. And happy to delve into this. 

Nathan Agin

Great, wonderful. Daniel, you’re next on my screen. How about, how about you, sir? 

Daniel Cordova

Hi guys. I’m Dan Cordova. I worked with Jeffrey and Gideon and Nate a couple years ago during The Pandemic, I believe. And I think we did some of Richard iii. 

And so that was exciting and fun and I’ve been wanting to get back to it, and I just haven’t had the time. And the, you know, the, the connections weren’t right, but this season it seems to be, I am a lifelong Shakespeare nerd. I have a degree in drama and did a lot of acting in my twenties, thirties. And I’m kind of past that and haven’t been doing a lot of acting, but I’ve been a big student of, of Shakespeare, well, theater in general, but especially Shakespeare and, you know, love this play, always find new things in this play and unfolding the text and the last couple weeks of looking at this text and seeing all kinds of new wrinkles and stuff. So that’s, that’s exciting. 

And, you know, I just do as much scene study and watching Shakespeare and reading things like Gideon’s nerd books and, and stuff like that. 

But I, I, I just find it fascinating and I, 

Marcelo Tubert

I 

Daniel Cordova

think I’ve maybe seen, you know, more hamlets than I care to count on both fingers and toes and everything that I have. So this will be fun to play with. 

Excellent. I recently was in, I, I was living in Orange County in Costa Mesa and about two months ago, my wife and I moved to Redlands, California. So we are here now. And I was kind of surprised to find that they actually have a fair amount of community theater, you know, or kind of a smaller professional theater in the area. So I’m kind of looking forward to some summer things that are coming up here, so. Excellent. Wonderful. That’s it for me. 

Nathan Agin

Great. And Nick, over to you. 

Nick Cagle

Hi guys. I have been a Los Angeles actor since I was about 10 years old. 

I am a member of the NTS company. I auditioned for Jeffrey Wade for many years ago. I think it was like 2003 when I auditioned for you for that. I was very nervous. 

It’s really nice to work with all of you. I I, I ha I know of all of you. I am not sure that I, that, that we’ve worked together, Jeff, or, or we’ve, we’ve, all of us have sort of been in the same room from time to time. But 

Geoffrey Wade

yeah, 

Nick Cagle

I’m, I’m very honored to be a part of this. And I really think this is especially a great idea, the exploration of Hamlet with Rose Krants and Gilden Stern. Really excited about that. I live in Hawaii. I’m, I moved from Los Angeles out here about four years ago, and it’s a blustery spring day over here. So if you see me like dabbing myself a little bit, it’s, ’cause it’s really hot right now, dude. It’s 

Geoffrey Wade

112 here today. 

Nick Cagle

Oh, wow. There you go. Okay. So you win. It’s a, it’s a 

Marcelo Tubert

dry heat. It’s a dry heat. 

Nick Cagle

Yeah. Right. Anyway, thank you guys so much. And I’m very excited to be a part of this 

Nathan Agin

Wonderful, wonderful. And, and yeah, so, and for people who are, who are new to these sessions, one of the things I love and what you’ll see is that this is, you know, just like being a fly on the wall for a rehearsal. That it’s very raw and, and unfiltered. And I, you know, the word casual can kind of pop up as like the opposite of unpolished, but as you’ll see, everybody takes this very seriously and they’re really invested in, in trying to figure it out. So it’s, it’s relaxed but not casual, if that makes sense. 

And, and that’s, that’s what I always try to 

remind everybody, that, that this is just, it’s an exploration, it’s an experiment. And so luckily it’s been something that I don’t have to put too much energy into that people will just kind of know what to do and have a great time. And so with that, I’ll be listening in, I’ll check back in at the end. But really excited for you guys to explore these plays. So that’s it. I’ll, I’ll see you at the other end. 

Geoffrey Wade

Great, Thank you. 

Alright, well this is, this is great. I’m very excited. 

I, I think the best way to, now that we’re all introduced and everything to get started is to have Gideon sort of set the scene for us. Let us know, you know, in, in general where Hamlet comes in, in Shakespeare’s ra, I guess is what you’d say. 

And is 

Marcelo Tubert

life I’ll, I’ll Be right back. You, I can hear you though. 

Geoffrey Wade

Okay, good. You, you know, give us, everybody here clearly has experience with, with this world and with this writer. So, and we don’t have to do the, you know, incredibly detailed, but, but to help me, help all of us remember where we are, what century we’re in, where Shakespeare was, perhaps what he was dealing with, where this play comes in the chronology of, of his plays. And then set us up, you know, as roughly as possible, or not as roughly as, as, you know, without going into the whole story, set us up where we are with this first Rosen Crans and Gild and Stern scene, the one that’s in, in this incredibly long scene in act two, just so we we’re all kind of, you know, standing on the same place. 

So I’m gonna stop talking and let Gideon take over for a while. And I, I’m listening too, but I’m gonna go off camera for a bit. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. I won’t talk too long. The play comes in the high period of Shakespeare’s career. It’s just after 1600, 16 0 2, 16 0 3 4. 

Queen Elizabeth is almost dead. And James King, during the time he’s probably writing this Shakespeare was inspired by to, to, in this play, particularly by the Spanish Tragedy of Kid, which was a revenge play based partly on Seneca, in which some ghosts come back from the dead and challenge somebody to, to, to deal with the fact that there was a murder in the court. 

And it was a very, 

and so Shakespeare thought to himself, I’m inventing this part, I can you think that’s dramatic. I’m going to, I’m going to blow you away with what I’m gonna do. Because Spanish tragedy and the other revenge, earlier revenge plays were set in a classical background. 

The ghost came from Hades. And the, and the classical gods were the background and the revenge. The aristocratic revenge tradition was at the top of people’s minds. In, in this play, Shakespeare says, no, I’m gonna put this play in a Christian context and have a ghost come and ask him to revenge and then deal with the difficulties of that challenge. 

So that’s, by the time we get to this first scene we’re doing, Hamlet has seen the ghost. The ghost has challenged him saying he’s been killed. It’s the ghost of Hamlet’s father. He’s been killed by cla Claudius, the present king, the former King’s brother. 

And Hamlet wants to sweep to his revenge, but then he stops and thinks, which is good characteristic of him, that he’d better be sure the ghost is not from hell, rather than giving him a true challenge. So he needs to test the ghost. And one of the ways he’s going to do it is by spending time in the court pretending to be mad so that people won’t suspect that he’s onto them. 

And he can figure out a way to, to know the truth and whether he is obligated to revenge or not. The ghost has told Hamlet, revenge my murder, but don’t taint your mind, which is the paradox that Hamlet faces. How can you, since Christians don’t believe in revenge, how can you take revenge without tainting your mind? Well, if the instruction comes from God, then you can maybe, if the instruction comes from the devil, no. So that’s the situation he’s in. He’s taken on two forms of madness to pretend to be mad to the king and the court, the first form has already happened. He’s, he’s pretended because Polonius told Ophelia to reject him. 

He’s pretended that he’s gone mad for love, which was a classic stage cause of madness. You can, you can unrequited love can drive you mad. And so he’s pretended to be mad for love. And Polonius jumps to the conclusion that Hamlet wants him to jump to. In this scene, in this part of the scene, Rosen and Gilden Stern come in. They’ve already been hired by the king to be spies on Hamlet to figure out what’s going on with him. ’cause he suddenly seemed to have gone mad. 

And Hamlet performs a different kind of madness to Rosecrans and Gild stern, equally cliche, which is madness for thwarted ambition. So the theme of his mad lines or performed mad lines to Rosecrans and Gilden stern is something usually to do with ambition. And the theme of his lines to Polonius usually have something to do with thwarted love. 

The these two friends are school friends of Hamlets, Rosecrans and Gilden Stern from earlier time. He is, he is a bosom buddy of Horatio with whom he’s been at what we would call graduate school. But he went to grammar school with Rosen Krants and Gilden Stern. And the king and Queen think, well, they’ll, they’ll figure out what’s going on with him. So in the scene we’re going to see they’re each trying to figure each other out. Rosecrans and Gilden Stern are spies trying to figure out what’s going on with Hamlet. And Hamlet is pretending to be mad for ambition and trying to figure out whether Rosecrans and Gilden stern or, or where their loyalties lie and what’s going on with them. 

I’ll just maybe say something about the second scene we’re going to do so we can go right to it when we want to. 

Hamlet’s test for the ghost is to put on a play in which what the ghost told him about how he was killed is performed. 

And it’s to test Claudius the king to see whether he responds as a guilty person or not. And he responds as a guilty person and he runs out screaming light. 

And then Rosen Krants and Gilden Stern come in to bring messages to Hamlet and they’re trying still to suss him out and figure out what’s going on. And now Hamlet is elated because he knows the ghost was telling the truth. He is now going to kill the king, he thinks, and he’s gonna speak to his mother first, because that’s what they’re there to tell him. She’s calling you to her. So he is gotta talk to her. He’s furious with the king. He doesn’t have now any love for the spies, Rosen, Krants and Giler. And he is furious with his mother. So he’s hyped up and pretending to be mad for ambition. So those are the two interplays with Rosen, Krants and Gil that we’re going to be watching unfold. 

And I think that’s probably enough, if not too much. 

Geoffrey Wade

No, it’s not too much. I’m, I’m just going to add my little filigree onto that. The, the, the thing I find one, one thing I I found from this book I’ve been talking about, it’s what happens in Hamlet by John Dover Wilson. 

It, it somehow, I don’t, I’m not sure he ever states this explicitly, but it’s pretty clear that Hamlet, although he is certainly playing at madness, he’s playing at, he’s playing at sort of clinical madness. 

Hamlet is an excitable person. He, he, on numerous occasions, kind of loses his way. He gets overly excited, he gets overly angry. He gets 

all all those things. His, his emotions run away with him a little bit in, in a way that even he recognizes a number of times. Yeah. He says, he says explicitly not that, not that he is playing, you know, he says to his mother, don’t tell him that I’m playing at being mad. Don’t do that. Don’t let him think that this is is madness. It’s not. But there are other times his apology, utilities and a couple of other times he’s, he says, that wasn’t me. 

And and again, for, for actors and scholars who like to have things often explicit, these are actually everyday things. We all participate in these kind of emotions all the time. You do it in your car probably every day. I certainly do. Someone cuts you off or does something a little wrong and, and you become another person. You, you, it’s fun as actors, because we can sort of, in the safety of our cars, we can touch on that, that kind of rage that we often have to bring to the characters Hamlet in, in this, this incredible person, that character that Shakespeare created that’s, you know, endlessly fascinating to us. Many of the, many, much of what is so fascinating are these paradoxes. 

He surely absolutely is pretending to be insane, but there are times when he, when he is outside himself, in a way, 

Gideon Rappaport

Can, can I just filigree Phil agree a little bit? 

Geoffrey Wade

Sure. More filigree. 

Gideon Rappaport

There there’s a pattern according to which hamlet flies into passions. That’s, that’s how I would put what you’re 

Geoffrey Wade

saying. Yes, yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

Of different kinds. It’s always evoked by something in the external world. It’s never simply random. 

Geoffrey Wade

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

There’s always something he’s responding to. And in the first half of the play, he, every time he flies into a passion, he ends by becoming reasonable again. Yes. He, his reason reasserts itself. And in the crisis of the play, his reason goes wrong. And, and that’s when he has his moral fault. But at the end of the play, he still is flying into passions. His personality is not altered by the experience of the play. What is altered is his relation to reality. And we can get into that later ’cause we’re not gonna really be dealing with it in our scenes. But the, the point I wanna make is that when hamlet’s in a, when hamlet’s in a passion, it’s because of something that’s happened outside that causes it, number one. Number two, he can be in a passion and playing it madness or be in a passion and not playing it madness. And number three, in the first half of the play, the passion is always finally controlled by his rational faculty. And it’s when his rational faculty succumbs to his bad will at the climax of the play in Act three C3, that things that the tragedy happens that it, that things go wrong. So I’m just, I’m putting, I’m, I don’t want you to think of Hamlet as irrationally flying into passions. 

Geoffrey Wade

He 

Gideon Rappaport

flies into passions when someone cuts him off. 

Geoffrey Wade

Right? Exactly. Exactly. That’s that, if that’s the difference between, you know, sort of clinical madness and LL losing or flying into a passion. Exactly. Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. 

Geoffrey Wade

Exactly. That’s the, they are the, the only other thing I want to add, and it’s you’ve, I’m, I’m not disagreeing, I’m just adding on for help. The, the actors that the, the, the, the, the lovelorn thing and the thwarted ambition thing are, again, they’re based on real things. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

It, he, he has not gone mad for love. He’s not so thwarted. Ambition has not made him mad. 

But the pol the political side of this play, which I think is sort of too often the problem is it makes it very long, but the, the, the political side is really where the play has, there’s two things. There’s his mother, that’s, that’s an, that’s an early moral dilemma or moral problem for him. 

And, and before he knows that his father’s been murdered, the fact that he has been skipped over for, you know, for office, for becoming king. That’s the other big looming thing that’s so, so it’s a real thing, you know, he really should be king. And I I love that Gideon, you started off with setting us in the time when Elizabeth is dead or nearly dead and James, so the idea of the, the importance of succession in the eyes of any of these plague goers from the, from the, the, the groundlings to the Lords, it’s like, it’s an election year to the nth degree. You know, these are really, really important things. 

We all know about the, you know, the Elizabethans love of order and, and things, things being the way they should be. And, and this is a time of extreme political uncertainty after quite a long period of, you know, sort of benign, you know, a, a wonderful time, a golden age. 

S so for, I think for the initial playgoer, that political question of what, wait, wait, his father died and he’s, you know, of age, why, why isn’t he the king? That’s something that would be very forward, I think, in the, in that early audience. So Now 

Gideon Rappaport

can I just add that that’s not simple because Shakespeare on Purpose sets it in Denmark, which is an elective monarchy. So the next Monarch has to come from the royal family, but it’s a, he’s elected by the electors and it’s obvious given their characters that they should have elected Hamlet, not Claudius, but given his experience and age, they decided to so Hamlet to elect Claudia. So Hamlet is faced with a problem that’s subtler than just I should be king slam dunk. Right? Yeah. Complicated by the realities of the situation. 

Geoffrey Wade

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, so that’s an awful lot to chew on. We’re, we’re, I don’t, I don’t wanna just keep talking. 

So why don’t we start, why don’t we start with this first scene, and 

I’m just gonna cast it from the way be because I really do want everyone to have a, have a go at sort of all these characters, particularly obviously the Hamlet character who’s got a couple of really, he’s got a lot of gr great stuff and a couple of really great sort of standalone speeches and not soliloquy, but they’re wonderful, wonderful pieces. 

So Marcello, let, let’s have you start as Hamlet in this one and Dan do Gild Stern and Nick Rosen kres. And we’ll start that way and I’m gonna mix it up, but if, if, if I mix it up wrong or something, just let me know. D don’t don’t don’t be shy about stepping into, tell me I’ve cast somebody twice or something. 

Nick Cagle

I 

Geoffrey Wade

just have to find my, and and because I’m traveling, I, I don’t, I didn’t have things printed up the way I, I really should have. So I have to look at the screen here. Okay. 

Marcelo Tubert

Usually 

Geoffrey Wade

I 

Marcelo Tubert

screen, but I printed 

Geoffrey Wade

Some. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, 

Geoffrey Wade

I I I, I like the printed stuff, especially when we’re early on here. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yep. 

Geoffrey Wade

And, and let’s just leave Polonius out of this completely. So start with Rosen Kranz. God save you, sir. And let’s just see how, how you guys feel. Just have a read. So I’m not gonna talk anymore. 

Nick Cagle

God save you, sir. 

Oh my most dear Lord. 

My 

Marcelo Tubert

good friends. How does that Gilden stern, ah, Rosen Kranz good lads. How do you both 

Gideon Rappaport

Daniel? 

Nick Cagle

Daniel, 

Gideon Rappaport

you’re muted. Daniel, you’re muted. 

Daniel Cordova

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Unmute. I’m unmuted. Thank you 

Nick Cagle

As the indifferent children of the earth, 

Daniel Cordova

Happy that we are not over happy Unfortunates cap. We are not the very button 

Marcelo Tubert

Nor the soles of her shoes, 

Nick Cagle

Neither my Lord. 

Marcelo Tubert

Then you live about her waist or in the middle of her favors 

Daniel Cordova

Faith, her privates. We 

Nick Cagle

In the secret parts of 

Marcelo Tubert

fortune. 

Nick Cagle

Oh, sorry, 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, Nick in the secret parts of fortune. Oh, almost true. She is a trumpet. What news? 

Nick Cagle

None my Lord. But that the world’s grown, honest 

Marcelo Tubert

Then doomsday is near, but your news is not true. Let me question more particular. What have you my good friends deserve that the hands of fortune that she sends you to prison. Hi, 

Daniel Cordova

Prison. My Lord. 

Marcelo Tubert

Denmark’s a prison 

Nick Cagle

Then is the world one 

Marcelo Tubert

A goodly one in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst? 

Nick Cagle

We think not so my Lord. Well 

Marcelo Tubert

then is none to you for there is nothing either, either good or bad. But thinking makes it so to me it is a prison. 

Nick Cagle

Why then your ambition makes it one is too narrow for your mind. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space where not that I have bad dreams, 

Daniel Cordova

Which dreams indeed are ambition for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. 

Marcelo Tubert

A dream itself is, but a shadow 

Nick Cagle

Truly. And I hold ambition of so ary and light equality that it is, but a shadow’s shadow 

Marcelo Tubert

Than our beggars bodies and our monarchs and outstretch heroes. The beggars shadows and shall we to the court or by ma? I cannot reason. 

Nick Cagle

We’ll wait upon you, 

Daniel Cordova

we’ll Wait upon you. 

Marcelo Tubert

No such matter. I I will not sort you with the rest of my servants for to speak to you like an honest man. I, I am most dreadfully attended, but in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinor To 

Nick Cagle

visit you, my Lord. No other occasion 

Marcelo Tubert

Begar that I am, I’m even poor and thanks. But I thank you and sure dear friends, my thanks are too dear to happen. 

Were you not sent for, is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? 

Come, come deal justly with me. Come, come nay speak. 

Daniel Cordova

What, what should we say? My Lord, 

Marcelo Tubert

Anything but to the purpose you were sent for. And there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modest, these have not craft enough to color. 

I know the good, I know the good king and queen have sent for you 

Nick Cagle

To what end my Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

That you must teach me. But let me conjure you by the rights of our fellowship, by the constancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever preserved love. And by what more dear, a better purpose or proposer can charge you with all even and direct with me whether you be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for or no. 

Nick Cagle

Let’s see. 

Marcelo Tubert

Nathan, I have an eye of you. Oh, Nathan, I have an eye of you if you love me. Hold. Not off 

Daniel Cordova

My Lord. We were sent for, hmm. 

Marcelo Tubert

I will tell you why. So shall my anticipation prevent your discovery and your secrecy to the king and queen will no feather I have of late, but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth, orone all customs of exercises. And indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly framed the earth seems to me like a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy. The air, look you, this brave ore hanging permanent, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire. My, it appeared nothing to me, but a foul and pestilent and a pestilent congregation. Congregation of vapors. 

What a piece of work is, man. How noble, in reason, how infinite in faculties inform and moving, how expressed and admirable, I’m gonna do that little piece again. What a piece of work is, man. How normal and reason how infinite in faculties inform and moving, inform and moving how expressed and admirable in action 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? 

Man delights, not me. No, no women neither. But by you. No, by you’re smiling. You seem to say so, 

Nick Cagle

My Lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts. 

Marcelo Tubert

Why did you laugh then when I said, man, delights not me 

Nick Cagle

To think my Lord, if he delight not in man what lentin entertainment, the players shall receive from you. We, we co them on the way. And they are hi and hi. Are they coming to offer you service? 

Geoffrey Wade

I hear Good. Good, good, good. 

Tell me what, tell me what you guys think. I’m gonna, I’m gonna stop starting, stop putting thoughts in your head until, until I have some opinions. 

Marcelo, what do you think is going on with Hamlet here? 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, testing, he, he, he knows what’s going on with these guys. He knows why they’re here. 

He’s testing the waters with them to see how they’re gonna respond to him. 

I, I love, I love the fact that he can’t really tell them apart that, you know, I mean, not that he can’t tell them apart, he just is not sure. There’s a little bit of that. 

There’s just something there. Yes. I think 

Daniel Cordova

that’s the running joke in the play with these two, right? 

Nick Cagle

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

Well here’s, here’s my opinion on that. I think it’s, it’s a clearly a running joke in, in Rosen Kranz, Gilner dead. And it’s very clearly a joke in when, when they first come to court in that scene with 

Nick Cagle

Claudia Tude, 

Geoffrey Wade

Claudius, ger, and Gertrude. Yeah, I, I would, here, here’s what I think just to make this work as a scene, now we’re just thinking pure scene. 

I think it’s slightly more interesting if the appearance of Rose and Crans and Gild stern for these first few lines, and we can decide where it changes. 

He doesn’t know why they’re there. 

It, it’s that old acting thing of don’t, don’t know something until you know it. Right. 

It it, it helps, it helps us sort of navigate the scene a little better. So I, 

Marcelo Tubert

I agree. I agree. No, 

Geoffrey Wade

I I I’m gonna suggest that, that there, the, the, or that the first greeting and salutation is 100% true and genuine and as genuine as it would be for Horatio. I mean, he may have been a better friend, but these are, you know, these are friends, they’re good friends. And I think the better, again, as, as a sort of acting thing, I think the better friends they are, the moment you see them, the more the betrayal. We then you have a much longer way to go to get to the betrayal. Because by the end of the flute scene, which is, I i, I don’t know, you can correct me if I’m wrong here, but that’s the last time you see them together. 

We sort of have to believe you’d be, you’re happily tend to send them off to their death because they, they made love to their assignment. So, so, so if we, if we start with something genuine and real and friendly in the course of this scene, a a that, that then allows you to, to have a test, which I think starts as soon as they say the world’s grown honest, it’s like the fuck did you just say? 

Nick Cagle

Yeah, 

Geoffrey Wade

that’s, oh, okay. 

And, and then you may start to play with them, but I, and then, and then, you know, we’ll, we’ll see how you wanna proceed, but I, I really, that’s something I really feel, and I think it’ll make you make it more 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, I think, I think that gives you somewhere to go and Yeah, you jump at the conclusions right away. I, I think you’re absolutely right. Just 

Gideon Rappaport

Can I complicate it a little? 

Geoffrey Wade

Okay. I think 

Gideon Rappaport

you’re right. But I also think that Hamlet is already in the mode of playing madness to the court. And these friends come in surprising to him that they’re there at all, and he’s trying to suss out whether they are somebody to whom he needs to play madness or somebody that he can bring into onto his side the way he does Horatio. So I think that’s another dimension of the question of the, of the arc that we can move through in the sea. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yep. 

Nick Cagle

Can I ask a question of our illustrious dramaturg? 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah, 

Gideon Rappaport

Absolutely. 

Nick Cagle

What, what is it specifically that Claudius asks them to do? 

Gideon Rappaport

Find out what has troubled and 

Marcelo Tubert

Why is he so moody? Right? Why is he so moody? Why is he in such a bad humor? 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 

Daniel Cordova

Yeah. So I, I I think that’s a great question. That’s kind of what was on my mind is these two guys coming in aren’t necessarily nefarious. They might be holding something close to their vest about who asked them to be there, but they didn’t come to, you know, sabotage hamlet or 

Nick Cagle

to kill him. They, they, 

Daniel Cordova

they think they’re doing the right thing because the king asked them to do this thing. And here’s our old friend, and we’re gonna try to find out. But I don’t think that they think, I mean, obviously that they’re doing anything, you know, evil in any way. 

Nick Cagle

It’s more spy. They ask to spy on him, 

Daniel Cordova

essentially. 

Nick Cagle

Right, 

Gideon Rappaport

Right, right. 

Daniel Cordova

They just want, they, he just, they’re just supposed to report back to the king, what, you know, whatever their conversations are, try to find out. And you know, to them that’s relatively innocent, right? They’re still there. I mean, they’re still, he’s still their old friend, right? 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, yeah, but you, I I’m looking to see where this kind of little transitional thing happens. And it’s around two 90 where Hamlet says, he’s just talking about bb, you know, how terrible it servants are. 

And then he asked them, well, why are you guys here? And then that’s when they stick this lie. 

And which at that point 

Hamlet says, you were, you, you were, were you not sent for He knows he at this point, he knows they were sent for. And he is, and he’s now, he starts the test there. The real testing is, is it a free visitation? Come, come deal. Tell me, tell me the truth. 

He is giving them a chance to say, 

Geoffrey Wade

Hey, 

Marcelo Tubert

this is happening. Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

And 100% he a, a a as in a, a number of other places, he goes, he sort of gives him a chance and then he goes further. 

I, I think that, you know, I, i talking about this, you know, as genuine as possible greeting, I, I think there, there school boyish talk about, you know, fortune’s a trumpet and you know, you guys are hanging around their pubes and all that. I think that’s, I think that can be quite genuine. I think, I think there’s a turn, and again, this is not, it’s not verse, but when Shakespeare uses a butt or a yet, or one of those, one of those changing words, he says, then there’s doomsday near, but your news is not true. Let me question you more in particular. I think, I think at that point he’s 

Marcelo Tubert

beginning 

Geoffrey Wade

what’s, 

Marcelo Tubert

What’s the line number? 

Geoffrey Wade

Oh, that’s about 2 57 

Marcelo Tubert

I 

Geoffrey Wade

think. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, I got it. 

Geoffrey Wade

When, when he says, so what’s new? What’s going on? Why are you here? And he said, I don’t know. No, nothing, nothing. The world’s grown, honest, okay, now that’s, that, that would only be happening, you know, before, what is it? There’s probably a, a, a Christian reference there. 

But, but then he says, but come on, that’s not true. So so why are you really here? And then I think he sort of serves them up a one of our, you know, semi madness softballs with the, the thing about being in prison, he, he’s sort of testing them to see what in, in, in the interview with Claudia Claudia’s Claudia’s concern probably is, is somewhat political. 

And Gertrude says, oh, I think it’s probably just that his dad died and we got married so quick. I think that’s what’s bothering him. I think that’s all that it is. Which would be sort of, you know, the lover or the lovers, that sort of emotional thing. Claudius has more high stakes political things going on. 

Daniel Cordova

I can I, can I just say something about the, the questioning of why are you here? 

So I think it’s interesting that in Act one scene in the, in the scene with, with Horatio, he almost asks him the exact same thing. You know, Hey, how come you’re in? How come you’re in Elsinore? And he says, oh, well, I came to see your, your father’s funeral. He says, no, I think you were here to see my, my mother’s marriage. 

Gideon Rappaport

And Horatio gets it. Horatio gets that, 

Daniel Cordova

Right. Well, see, here’s the thing. The, the, the follow up to that is that he finds out in that scene that Horatio is really there in the cause of Old Hamlet of the ghost. And in this scene, he finds out that Rosa Kre and Gilden Stern are there in the cause of, or in support of Oh, Claudius. So I think these, those two scenes are really, you know, parallel to each other. Absolutely. You know, he asks them why they’re there, and then he finds out, well, which side are you on? 

You know? 

Geoffrey Wade

Right, Right. Very good. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Also, I think the fact that he starts with this ambition idea, se sends you to prison, Heather, and then they say, and your ambition makes it one, and then he launches on the whole ambition theme. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s different from Horatio. Horatio reveals himself not to be there for the sake of any ambition. And ambition, by the way, is a negative thing in Shakespeare’s terminology, emulation and ambition. Or you, you shouldn’t wanna be higher in the hierarchy than you, your proper place. 

Daniel Cordova

And I’m, I’m assuming that they’re referring to his getting skipped over for the kingship, right? 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah, yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

They’re they’re implying it, they’re not saying it outright. Yes. 

Nick Cagle

Hmm. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. I’m just thinking here. Let’s see. Bad dreams. I mean, and, and also at the very beginning, he’s telling them, you know, filling him in a little bit that about him having bad dreams, bad dreams. He’s having these, you know, bad dreams, visions of things with the murder of his father, meaning I’m sure the ghost reference to the ghost, right. 

Gideon Rappaport

To us, to us it means the ghost. 

Marcelo Tubert

Not to 

Gideon Rappaport

them. No, 

Marcelo Tubert

no. To them, 

Gideon Rappaport

it’s a perfect lie. There’s no such thing as hamlet’s bad dreams. He’s dealing with, you know, 

Geoffrey Wade

actual 

Gideon Rappaport

realities. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. A a and it’s, it’s also, 

you know, he’s, he’s, he’s leading, he’s actually kind of leading them on. He’s, he’s the one who suggests that that’s, that’s the problem. 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, That’s the real cat, cat and mouse of it. Right? That’s what, 

Geoffrey Wade

yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

I mean he, 

Geoffrey Wade

and it’s like, it’s like how he’s sort of testing, how far are you gonna go with this? 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

He’s the 

Gideon Rappaport

cat and they’re the mice. 

Geoffrey Wade

Exactly. Oh, oh, 

Marcelo Tubert

yeah, No question. He’s, he’s, yeah. Bump, bump batting him, pulling him by the tail, letting him run, coming back. 

Nick Cagle

Yeah. Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

And I think it gets to the point where, where he, you know, this beggars are then are our beggars bot don’t, don’t miss out that there’s two different words there then are our beggars bodies and our monarchs and outstretched heroes. The beggars shadows. I think even he at that point goes, okay, this is, this is getting ridiculous. 

Can I, can I 

Gideon Rappaport

say something about that kind of exchange? There’s a, there’s a tradition of courtly battle of wits. It’s just, it’s normal. You, you are in court. 

Osri plays this game, much ado we have examples of it where you’re just batting words and phrases back and forth, and they start, they are doing that. And when Hamlet says, I cannot reason, let’s go to the court, it’s that he doesn’t want to engage in this with him. He is got more important things on his mind. Yeah. So this let this rap, this kind of verbal logical play is he’s turning against it. 

Nick Cagle

I’ve always found it very hard to say our, our Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

Well, it’s 

Nick Cagle

especially 

Geoffrey Wade

hard in, in American American English. 

Nick Cagle

Our, 

Geoffrey Wade

our is a diff th an r is, you know, just 

Nick Cagle

par, 

Gideon Rappaport

the Solu the solution is to slow down, 

Geoffrey Wade

slow It 

Nick Cagle

down. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. As always, the solution is to slow it down and visualize it. Yes. 

Nick Cagle

But just, 

Geoffrey Wade

you know, if you’re aware the other, there’s a little, by the way, you, you, you, you can all thank me for giving you absolutely no verse in any of the stuff we’re doing. 

It’s, it, it is kind of fun. 

This thing We’ll wait upon you. No such matter. What 

Marcelo Tubert

do You want, Jeffrey? Just Gimme 

Geoffrey Wade

Oh, again, this is 2 86. And they, they, they say, we’ll wait upon you, you’ve said, let, let’s go to the court because I, I, I don’t, I can’t, I I can’t do this banter anymore. 

They say, we’ll wait upon you. And, and anybody correct me if I’m wrong, but when he says no such matter, I think he’s saying, oh no, you don’t have to be my servant. 

I’m not gonna treat you like a servant. You’re my friends. 

Gideon Rappaport

I’m not gonna treat you like a servant because I’m dreadfully attended. Which isn’t true, but 

Geoffrey Wade

it’s 

Gideon Rappaport

the ambition theme. It feeds them. This idea of him being ambitious. 

Geoffrey Wade

That’s right. And it keeps them, you know, it’s, it’s also, you know, I’m gonna keep my enemies. I, I think he’s, he, he knows what’s going on. So he’s, he’s not, he’s actually not gonna push you away. He’s gonna sort of bind you. 

Hamlet’s gonna sort of bind the, the boys to him. 

He can, he can sort of use them now to send them back with, you know, information that will, 

you know, keep him safe while he does his, while he, he’s trying to determine what Claudius has actually done. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. They’re going to confirm his madness or his strangeness, and I just wanna say beaten away of friendship. 

They’re not used to coming to visit Hamlet. He’s not used to seeing them. It’s been a long time since he’s seen them. So he’s, he’s he’s aware that they’ve probably been sent for Yeah, 

Geoffrey Wade

cer certainly by here. So he, he’s, he is literally saying, so wh when they say, we’ll wait upon you, I think Hamlet’s no such matter. The sense of it is No, no, no, no, no. You, I’m not, you don’t have to be a servant to me. We’re friends. 

We’re, you know, that’s our status level. Right. 

And there was one other word. 

Oh, Hamlet again, line 3 0 6. 

The, the question. Rosen Kran says, well, you say, I know the good king, queen of century Rosen Cran says, well, why, why would they do that? 

And your answer is that you must teach me. You must teach me that thing. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes, yes. I totally, yes. That you must teach. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

I think, I think there’s another way too. And you can make a choice. You can hit those two pronouns that you must teach me. I’m not gonna teach you why they sent for you. You need to tell me why they sent for me. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, I like that. Yes. Because that, it makes it more, it makes it clear that you must teach me 

Geoffrey Wade

Good. As long as, as long as we know that the, that refers to, 

Marcelo Tubert

What am I? You must teach me teach. No, I, I think it comes Right, 

Geoffrey Wade

sure. 

Marcelo Tubert

Smoothly into it. 

Geoffrey Wade

I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna make one more suggestion and then let you have a go at it. These are all suggestions, this lovely speech. 

My anticipation shall prevent your discovery. I have of late, but where, no, not 

Marcelo Tubert

With line. This is the, 

Geoffrey Wade

This is line three 18. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, yeah, 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 17, 18. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. I, well, it starts, yeah. Three 16 in there. I will tell you why 

Geoffrey Wade

I think a as you, again, as you navigate this very interesting speech, I, I don’t think it’s all necessarily all one thing. I think he may start off as one thing about halfway through where you get to that what a piece of work is, man. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. I 

Geoffrey Wade

think, I think it starts 

so, you know, sort of almost performative for them. 

And then I think it gets quite right. What’s the word I want? Introverted or introspective is the word 

Nick Cagle

I, 

Geoffrey Wade

for quite introspective. So that he sort of snapped out of it when he happens to look over and see which one of, is it rosecrans smirking, perhaps at the joke, perhaps at the player thing. 

Who knows? 

Gideon Rappaport

And it’s the classic melancholy, it’s the speech of, by the end of it, it’s the speech of melancholy. And that does really have melancholy. But not because he’s got a melancholy disease, but because of what’s happening in the world and what he’s having to deal with. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. So let’s, let’s try, let’s try this one more time. 

Gideon Rappaport

Can I, can I make a couple questions? I wanna ask you a question, Jeffrey. 

Geoffrey Wade

Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

At line 3 33, Folger has women, which is from the 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. I was gonna ask you about that. I’ve never heard that. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s, It’s woman in the Folio. Yeah. And I’ve, in my edition I made it woman. So it parallels man. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. You know, I actually hadn’t picked up on Thank you. I I was gonna ask you about that and I forgot to, let’s change it to No nor woman neither. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. ’cause 

Geoffrey Wade

it doesn’t, all of a sudden it becomes, yeah. It it should be mankind versus womankind. Not 

Marcelo Tubert

So where 

Geoffrey Wade

It’s line 3 33, 

Marcelo Tubert

you 

Geoffrey Wade

say, man, delights. Not me. No. Nor woman neither. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh man. Delights not me. Nor woman. Right? 

Gideon Rappaport

No, no. Nor woman neither. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Can I give a couple more little notes that I took as we were reading? 

Geoffrey Wade

Sure. But just, just gimme one second. Okay. I, I think Mandel delight’s, not me. 

You can do this as you want for me. There’s a full stop there. There’s a big transition. He has to snap himself out of it, I think. So if you want, give yourself the moment to finish the speech there and actually let, actually let 

Marcelo Tubert

Delight’s not me. Right, 

Geoffrey Wade

man. Delight’s not me. Period. I am, you know, I am. And we, we can get the correct definition of an Elizabeth and melancholy from Gideon, but I think you come back to them. It, it’s a, it’s a chance to, that’s the reason there’s a no there, you know, you’re sort of addressing the boys again, whereas from 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah, He, he’s been in his kind Of, 

Geoffrey Wade

he’s been in his own head from 

Marcelo Tubert

poetic. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. Yep. Okay. Gideon, go. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. Just a few things. I’ll work backwards from where we are. Line 3 27, peace. What a piece of work is a man. Yeah. Doesn’t mean like she’s quite a piece of work. It means peace as in masterpiece, right? The, the, the culminating masterpiece of God’s creation is man. 

Then line 3 24, this excellent canopy overhanging from majestical roof fretted with golden fire. So above the stage in the globe where this was being performed was a fretted roof, and it was painted as the heavens with blue and stars and sun and moon and so on. So it’s, it’s, there’s this double quality that it’s literally, that’s what it looks like. It’s a fretted ceiling above him, but he’s using it as a metaphor for the heavens. Okay. 3 28, no, 3 82, 88, sorry. 2 88. 

What is that? 

Oh, I think, I think you hit a pronoun. I 

Marcelo Tubert

I will not sweat you. The rest, my sir, to speak to you like a honest man. I’m most, I’m, I am most attended 

Gideon Rappaport

Line 2 68. I can give a 20 minute lecture, but I’m not going to. But when he says 

there’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so This is not modern existentialist relative moral relativism. This is an old idea that’s been, I can give you lots of quotations from other writers of the time. What they mean is that we experience things based on how, how the mind takes them in. 

That doesn’t mean good is bad and bad is good depending on what you think. It means that you, if if you think something bad is good, then to you, it is good, but it isn’t really it. You’ve become bad in thinking it. So just, just be aware that hamlet’s not an absolute relativist, if I can put it like that. And the last thing is, we, we sort of talked about it, fortune. She sends you to prison. Heather, there you hit hither. And I want you to hit prison because the key theme is prison there. 

It’s not that they come here that’s important. It’s that they’re, that he’s posing the suggestion that it’s a prison. 

Geoffrey Wade

Correct. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. That’s it. 

Marcelo Tubert

Thank you. 

Geoffrey Wade

Let’s just take a, another run at it, and then we will move on. 

Marcelo Tubert

Perfect. Because 

Geoffrey Wade

we got many more hours for this stuff. So just take one more run at 

Nick Cagle

God. Save you, sir. 

Marcelo Tubert

We’re muted, man. We’re muted. Muted, Muted. 

Nick Cagle

I think you’re muted, Dan. 

Daniel Cordova

Yeah, I know, I know. I just, 

Nick Cagle

oh, sorry. 

Daniel Cordova

My, my computer seems to be slow on unmuting there. Okay, Again, 

Nick Cagle

let’s go back. I’ll start again. Yeah. God save you, sir. 

Daniel Cordova

My honored Lord, 

Nick Cagle

My most dear Lord, 

Marcelo Tubert

My excellent, good friends, thou gild, ah, rosencrants good lads. How do you both 

Nick Cagle

Has the indifferent children of the earth? 

Daniel Cordova

Happy in that we are not over happy on fortune’s cap. We are not the very button, 

Marcelo Tubert

No, the very souls of her shoe, 

Nick Cagle

Neither my Lord. 

Marcelo Tubert

Then you live about her waist or in the middle of her favorites. 

Daniel Cordova

Faith, her privates. We 

Marcelo Tubert

In the, in the secret parts of Fortune. Oh, most true. She is a trumpet. 

What news? 

Nick Cagle

None, my Lord. But that the world’s grown, honest, 

Marcelo Tubert

None is doomsday in the air, but your news is not true. But your news is not true. Let me question more in particular. What have you my good friends deserve at the hands of fortune that she sends you to prison? Either 

Daniel Cordova

Prison, my Lord, 

Marcelo Tubert

Denmark’s a prison. 

Nick Cagle

Then is the world one 

Marcelo Tubert

Goodly, one in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst? 

Nick Cagle

We think not so my Lord. 

Marcelo Tubert

Why then tis none to you. Well, there’s nothing either. Why then ti is none to you. Well, there’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so to me, it is a prison. 

Nick Cagle

My then your ambition makes it once is too narrow for your mind. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space where not that I have bad dreams, 

Daniel Cordova

Which dreams indeed are ambition for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. 

Marcelo Tubert

Dream itself is, but a shadow 

Nick Cagle

Truly. And I hold ambition of so airy and light equality that it is, but a shadow’s shadow 

Marcelo Tubert

Then our beggar’s bodies and our monarchs and outstretch hero. The beggar’s shadows, shall we to the court or by my fa I cannot reason. 

Daniel Cordova

We’ll wait, 

Nick Cagle

we’ll wait upon you And 

Marcelo Tubert

no, no such matter. I will not sort you with the rest of my servants or to speak to you like an honest man. I am most dreadfully attended. But in the beat and way of friendship, what makes you at El Ook 

Nick Cagle

To visit you, my Lord, no other occasion 

Marcelo Tubert

Beggar that I am, I’m even poor in thanks. But I thank you and sure dear friends, my thanks are too dear. Half, and were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, come deal Justin with me. Come, come. Hey, speak. 

Daniel Cordova

What should we say? My Lord, 

Marcelo Tubert

Anything but to the purpose you were sent for, and there was a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesty have not crafted enough to color. 

I know the good king and queen sent for you 

Nick Cagle

To what end, my Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

That you must teach me, but let me conjure you by the rights of our fellowship, by the constancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever preserved love and by what? More dear, a better and by what more and by what? More dear? A better, oh my gosh, wait a second. Preserved love, 

Geoffrey Wade

Hang on. And by what? More dear means. By what? What? More valuable thing? A better person. Okay. 

Marcelo Tubert

By the obligation of our ever preserved love and by what? More dear, a better pro proposer can charge you with all but even and be even and direct with me whether you were sent for or no, 

Nick Cagle

What say you 

Marcelo Tubert

May I have an I on you. If you love me, hold not off 

Daniel Cordova

My Lord. We were sent for I will 

Marcelo Tubert

tell you why. So, so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery and your secrecy to the king and queen Feather I have of late, but therefore I know not lost all my mirth, foregone all customs, custom of exercises. And indeed, it goes so heavy with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy. The air. Look at this brave ore hanging firmament, this majestical roof threaded with golden fire. Why? It appears nothing to me, but a foul and pestilent congregation. Congregation of vapor. 

What a piece of work is, man. How noble, in reason how infinite in faculties inform and moving how in how infinite in faculties inform and moving, how expressed and admirable in action. How, like an angel, an apprehension, how like a God, the beauty of the world, paragon of animals. And yet to me, what is this contestants of dust man delights not me 

nor women. Neither though by you’re smiling, you seem to say so, 

Nick Cagle

My Lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts. 

Marcelo Tubert

Why did you laugh then when I said, man, delights not me 

Nick Cagle

To think, my Lord, if you de delight not in man, what lent in entertainment the players shall receive from you, we coded them on the way and hither, are they coming to offer you service? 

Geoffrey Wade

Good, good. 

I, I just want to, I just want to say one thing, and Gideon, you’ll, you can correct or 

expand on this. The, the beginning of this, I will tell you why social, my anticipation prevent discovery speech. 

Marcelo Tubert

Where Are what? I’m sorry. 

Geoffrey Wade

I’m sorry. Three 18 ish. Three 18, 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

The, these symptoms he describes, I, I believe are the sort of classic symptoms of melancholy, a as a sort of illness, right? So, so, so what he’s giving them is, I’m not saying it’s not true, because I’m sure he, he, he clearly has lost his mirth. 

I mean, the very first time we see him and, and his exercise and all this stuff. But, but these are the classic symptoms of melancholy. So he’s kind of telling them what they want to hear. I mean, he’s, he’s giving them a report. Here’s what you can report back to the king and queen. You know, I feel a little sick to the stomach. I’m dizzy sometimes. Oh, that, that’s classic. He’s got her or 

Marcelo Tubert

whatever. 

Geoffrey Wade

Right? S so 

Marcelo Tubert

you, 

Geoffrey Wade

you are giving them what they want in a way. 

Marcelo Tubert

It’s 

Geoffrey Wade

like, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. Let’s not ask any more questions. I know what you want. Here it is. And, and you list them off like on the back of an aspirin bottle practically for people of this time. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

The next bit is him. That’s what, what a piece of work. How this look at, we are so good. Human beings are a amazing, 

Marcelo Tubert

yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

Everything around me. I’ve got a, you know, a deceitful king. You know, my mother’s a whore. Something’s wrong. I have to do this. The whole, the, you know, the time’s out of joint, right? This is him now. 

We should, it’s, it’s like when you hear a good news report or you hear, we built, you know, the humans have built a, you know, the biggest nuclear accelerator in the world. You think, my god, we can do amazing things. 

Wh why is everything so fucked up? That’s, that’s the eternal argument. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

But that’s, that seems to me, and again, this is a way to sort of navigate your way through this speech. So it’s not all one thing. That’s where he clicks over into himself in, in a way, right? 

Gideon Rappaport

And he clicks over into telling universal truth, because it’s this classic. And, and he sums it up in that phrase, quintessence of dust. I was gonna say something about that. There are four essences, earth, air, fire, and water. Aristotle identified a quintes essence, which is a, the, the invisible spiritual element. And so man is this combination of spirit and body and Quin. So quintessence is this higher thing, and dust is the lower. And it’s a, it’s a miracle of combination that man has been created this way. And then what is it to me? So what, 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. So, yeah. So there you go. 

Marcelo Tubert

Good 

Geoffrey Wade

stuff with, with that speech. I, I’m, I’m particularly reminded of it for some reason, I don’t know why, I guess Siri is listening to me, a a, a video of, of Richard Burton doing this speech came up, and he appears to be just sitting in an easy chair somewhere saying, it’s not a performance, but it’s, it’s, he has a lovely voice. But it’s a really pretty boring read if you ask me, if ask me, because it’s all the same color and the same pace, and the, and there’s no discovery in the middle of it. You know, I think th these a as always as well knows actors. What’s fun is to watch, see, hear a character, discover something. I mean, they may know it, but all of a sudden they’re saying it, it’s like, yeah. It’s like, it’s like, you know, when walking around and you suddenly go, oh, I see. I get it. I mean, we sometimes say it out loud, don’t we? 

Now I understand. 

So the, and I think that’s, that happens in this speech. You know, it starts off as a formula. It starts off as part of this cat and mouse game. It’s got, oh, let, let, let’s not play anymore. I’m gonna tell you what you wanna hear. Take it back to the king and everything will be fine. And by the way, what, what has happened to, you know, now all of a sudden, what’s happened to friendship? What’s happened to people? What’s Right? 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. No, all those, all those little hints are really good. Good. In attacking this. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

I work on it or we work on it together here. I, I love the idea of those different, those changes and, and, and finding those as, as I, I work on it on my own. 

Geoffrey Wade

Good. 

Gideon Rappaport

Can I, can I do a couple little 

Geoffrey Wade

Sure. Couple more? Yeah. Yeah. Good. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. So 2 57. 

So you hit near, and I think you should hit doomsday, the world’s grown, honest, well then it’s doomsday. 

’cause that’s not gonna happen before Dooms. Yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

Doomsday. Yeah. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

2 82 you get didn’t hit the R hour. 

Marcello, do you see that? 2 82. 

Geoffrey Wade

Lemme find it there. 

Marcelo Tubert

I’m looking here. 

Nick Cagle

Tough one. 

Marcelo Tubert

Nr. Our beggars bo nr our bodies Yes. 

Nick Cagle

Just Mean 

Gideon Rappaport

you, you rushed over it. And so we lost 

Nick Cagle

it 

Marcelo Tubert

To try to make it look good. But 

Nick Cagle

R our 

Gideon Rappaport

2 95 half penny is pronounced. Hany. 

Marcelo Tubert

Hany. Yeah. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s 3 0 8. 

Marcelo Tubert

What was the number? What’s the number on Hany number 

Gideon Rappaport

2 92? 2 95 Haney. 

Marcelo Tubert

What’s that? 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s Almost two syllables. 

Geoffrey Wade

Haney 

Marcelo Tubert

Need a, 

Gideon Rappaport

You can make it three syllables, short syllables. So the audience gets what we mean. But half penny is gonna make people hate me. Who know it Laugh. Okay. 

Marcelo Tubert

Hate me. Hate me. 

Geoffrey Wade

Hate 

Gideon Rappaport

me. Yes. Good. 3 0 8. 

Don’t hit the ed on ever preserve. ’cause it’s not verse you don’t need to. 

Marcelo Tubert

Okay. I was feeling so Shakespearean. 

Geoffrey Wade

I know. 

Gideon Rappaport

Let’s see. 3 0 6, what did I mean? Oh, there’s a kind of over the top ostrich, like talk that hamlet’s engaged in here when he says, let me conjure by the rights of our fellowship, by the constancy of our youth, by the obligation of our every preserved law. He’s, he’s sounding, he’s listing the cliches by which you appeal to a friend. 

So he’s just in a way going over the top to, to sell to them. His, you know, requesting them to tell him the truth. And then when they say what, say you, when should we tell him? That’s when he says, okay, now I’ve, now I’ve nailed you. Now I’ve got you. Now I don’t trust you. So you can play with, you know, trying to butter them up with these big phrases. You get what I mean? 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes, I Do. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. Line three 10. The word with all is always a throwaway at the end of the line. We would never say with all, we would say with, so the same way we’d say proposer can charge you with, we would say proposer can charge you with all instead of ever hitting with all, it just, it comes at the end of the line, but it doesn’t take a stress. 

Marcelo Tubert

Sorry, The number line. Oh, 

Gideon Rappaport

the number of that is three 10 line. Three 10 

Marcelo Tubert

Proposal. And can change you with all. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. Just charge, charge you with all. 

Marcelo Tubert

Charge you with all. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. Hit the charge. And the last thing is line 3 35. 

Marcelo Tubert

Hang on just a second. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. This is Rosenkrantz. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, then go ahead. 

Gideon Rappaport

You hit Nick, you hit my, and that’s not it, 

Nick Cagle

My Lord. 

Gideon Rappaport

You wanna hit stuff and thoughts? 

Nick Cagle

Oh, oh, I see. 

Gideon Rappaport

No, not my Lord. My thoughts. 

Nick Cagle

Oh, I see, I see, I see. I was like, there is no such stuff. Okay, great. Thank you. 

Marcelo Tubert

And what line was that? 

Gideon Rappaport

That that was line 3 35. 

Marcelo Tubert

And say that and say that note again. 

Gideon Rappaport

I said that he hit the, my, there was no such stuff in my thoughts, but that’s not the point 

in general, as you all know, my refrain is don’t hit the pronouns unless there’s a really good reason to. 

Marcelo Tubert

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

You know, you all know this. I know you. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. But we forget getting, 

Geoffrey Wade

Well, 

Gideon Rappaport

it’s not that you forget. It’s that in the passion of the moment, reading it, you’re not sure where you are. So I’m calling your attention if he’s my job, 

Daniel Cordova

If he says, there’s no such stuff in my thoughts. It sounds like he’s saying, yeah, but Gild Stern’s thinking it. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. Or you or Hamlet. 

Nick Cagle

That Was my point. I mean, maybe him, but, 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay, that’s it for me for now. 

Geoffrey Wade

Let, let’s, since we’re le let’s go, let’s go to the next ones. And certainly this next scene with the three of you, which is act three, scene three, I believe. 

Gideon Rappaport

Scene two 

Geoffrey Wade

again, scene two. Yep. Around line 3 22. 

And let, let’s just keep the casting the same for now. 

Gideon’s already said it once, but this is a, and you don’t, don’t feel that you have to perform this from the get go. But in your mind, you should know that Hamlet is high as a kite. 

He, he’s, he’s, he’s resolved his question. He’s caught the conscience of the king in, in the play. 

And he sort of knows what he has to do. Now. He, he’s, he’s now free to act, and he is incredibly excited. 

He, he’s, he’s in a passion. 

The two young men, Rosecrans and golden Stern. 

We all get to be young in this. By the way, we’re all young men now, Rosecrans of Gilden stern are under actually quite a good deal of pressure here. There’s nothing, nothing funny about this. I mean, the king and the Queen of Denmark, which is a powerful country that became the queen of anywhere. But they are, you know, they are too excited for different reasons. And, and out of sorts, the entire court is in a tizzy. This is a very fraught scene. 

So there’s nothing casual about it. 

And, and just as a, just as an example to me, 

someone who has, it says here, I mean, it gets quite intense. Rosen Kran says, my Lord, you once did love me. Right? Love in the sense of, you know, we were, we were, why are you being this way? And another point, he says, you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty. If you deny your grief to your friend, in other words, tell me what’s going on. Or you’re gonna end up in prison, right? Or, you know, something. 

Gideon Rappaport

Literally, 

Geoffrey Wade

literally something bad is gonna happen. Nobody is, everybody knows what the score is. Now, Claudia’s, Claudius knows that. Hamlet knows he wasn’t sure before. Hamlet knows now what he has to do. The, the, the, the entire action of the play is taking a turn here. We’re not testing each other anymore. 

And, you know, rose Grs, these guys have picked up on this. They’re somehow in the middle of it. And it’s as, as Hamlet will say later, it’s dangerous to come between these, 

Gideon Rappaport

the pass and fell. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Opposites, 

Geoffrey Wade

mighty opposites. They’re coming. It’s like they’re standing in the middle of a sword fight all of a sudden. And they know it. They’re not stupid. 

So they are, they are really, and, and then this is just me as an actor, th they are really trying to save themselves, but they are also trying, I think, to save Hamlet as best they can. 

They, they, 

which, which gives them an action to act on him, you know, rather than just self-preservation, if you can think of 

Nick Cagle

this 

Geoffrey Wade

as not just, oh God, I’m fucked if I don’t do this. It’s, I, I like this guy. He’s in some kind of trouble, I can tell. You know, we, he’s, he, he seems mentally unhappy. 

Maybe I can save him. So it, I think if you fold that into your, into your acting, into your approach to the scene, you are, you’re caught between two people. But you have, you know, Hamlet, he, he was your friend. 

So the betrayal to him that’s taking place in this scene is 

complete. That’s the other thing. I think by the end of the scene, he’s furious. 

Gideon Rappaport

Can I just add that? Yeah. Now has in my, he’s already confirmed with Horatio that they have the same impression about Claudia’s reaction to the play. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. Yes. In other 

Gideon Rappaport

Words, he’s coming to them after Horatio says, yes, you’re right. What you told me about the ghost is true. 

Geoffrey Wade

Right? So there is no, anyway, very high stakes scene. I’m not asking high stake. I’m not asking you to, you know, and this, there’s always stakes in scene. The scene before has some stakes in it. But, but this is big time. I’m not asking you to do that now, just bear it in mind as you go along. Right? 

So let’s, let’s have a go. Gild Stern and Rosen Crans, you’ve just been sent to do this. You guys are, you guys are in charge at the moment. 

So’s have go at it. 

Daniel Cordova

It, it’s, it’s, I just, I was gonna say this really quickly. 

Geoffrey Wade

Sure. 

Daniel Cordova

It’s really interesting that the first half is Gilden Stern and Hamlet, and the second half is Rosecrans and Hamlet. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes, it is. That’s, let’s, that, that’s an interesting observation. Let’s see what happens with that. 

Daniel Cordova

Yeah, 

Geoffrey Wade

I’m, I haven’t examined that carefully. So good. 

Daniel Cordova

Okay. Are you ready? 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. 

Daniel Cordova

Okay, 

good. My Lord, vouch, save me a word with you 

Marcelo Tubert

Or a whole history. 

Daniel Cordova

The king, sir. 

Marcelo Tubert

Hi, Sir. What of him 

Daniel Cordova

Is in his retirement? Marvelous. Distempered. Well 

Marcelo Tubert

Drink, sir. 

Daniel Cordova

No, my Lord, with color, 

Marcelo Tubert

Your wisdom to show itself more richer, to signify this to the doctor, or for me to put him to his pation, would perhaps plunge him into more colors. 

Daniel Cordova

Good. My Lord. Put your discourse into some frame and start not so wildly from my affair. 

Marcelo Tubert

I am tame, sir, pronounce 

Daniel Cordova

The queen. Your mother, in most great affection of spirit, has sent me to you. 

Marcelo Tubert

You are welcome, 

Daniel Cordova

Nay. Good, my Lord. This courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother’s commandment. If not your pardon. And my return shall be the end of my business. 

Marcelo Tubert

Sir, I cannot. 

Nick Cagle

What my Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

Make you a wholesome answer, ma, make you a wholesome answer. My wits deceased. But sir, such an answer as I can make you shall command, or rather as you say, my mother, no. 

Make you a whole. Can you ask me that question again? 

Nick Cagle

What my Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

Make you a wholesome answer my wit disease. But sir, such an answer as I can make you shall command, or rather as you say, my mother, therefore no more. But to the matter. My mother, you say, 

Nick Cagle

Then thus she says, your behavior has struck her into amazement and admiration. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, wonderful. Sonance. So astonish a mother, but is there no sequel at the heels of this mother’s admiration? 

In part, 

Nick Cagle

She desires to speak with you in her closet, or you go to bed, 

Marcelo Tubert

We shall obey where she, where we shall obey. Where she 10 times our mother have you any further trade with us? 

Nick Cagle

My Lord, you once did love me 

Marcelo Tubert

And do still by these pickers and steal and stealers 

Nick Cagle

Good my Lord. What is your cause of distemper? You do sure you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny your griefs to your friend. 

Marcelo Tubert

Sir, I lack advancement. 

Nick Cagle

How can that be when you have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark? 

Marcelo Tubert

I, sir. But while the grass grows, the proverb is something musty. 

Oh, the recorders, let me see. One to withdraw with you. To withdraw with you. Why do you go about to recover the wind to withdraw with you? Why do you go about to recover the wind of me as if you would drive me into a toil? 

Daniel Cordova

Oh my Lord. If my duty be too bold, my love is too unmanly. 

Marcelo Tubert

I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe? 

My Lord, 

Daniel Cordova

I cannot. I 

Marcelo Tubert

pray. You 

Daniel Cordova

Believe me, I cannot. 

Marcelo Tubert

I do be you. 

Daniel Cordova

I I know no touch of it, my Lord. 

Marcelo Tubert

It is easiest lying. Govern these vintages with your fingers and thumb give it breath with your mouth and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look, you. These are the stops. 

Daniel Cordova

These I cannot command to any utterance of harmony. I have not the skill. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, look, you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me. You would seem to know my stops. You would pluck out the heart of my mystery. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass. And there’s much music, excellent voice in this little organ. Yet, yet, cannot you make it speak blood? Do you think I am easier to blood? Do you think I’m easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument? You will, though you can threaten me. 

Call me what instrument? You will, though you can threaten me. You cannot play upon me. 

Geoffrey Wade

Nice. What, what, what do you guys think? You talk, I don’t wanna talk first all the time. 

Nick Cagle

Any 

Geoffrey Wade

observations, feelings, thoughts? 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, you know, always this first time through is getting those words out in your mouth. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

The responses and stuff. It’s, you realize, oh, I made a, that was a mistake that, 

Geoffrey Wade

We’ll, we’ll give you another, we’ll give you another go at it. Was there anything that sort of leapt out to you in, in spite of Yeah, Just 

Marcelo Tubert

try not to censor myself as, as, as, as I’m going through it. And there’s just some things that, some clarity as, as we went through with it, kind of where we were. And sometimes it’s, you know, two beats behind. 

But it is, because the question in, in my mind too is, so you were saying, you know, he’s already hot, but it’s tempered kind of, and then it explodes. 

Daniel Cordova

Yeah. I, I think the, what you spoke about Jeffy, right before we did it kind of resonated when, when we read through it for me in that there, there actually trying to, trying to give him an out, trying to help him save himself. And he’s kind of rude to them and 

Nick Cagle

it 

Daniel Cordova

throws them off, you know? 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. That’s, I think that’s, that’s a, a perfectly good way to play it. I, I think all three of you are pretty, pretty fucking angry by the end of it. 

I think when I did this, I know I saw Nickol. I, I haven’t seen a lot of hamlets, but I think I saw Nicole Williamson’s in on film and he actually broke the recorder across Gilden Stern’s chest. I think he, he hit him. I think he hit him with it, or I can’t remember if he broke it, but I remember when I did it, I hit the guy so hard that I did break the recorder once. 

I, I think it’s a, it’s a, we get these flashes of, of, of his, you know, there’s, there’s violence, there’s violence in all of us. But again, that’s what makes him so human. There, there are these flashes of, of violence, and I think it’s, it’s pretty close to it here. I think that whole, you know, recorder speech is, you know, it’s way up there. It’s, it’s the top of his range. 

Marcelo Tubert

I, 

Gideon Rappaport

I would only add do it in the words, don’t break the recorder. Yes, 

Geoffrey Wade

of course. You can’t do that. I mean, it turns me in a movie and a, a play. But, you know, this is kind of on, on, on the level of, you know, the, the fight. People argue about this, whether it’s over, whether it’s in or next to Ophelia’s grave. But you know, when he’s kind of screaming at Laertes, you know, what do you want me to do? Drink poison, eat a crocodile. You know, it’s, it’s pretty out there. Yeah. 

And, and I, and I think again, a a, as you said, Dan Giler and Rosecrans are feeling the pressure from, from above certainly. So they, they need to get this done. And, you know, I think, again, in, in an actorly way, and you can take this or not, Marcelo, he, he is high. 

And I think that’s making him think very quickly. Indeed. You know, the way we can sometimes when we’re, you know, in a, in a bit of a passion. So he may not be shouting him at, at the beginning, but I think he’s, he’s very, very quick with them. He’s inter he’s, and it’s, again, we have these lovely, you know, embedded stage directions. 

He says vouchers may, where do you serve a whole history? The king sir. I sir, what? Of him? I mean, you won’t, you can’t even let him get a sentence out. You know? He, he, it’s, it’s that kinda thing. Doesn’t mean he’s shouting at them yet, but I think 

Gideon Rappaport

there’s adrenaline. It’s adrenaline. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. There’s a controlled 

fury passion, whatever, you know, he’s, he’s released, he’s been held down now for three acts. And it’s like a, a boil has been lad to something. 

I just have a couple things I wanna say. Oh, again, you know, a lovely embedded stage, direction start not so wildly. Where, where is who says that? Gilden stern. 

Daniel Cordova

Yeah. Like 3 35. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. Good mother. Put some frame and start not so wildly from my affair. So he’s Hamlet is verbally and I, I would think, you know, in an actor’s way, he physically, he’s he’s all over the place. 

And, and like, whoa. Settle down. Settle down. Right. 

Marcelo Tubert

I’m okay. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. That’s a, a lovely embedded stage direction. 

Nick, will you say what my Lord? And I think you got it right when you did it the second time. 

Nick Cagle

I know the first 

Gideon Rappaport

time 

Nick Cagle

was wrong. 

Geoffrey Wade

Cool. 

Nick Cagle

I know. 

Geoffrey Wade

Here’s an interesting thing, and this is a question for you, Gideon, I will obey where she 10 times my mother. 

I, when I think I always, I think, I haven’t really realized this, but I would, if she were 10 times my mother, 

if he’s saying I I, I would obey even, even if she weren’t my mother, it’s is the way it should be. But 10 times his mother when with the thing he thinks of his mother as at the moment, which is just, you know, step above a whore. 

It’s even if she were 10 times worse than she is, I would go to her. Is that what that he’s actually Saying? 

Gideon Rappaport

I think, 

Geoffrey Wade

yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. I I mean there’s a joke in it, which is the, the thing is absurd. You can’t be more than, you know, his mother wants. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

And He’s making it arithmetical when it’s moral. But yes, the implication. 

Geoffrey Wade

That’s it. That’s of course, that’s, that’s why I’ve always been confused all these years. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. Yeah. He’s, he’s making a kind of joke to them in a kind, in a courtly, rational, irrational way. It’s the kind of joke that he makes when he calls Claudius my mother. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s that kind of absurdity. Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

To 

Gideon Rappaport

punctuate what he’s saying. 

Nick Cagle

Hmm. 

Geoffrey Wade

This thing, the, the musty saying, the grass grows, and this is again, something I’ve stolen from somebody, but take it as you will, 

I’m, 

Gideon Rappaport

As the grass grows, the 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes rose cran says the, the king has himself has said, you have the succession and Hamlet says, I serve, but well, the grass grows. The proverb is something musty I think can be read as a sort of veiled threat. Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s 

Geoffrey Wade

a, 

Gideon Rappaport

it’s a ve it’s veiled ambition. I 

Geoffrey Wade

Veiled Ambition. 

Gideon Rappaport

I’m sitting here not being king while the grass is growing. Well, the, the, the saying is, while the grass grows, the horse, the steed stars, 

Geoffrey Wade

right. Grass 

Gideon Rappaport

is growing over there, but the horse can’t get to it. ’cause he is fenced in. 

Geoffrey Wade

So he is saying, yeah, that bit grass, but he, he’s there might be a little implied. 

I should do something about it. Maybe. I don’t know. Well, 

Gideon Rappaport

he’s implying to them that he, it it is a threat that he’s implying to them that he’s frustrated with not having his ambition. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. One last thing. 3 94 

Marcello, and you’d probably get this when you do it again, your line, why I look is 3 94. Why look you how unworthy a thing you make of me, you would play upon me that the, that this is a place where you do want to hit the pronoun 

Gideon Rappaport

Twice, but not times. 

Geoffrey Wade

You’re, you’re comparing yourself to the, the recorder, to the flute. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. How unworthy a thing you’d make of me. You would play, you would play upon me. You would, 

Geoffrey Wade

you’d play upon me. 

Gideon Rappaport

You, 

Geoffrey Wade

nobody stops 

Gideon Rappaport

Like a recorder. 

Geoffrey Wade

You play play on me like I was a fucking instrument. Right? 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. Okay. 

Geoffrey Wade

But 

Gideon Rappaport

you, but, but you don’t carry that over to the mystery, to my mystery. There you wanna hit mystery? Yes. I wanna talk about that in a second. 

Marcelo Tubert

You 

Geoffrey Wade

Good? Those, those are the only little things I had. But you do talk about the, the heart of my mystery. I think it’s a fascinating phrase in the middle of the play. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. So the problem with this word is it means two things and comes from two sources. One of the sources, which is the primary one here, and we lose it, is ministerium. Ministerium means service. And it means basically your job or your profession or what you’re up to, what you do. And that’s what Hamlet means at the basic level. You wanna know what I’m up to. 

I’m not telling you what I’m up to. 

Nick Cagle

Hmm. 

Gideon Rappaport

And there’s a pun, of course, on this second meeting, which comes from Mysterium, which comes from the ancient word for a, the servant of a, of a God in a divine. Right? So we get all our words about mystery from that. So Shakespeare means the pun, but he doesn’t mean it the way people take it. He doesn’t mean that the, the whole story of Hamlet is about Hamlet being mysterious. What he means at the literal level is you wanna know what I’m up to and you’re not. You don’t. 

So I just think you have to have ministerium in mind rather than mysterium. 

Okay. We go backwards now. 3 77, recover the wind of me as if you would drive me into a toil. Yeah. It’s an image from hunting. If you get, if you get on the windward side of the animal, he can smell you and run away. So you’re, you’re trying to get onto the downwind side of the animal so he can’t smell. You drive into a toil means into a, a trap or a net 

Geoffrey Wade

And another sort of stage direction too. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 360 4 pickers and Steelers. He means his hands. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

Because in the catechism, I’ll read you the line, the list of duties to one’s neighbor after the 10 commandments is to keep my hands from picking and stealing. 

Geoffrey Wade

Oh, I never knew that. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. So 

Geoffrey Wade

like the 11th, the 11th commandment. 

Gideon Rappaport

Well, it’s, it comes after them. There are a lot. There are others too. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

But the point is that when he says by these pickers and Steelers, he’s implying the oath by this hand, which is a way of swearing. But he’s calling them pickers and Steelers because there’s an implication about at, at a subterranean level about ambition, but more directly about rosencrantz and Gilden stern trying to steal knowledge or information from him. 

I love you by these pickers and Steelers, which are immoral human, all humans fallen and tending to pick and steal. And then the last one is line 3 34. 

Geoffrey Wade

Oh purgation. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Or perhaps plunge him into more color. So there’s do, there’s a double layer here going on. The doctor would purge him of the humors that he’s suffering from, from too much drinking. That’s at one level. And if I were his doctor, I might purge him, put him into more collar, meaning kill him and send him to hell. 

Although he is not saying that. But we get it. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. That’s it. 

Geoffrey Wade

Good. Let’s, I think we’re gonna have just time to do this. We’re gonna go through this and then we’re gonna do the rose and crans and guild and stern. So I’m gonna go through this without, without comment at the end. And then we’ll go to the rosecrans. Go. See. We should just get it done. 

So make sure everybody’s unmuted and 

Daniel Cordova

Good. My Lord vouch. Save me a word with you, 

Marcelo Tubert

Sir. A whole story. 

Daniel Cordova

The king, sir. 

Marcelo Tubert

Hi Sir. What of them 

Daniel Cordova

In his retirement Marvelous distempered 

Marcelo Tubert

With drinks? Sir? N 

Daniel Cordova

no, my Lord, with collar, 

Marcelo Tubert

Your wisdom should tell itself more richer to signify this to the doctor, for, for me to put him to his pation would perhaps plunge him into more collar. 

Daniel Cordova

Good. My Lord. Put your discourse into some frame and start not so wildly for my affair, 

Marcelo Tubert

I am tames, sir, pronounce 

Daniel Cordova

The queen. Your mother, in most great affection, affliction of spirit, heth, sent me to you. 

Marcelo Tubert

You are welcome 

Daniel Cordova

Name. Good. My Lord. This courtesy is not of of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother’s commandment. If not your pardon. And my return shall be the end of my business. 

Marcelo Tubert

Sir, I cannot. 

Nick Cagle

What my Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

Make you a wholesome answer. My wits diseased. But sir, such an answer as I can make you shall command, or rather as you say, my mother, or rather as you say, shoot. Lemme say that again. Make you a wholesome answer my which diseased. But sir, such an answer as I can make you shall command, or rather as you say, my mother, therefore no more, but therefore no more. But to the matter. My mother. You say 

Nick Cagle

Then thus she says, your behavior has struck her into amazement and admiration. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother. But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother’s admiration? 

Nick Cagle

She desires to speak with you in her closet. There you go to bed. 

Marcelo Tubert

We shall obey. Where, where she 10 times our mother Have you any further trade with us? 

Nick Cagle

My Lord, you once did love me. 

Marcelo Tubert

I do still ladies pickers and stealers. 

Nick Cagle

Good my Lord. What’s your cause of distemper? You do surely bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny your griefs to your friend. 

Marcelo Tubert

Sir, I like advancement. 

Nick Cagle

How can that be when you have the voice of the king himself or your succession in Denmark? 

Marcelo Tubert

I, sir. But while the grass grows that proverb something must, oh, the recorders. Let me see. One to withdraw with you. Why do you go about to recover the wind to withdraw with you? Why do you go about to recover the wind of me as if you would drive me into a toil? 

Daniel Cordova

Oh my Lord. If my duty be too bold, my love is too unmanly. 

Marcelo Tubert

I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe? 

Daniel Cordova

My Lord, I cannot. 

Marcelo Tubert

I pray. You 

Daniel Cordova

Believe me. I cannot. 

Marcelo Tubert

I do dece. You. 

Daniel Cordova

I know. No touch of it. My Lord. It is 

Marcelo Tubert

as easy as lying. Govern depen it govern these vintages with your fingers and thumb give it breath with your mouth and it will discourse the most eloquent music. Look you. These are the stops. 

Daniel Cordova

But these I can, I cannot command to any utterance of harmony. I have not the skill. 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, I look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me. You, you would play upon me. You would seem to know my stops. You would pluck out the heart of my mystery. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass. And there is much music, excellent voice in this little organ. Yet cannot you make it speak blood? Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe called me? What instrument? You will, though you can threaten me. You cannot play upon me. 

Geoffrey Wade

Good. We’re gonna move on. I just have one note. General note, cannot, should, usually, 

Marcelo Tubert

Cannot, cannot, 

Gideon Rappaport

Cannot, 

Geoffrey Wade

Cannot. The stress should go on the first syllable. 

Nick Cagle

Cannot. 

Geoffrey Wade

Cannot. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

There, there might be a few exceptions, but none in this speech that I can see necessarily. 

Gideon Rappaport

So 

Geoffrey Wade

I 

Gideon Rappaport

have to, I have to make one correction. 

Geoffrey Wade

Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

Drive me to a toil. The hunter wants to be on the upwind side and the scent of him drives the animal into the net. I had it backwards before. 

I didn’t want people to go off with the wrong idea. 

Yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

You want, you wanna be downwind, you 

Gideon Rappaport

Wanna be upwind, 

Marcelo Tubert

I Mean, upland 

Gideon Rappaport

Upwind. And then your scent drives him forward into the net, 

Geoffrey Wade

Into the trap. 

Marcelo Tubert

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Because well, if you were actually hunting, hunting without the trap, right? Yeah. You would be downwind so that the animal doesn’t spill. You could sneak up on it. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right? But, but this is the reverse of that. ’cause we’re driving him into a trap. 

Sorry, I didn’t mean to take time on that. Go on. 

Geoffrey Wade

It’s okay. That’s okay. Let’s go to, 

hang on, let’s go to Rose Krants and Gil Erner dead, except I can’t remember. Oh, what 

Marcelo Tubert

an amazing play also, right? 

Geoffrey Wade

Hmm. 

Marcelo Tubert

An amazing play. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. Yeah, it is. I, I love it. Back to, yeah. So it’s, if you guys have the script there that I sent, this is, 

Marcelo Tubert

Well, I have, 

Geoffrey Wade

Or if you have the, the actual one. It’s the beginning of, of 

Marcelo Tubert

Act two. 

Geoffrey Wade

Act two. 

Marcelo Tubert

Where do we actually start this scene? Do we start after Bologna? 

Geoffrey Wade

Let’s, let’s start after, 

Marcelo Tubert

Like after When Gilster says, Hmm. Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yes. 

Marcelo Tubert

Buzz. What? Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

So this is Rosecrans and Gilden Stern. And this is at, this comes after that first scene that we did. Of course, right? 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. 

Nick Cagle

What page is this in the script, you guys? 

Gideon Rappaport

43. 

Geoffrey Wade

43 3 in the script, or if you’re looking at the pdf f it’s page 22. I 

Marcelo Tubert

see. Is there a pdf of the scene? 

Geoffrey Wade

No, I I sent the whole It’s the whole script. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yeah. That, yeah. It’s, it’s, so I can’t work with that. So anyway, I have the real script here. I mean, not, I mean, Just, 

Geoffrey Wade

you’re not in this scene anyway this time, right? 

Nick Cagle

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

So let’s just, let’s just have a, a quick go at it. It’s not terribly long. See what, see what you guys think. 

Nick Cagle

Which line are we starting at, Jeff? 

Geoffrey Wade

Let start with. Hmm. Yes. 

Nick Cagle

What 

Geoffrey Wade

I thought you 

Daniel Cordova

What’s the line number? 

Geoffrey Wade

The 

Daniel Cordova

Just kidding. Just kidding. It’s about the middle of page 43. Right? 

Nick Cagle

Got it. Yeah. Yeah. 

Marcelo Tubert

That’s funny. I got it. No 

Geoffrey Wade

there. 

Daniel Cordova

Hmm. 

Nick Cagle

Yes. 

Daniel Cordova

What 

Nick Cagle

I thought you 

Daniel Cordova

No. 

Nick Cagle

Ah, 

Daniel Cordova

I think we can say we made some headway. 

Nick Cagle

You think so? 

Daniel Cordova

I think we can say that. 

Nick Cagle

I think we could say we made, he made us look ridiculous. 

Daniel Cordova

We played it close to the chest. Of course. 

Nick Cagle

Question and answer. Old ways are the best ways. He was scoring off us all down the line. 

Daniel Cordova

He caught us on the wrong foot once or twice perhaps. But I thought we gained some ground. 

Nick Cagle

He murdered us. 

Daniel Cordova

He might have had the edge. 

Nick Cagle

27 3. And you think he might have had the he might have had the edge. He murdered us. 

Daniel Cordova

What about our evasions? 

Nick Cagle

Oh, our evasions were lovely. Were you sent for He says, my Lord. We were sent for, I didn’t know where to put myself. 

Daniel Cordova

He had six rhetorics. 

Nick Cagle

It was the question and answer. All right. 27 questions. He got out in 10 minutes and answered seven questions. Oh, sorry. And answered three. I was waiting for you to delve. 

When is he going to start delving? I asked myself, 

Daniel Cordova

And two repetitions. 

Nick Cagle

Hardly a leading question between us. 

Daniel Cordova

We got his symptoms, didn’t we? Half 

Nick Cagle

of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn’t mean anything at all. 

Daniel Cordova

Thwarted ambition, a sense of grievance. That’s my diagnosis. 

Nick Cagle

Six rhetorical and two repetition leaving 19, of which we answered 15. And what do we get in return? He’s depressed. 

Denmark’s a prison. And he’d rather live, in a nutshell, some shadow play about the nature of ambition, which never got down to cases. And finally, one direct question, which might have led somewhere and, and led in fact to his illuminating claim to tell a hawk from a hand saw 

Daniel Cordova

When the wind is southerly 

Nick Cagle

And the weather clear. 

Daniel Cordova

And when it isn’t, he can’t, 

Nick Cagle

He’s at the mercy of the elements. 

Geoffrey Wade

I, we can stop there. It’s, it’s not much. But wait, hang on, come on. How come I can’t move this? Now 

Gideon Rappaport

I’m laughing out loud here. You guys, 

Geoffrey Wade

it, it’s, it’s great. I mean, it’s funny because it’s just the stuff we were talking about. I mean, he, he literally says, 

all we got was thwarted ambition and, and a sense of grievance. Right? That’s my diagnosis, which is exactly what Hamlet wanted him to get. 

By the way, I did count the questions and there are 20. It is, that’s right. There are that many questions in that scene. 

Let, let me see if we can go back. 

Maybe we should start it. 

Let, let’s start it here. And, and Marcelo, let’s have you come in and help out. 

Marcelo Tubert

Okay. 

Geoffrey Wade

Just do this speech, which is on page 42 of, of Rosen Kranz Gold Stern dead. Gentlemen, you’re welcome to elsinore that speech. 

Marcelo Tubert

Yes. 

Geoffrey Wade

And then Gilden Sterns reply, and then Hamlet’s reply. I’m, I am, but mad North Northwest woman. So I know a hawk from a handsaw. And then go from there to Gilden Stern’s. Hmm. 

Yes. What I thought you No. Okay, so we’re gonna cut out the Yeah. 

Daniel Cordova

Lon Stuff. 

Geoffrey Wade

Lon Hamlet stuff. So just take a nice pause there. I’m gonna have you go through it one more time. I know we’re nearly out of time, but I wanna try it one more time. 

Nick Cagle

Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

And you two guys 

make sure you, you take a chance to read the whole play if you haven’t. So you can sort of get your relationship. But Gild and Stern is defending what he thinks was a, was a, you know, I kind of was good interrogation. And, and Rosen Crans is absolutely, you know, beside himself with, with, you know, with. And he says, oh, our evasions were lovely. Were you sent for? He says, oh my Lord. We were sent for, I didn’t know where to put myself. Right? That 

Nick Cagle

you’re, 

Geoffrey Wade

that, that, that kind stuff. So with without, without going any further than that. 

Golden Stones. See how defensive you can be. And Rose Andres, see how just beside yourself you can be with being sort of let down with, with what he led you into. Okay, let’s start again from Hamlet’s line. Gentlemen, you’re welcome to Elsinore. Go ahead 

Marcelo Tubert

Gentlemen. You are welcome to elsinor your hands. Come then the pance of welcome is fashion and ceremony. Let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent, lest my extent to the players, which I tell you must show fairly outwards, should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome. 

But my uncle, father, and aunt mother are deceived 

Daniel Cordova

In what? My Lord 

Marcelo Tubert

I am, but mad north northwest when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. 

Daniel Cordova

Hmm. 

Nick Cagle

Yes. 

Daniel Cordova

What 

Nick Cagle

I thought you 

Daniel Cordova

No, 

I think we can say we made some headway. You 

Nick Cagle

think so? I Think we 

Daniel Cordova

can say that. 

Nick Cagle

I think we can say, he made us look ridiculous. 

Daniel Cordova

We played it close to the chest. Of course. 

Nick Cagle

Question and answer old ways or best ways. He was scoring off us all down the line. 

Daniel Cordova

He caught us on the wrong foot once or twice perhaps, but I thought we gained some ground. He 

Nick Cagle

murdered us. 

Daniel Cordova

He might have had the edge. 

Nick Cagle

27 3. And do you think he might have had the edge? He murdered us. 

Daniel Cordova

Oh, what about our evasions? 

Nick Cagle

Oh, our evasions were lovely. Were you sent four? He says, my Lord, we were sent four. I didn’t know where to put myself. 

Daniel Cordova

He had six rhetorical. 

Nick Cagle

It was question and answer. All right. 27 questions. He got out in 10 minutes and answered three. 

I was waiting for you to delve. When is he gonna start delving? I asked myself 

Daniel Cordova

And two repetitions, 

Nick Cagle

Hardly leading questions between us. We 

Daniel Cordova

got his symptoms, didn’t we? 

Nick Cagle

Half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn’t mean anything at all 

Daniel Cordova

Toward ambition, A sense of grievance. That’s my diagnosis. 

Nick Cagle

Six rhetorical and two repetition leaving 19 of which we answered 15. And what do we get in return? He’s depressed. 

Denmark’s a prison. And he’d rather live, in a nutshell, some shadow play about the nature of ambition, which never got down to cases. And finally, one direct question, which might have led somewhere and led in fact to an illuminating claim that he could tell claim to tell a hawk from a handsaw 

Daniel Cordova

When the wind is southerly 

Nick Cagle

And the weather’s clear, 

Daniel Cordova

And when it isn’t, he can’t, 

Nick Cagle

He’s at the mercy of the elements. Is that southerly? 

Geoffrey Wade

Hang on, hang on. I’m sorry. I was trying to stop y’all. Let, let’s stop it with 

Yeah, go to the, he’s at the mercy of the elements. 

We’re gonna stop. I have like three minutes, but I think we’ve made a really interesting start on it. And I am looking forward to hearing other people’s takes on, on the same stuff we’ve gone over. 

Anybody have anything they wanna say quick before we go? 

Gideon Rappaport

I just wanna say 27 3 is the score. 27 to three he won. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. 

Nick Cagle

Oh, 

Geoffrey Wade

that’s right. And then, and then he goes through the nature of the actual questions. Well, you know, some of ’em were rhetorical, some of them. Yeah. 

I, 

Daniel Cordova

I just wanna say, I think it, it’s, it’s nice that in, you know, in the stopper piece, there’s actually a little bit more development of the character, the, the differences between the two characters, which can inform what happens in the Hamlet piece. A 

Geoffrey Wade

hundred percent. That’s what I was gonna say. I found it very interesting. And I also noticed something in the pre, in the previous scene, that one where you noted Dan, that Gilden Stern starts it, and then Rosen Kran sort of finishes it and I think w there’s some character thing going on there. I think Gilden Stern perhaps gives up in the middle of the scene. It’s like, fuck, I can’t fucking deal with this guy. 

Daniel Cordova

And then she’s gonna keep score. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah. And then Rosecrans comes in and goes at it a slightly different way. So I think we can let these things inform each other. You know, who is it that says you love? Who is it that says you’re gonna go to prison? And the other guy says, you love me once, why do let me help you out? Right. Those are two different approaches. 

Very good. I look 

Gideon Rappaport

forward, 

Geoffrey Wade

I Just, 

Gideon Rappaport

I want you to know that you guys were hilarious. I was just giggling the whole time. 

Geoffrey Wade

Yeah, I was too. That’s very 

Gideon Rappaport

fun. 

Geoffrey Wade

I was muted. Look, look at them both. I don’t know who’s gonna, maybe I’ll decide during the week, but someone else will, will be doing Hamlet and we’ll, we’ll switch them around, but don’t worry, we have three whole sessions to go, so everybody will get several cracks at this. 

Marcelo Tubert

Cool. 

Geoffrey Wade

And I am going to leave it there at six o’clock. Nathan, you got a closing remark for us? 

Nathan Agin

Yeah, but no, it was, it was wonderful. And it, it really, you know, even knowing that we’ll look at both texts, it, it doesn’t, it doesn’t really hit you until you’re hearing and listening and watching the scene from Shakespeare’s play and then the stopper play right afterward that you just, it’s just like both inform the others as you guys were just talking about. And it’s just a really, really fun, I I know a lot of theaters have done these two plays in Rep, which I’ve always thought would be a, a great treat for audiences to see the same actors playing the same characters in those plays. 

A and there’s also that lead blessing play Forton bra, which I, I thought could be like another triple where it’s just like, if you could do all three plays in, I think, and, and they all have just such different styles, but I think it’d be a lot of fun for audiences to, to kind of get a whole complete picture of these characters. But this was wonderful. I wanna encourage those people who’ve been checking this out, come on back for week two. It’s, we’re, we’re gonna, you know, keep getting deeper and you know, as as mentioned, you’ll see different actors playing different. So it’s, it’s, it’s almost like we’re doing a mini double casting, so to speak, that, that we get to see different character, different actors, play the same characters, and just get to see what a different personality brings to it and, and all that. So it’s, it’s really great. 

This is wonderful. Thank you guys all for, for a great first week here. Thanks. 

Marcelo Tubert

Thank you. Thanks everybody. 

Geoffrey Wade

See you next Thursday at an hour later for 

Nathan Agin

Yes. Yeah, at the normal time. Yeah. 

Geoffrey Wade

I will see 

Gideon Rappaport

you in two weeks. I’m missing next Thursday for that’s 

Nathan Agin

right 

Gideon Rappaport

up, but if questions arise during the time, email me and I’ll be happy to, to try to respond in email. 

Geoffrey Wade

Okay. 

Marcelo Tubert

Thanks everybody. 

Geoffrey Wade

Thank you. Thank you. 

Nathan Agin

See you 

Geoffrey Wade

next week. 

Nathan Agin

Take Care everybody. 

Nick Cagle

Thanks 

Geoffrey Wade

Guys. 



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Filed Under: Podcast, Workshop Tagged With: explicit, hamlet, scene work, shakespeare, stoppard, text work, virtual, workshop, zoom

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Join The Working Actor’s Dispatch!

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Keys the Pro’s Use to Unlock Any ScriptPlus 2 other FREE guides: 10 Ways to Stop Worrying and Start Working, and 12 Top Acting Tips from Season 1!

Get your copy of this online guide of the actual questions, approach, and PROCESS the professionals use when working on ANY material: plays, scripts, audiobooks, and more...⁠from actors who've been there!⁠ Go beyond acting theory and hear from professionals that have worked for 40+ years...where the rubber meets the road.

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UNCLE VANYA Final Session: “Echoes of the Past” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions]

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Our “In Memoriam” video celebrating working artists, 2023-2024

UNCLE VANYA Final Session: “Echoes of the Past” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions]

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