KING LEAR Final Session: “The Art of Character and Conflict” – Shakespeare – Act 2, Scene 4 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions]

KING LEAR Final Session: “The Art of Character and Conflict” – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan Agin: All right, so, I’ve admitted, people from the waiting room. And we’ll give, you know, maybe another 30 seconds or so just in case anyone, is still. Still finding parking. You know, making sure they have everything they need. Holding the curtain briefly.

Lizzie King-Hall: Why did that make me laugh?

Annie Occhiogrosso: So very funny.

Nathan Agin: Those of us who have been to a lot of theater and running late know. Know what it’s like.

Jeanne Sakata: Randall. Annie, I’m dying to know. Have you ever, worked on Arthur Miller?

Lizzie King-Hall: Hm.

Annie Occhiogrosso: We worked with. We haven’t done a play, but we did immerse in, With. With, All My Sons. Because we had an actress who, asked us if she. She was cast as the mother. This is one of another thing that we did with various actors. she would come to New Jersey. She lives in the set in South Carolina. She would come for about two weeks and have us take her through the whole role. And so that allowed us to learn the play as we were helping her. And we fell in love with. Randy almost did a production. What? Randy. Just before the pandemic, I think. Right. Or was it right after? But they wanted us at Centenary to do a production of All My Sons. but it just never. We just couldn’t find the time to do it.

Randall Duk Kim: So we.

Randall Duk Kim: We discovered that that play has such close links with ancient Greek tragedy.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, Arthur Miller. You can. You can feel the ancient Greek roots on that. That piece.

Jeanne Sakata: M.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I. I did do An Enemy of the People. And. And that’s what made us so interested in doing Arthur Miller. Because we love. And we have our own translation of An Enemy of the People. It was done by a man by the name of John Wyatt who worked at our theater. He knew the roots of so many languages that there was none he couldn’t learn within two weeks. And he learned Hawaiian. he did all of our translations because he knew that the punctuation meant a lot to us. Whenever he could, he would go to the playwright’s handwritten notes or, the original. As close to the original text to show us every dot, dot, or, you know, ellipse or every piece of punctuation. And so it was as a, wonderful translation, of Enemy of the People. He did our Oedipus. He did, Ah. What was the other one? Servant of Two Masters. Comedy. Comedy of asses.

Tom Farber: one X.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. Right. I would.

Jeanne Sakata: I’d wondered. I wondered, Randy, if you had ever played a Willy Lohman.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, my God.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think that would be amazing.

Jeanne Sakata: You know, one of the Books I have here. It’s. Oh, I have it somewhere. It’s, Salesman in Beijing. When.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Jeanne Sakata: I loved it because, you know, that whole thing of, well, you grow in your career, in your early career, you read all these amazing plays, but then you say, well, I’ve never seen anybody that looks like me do that.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s right.

Jeanne Sakata: So when I opened up that book, I said, oh, my God, here’s like an Asian, a Chinese, Loman family. And immediately that put it in my head, oh, someday I hope I get to do that. And, all my sons too. I love that place. I’m so, so glad you worked on it.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: Well, for those watching, we could talk about theater.

Nathan Agin: Oh, sorry. No, no, nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with the conversation. That’s just. That’s. That’s the beautiful part about all of this. And I was thinking, I’m like, boy, what an amazing service, to have, two actors, and theater artists like Randall and Annie at your disposal to take you through an entire play. we did a workshop where a couple actors, who had played Lord and Lady M. From Shakespeare’s play worked. you know, kind of took actors through those roles, which was. Which was really fascinating. And it’s just like. It’s so interesting to look at a play from that perspective where you’re tracking the characters, which you guys did a little bit, you know, with. With the scenes leading up to. To what you’re doing. and so, yeah, no, it’s. It’s, it’s. It’s really exciting. And, Magdalene put in the chat that she. She loves this conversation and those amazing books. So, thank you, Magdalene, for. For that. and I’m just going to make a couple adjustments here. Okay. We’ll try to keep, anything that comes in technically to a minimum to. So that all of you guys, all of you artists can, you know, just kind of focus on the work. But I think we can, get started here. I think we’re all ready to go. So. Hi, everybody. My name is Nathan Agan. Welcome to, the rehearsal room. A faction of the Working Actors Journey. we’ve been doing these, workshops monthly. We restarted them earlier this year, and we’ve been doing them here, online. And it’s been a great place to, allow artists to explore text in depth in, a way that they rarely get to do even in professional theater. so this has been a lot of fun, and we focus on one scene over the Course of a month. and what’s also exciting for me as a producer, but then I think for the artists themselves. And we were just talking about this a little bit when Jeannie brought up the book. it was, What was it, what was the title of the book in Beijing? Jeanne?

Jeanne Sakata: Salesman in Beijing.

Nathan Agin: Salesman in Beijing. Well, one of the things I love about these workshops is that we are not beholden to the same, maybe constructs or ideas that some theaters feel like they have to, be tied to in terms of casting or things like that. We can be more conscious with gender or age or race than maybe some theaters feel they can be. So it’s. It’s been very refreshing and exciting to see actors explore parts that maybe they feel like they’ve they’ve missed or they’ve been passed them by or whatever. Just, just getting the chance to dive into the words and the characters have been really exciting. And then of course, oftentimes we can bring artists together who either have never worked together because of geographic reason reasons, or it’s been 20 or 30 years since they’ve worked with people. so that’s, that’s been a fun part of this too. So, but today we’re going to focus on the final session of King, Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. And I’ll let everybody in the group introduce themselves, briefly in just a second. Now I’ll wrap up my little, administrative things here. We are, patron supported, to cover some of the production costs. So I just want to give a quick shout out to our patrons. Joan, Michelle, Christian, Jim Magdalene, Ivar, Danielle, Kevin and Frank. Thank you so much for supporting this work and allowing it to be possible. and in July, we are going to focus on an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s to the Lighthouse. Director, Brian Nelson wanted to look at that novel. It was written I think in 1927. And he’s kind of put together an adaptation and we, we have a great, great cast. We have professional actors. Alberto Isaac, Angie Bird, Charlotte Northeast, and Mike Gerbe. And once again we have actors far flung all over the country coming together to work on this. and for those, watching, you can. I’ll be sure to include links if you’d like to sign up to receive both video and audio replays of those sessions. Typically those will be available on Thursdays, through the month of July. So, yeah, we have that coming up and just excited to continue this going and just the Opportunity for this work to happen. It, never gets old for me. I’m like a kid in a candy store every week where it’s just exciting to hear these discussions and all this stuff. And it seems the artists really enjoy this too. So I, think that’s enough for me. I will mention, just for the purposes of questions, if you’re unfamiliar with Randall, and Annie’s work, they largely focus on the First Folio. And of course there are other discussions that this group has been having, along the way. But that is where their work is kind of geared. So if you have any questions, about First Folio work or things that you have about the text, this is a great place to bring that m up. You can drop those questions in the chat and I’ll collect all those toward the end. it’s not to say that we can’t discuss, stylistic, or. Or character, situations, but you, know, there can be an infinite number of interpretations of the scenes. But you know, I think. I think for purposes today, as they like to say, the mantra here is like, let’s just. Let’s do the play. Let’s do the play. So, that’s what we’re going to focus on. and And that’s that. So I will again be monitoring the chat for any questions. I’ll come back in a little bit once the group has kind of done whatever work they’d like to. and I hope you enjoy it. But with that, I’ll turn it over to Randall and Annie and the rest of the group. And if, like I said, if you guys can do just some brief, very brief introductions of who you are and ah, your. Your connections to either Shakespeare or other things like that, that would be great. And I’ll disappear.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay. Come back.

Nathan Agin: I will, I will.

Randall Duk Kim: Don’t worry. Later.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Who would like to start?

Randall Duk Kim: You go first.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I co founded the American Players Theater with Randall Kim. We have shared a wonderful, partnership, in the theater for 53 years. And so the kind of directing that I think you’ll see today is steeped in the text. I’m not a conceptualist. I’m somebody who says, let’s look at the script and let’s see if we can have Shakespeare’s script come alive. When we started the American Players Theater, we promised the audience that they could come up our wonderful hill and see the plays totally uncut, and not updated because we were very curious about, the play itself. And that’s what we’re trying to pass on now, to this group of. Of actors. And we’re having a wonderful time doing it. So, Randy, I guess you can pick it up from there, huh? Huh?

Randall Duk Kim: I’m actor and his fellow explorer. That’s it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Randy, say a little bit about your background.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, I started acting when I was 18 years old. my. The main influences at that period. I had seen a production of Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, and that turned me on to a material that I would never have dreamed of getting involved with. Then, I saw an actor by the name of Morris Karnofsky who gave me the light that I needed to light my way through life and my work. He set the example. He was a model. and of course, he was the old man in the. The group theater during the 30s. but I had, his shylock. I was, particularly indelibly imprinted on my soul. And I tried to find how that kind of work could be done. And I’ve spent my life trying to find it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think one of the things that Randy rarely mentions in the connection with King Lear is that, Morris and his wife, Phoebe Brand, came out to the American Players Theater and directed Randy in King Lear. I sat by their side and assisted them. but it was wonderful to see Morris pass his Lear on to Randy. I wish it could have all been there. it was magnificent. But that. That made Lear very special to us. And that’s why we continued working on it even till today. Yeah. Yeah. So, Thomas, shall we sneak down to you?

Tom Farber: Yeah, we can do that.

Nathan Agin: hello, everyone.

Tom Farber: My name is, Tom Farber. I started acting when I was 15 years old. I mostly did contemporary plays. A few musicals here and there as well. I met Randy and Annie when I was 19. I had the option to either do an English Shakespeare class or do an intensive with them. And I chose to do an intensive of Merchant of Venice with them and took one look at Randy and Annie’s talent. I was like, well, this is the pedestal. This is where I have to be with my acting now. and I’ve recently started working with them consistently again. I think November of last year is when we started really working together on the classics. and, that’s all I really have to say.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good. And Jeanne.

Jeanne Sakata: Hi, everyone. I’m Jeannie Sakata. I am an actor and playwright. I actually started acting kind of late. I was on my way to becoming a. A library and information science specialist. And then I attended East West Players, Asian American company here in Los Angeles, and saw a play about a, Japanese American farming family, Wakako Yamauchi’s Emma Sol Shall Dance. And that totally turned my life around. I became an actor starting off at east west and then branching out into regional theater and some TV and film, and also became a playwright. And I wrote a solo show about a young college student named Gordon Hirabayashi, who during World War II, defied and legally challenged government orders to mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. And I feel very fortunate to have had the career I’ve had. But one thing that I’ve always regretted is that I haven’t been able to do as much classical theater as I hoped when I was first starting out. So, a workshop like this is just balm for the soul for me. And, thank you, Annie. And thank you, Randall. And, thank you, Nathan, for the opportunity.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And Lizzie.

Lizzie King-Hall: My name is Lizzie King Hall.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am a good example of when they tell you only become an actor if there’s nothing else you could possibly do. because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’ve been doing Shakespeare since high school, and it’s wonderful. We talked a little bit during this month about growing, with it. It’s such a human experience to play Shakespeare that it, always applies to your life along the way. So it’s wonderful to touch in at this age, at this moment with, with these actors and this character. So I, I, I too, thank everyone.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good, good. I guess then we should begin.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: and I thought the best way to do it was to, would be to start with the scene. Unless you guys had any questions or thoughts about last week or, or any of the work. If you do, I’ll open it up to you. If not, let’s just jump in and do the same.

Lizzie King-Hall: Great.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Tom Farber: I’m good to just jump in?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay. Good.

Randall Duk Kim: All right. Good morrow to you both.

Tom Farber: Hail to your grace.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am glad to see your highness.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan, I, I know you are. I have reason to, to think that if thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb. Sepulchering an adulteress. are you free? some other time for that. Beloved Regan, thy sister’s naught she hath tied Sharp toothed unkindness like a vulture here I can scarcely speak to thee. Thou wouldst not believe with how depraved a quality. O Regan.

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, sir, take patience. I have Hope you less know how to value her desert than she to scant her duty.

Randall Duk Kim: Say, how’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I cannot think my sister in the least would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance, she have restrained the riots of your followers. Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame.

Randall Duk Kim: My curse is on her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Sir, you are old. Nature in you stands on the very verge of his confine. You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore I pray you, that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask her forgiveness you but mark how that becomes a house. Dear daughter, I confess that I’m old. Age is unnecessary. On my knees I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food.

Lizzie King-Hall: Good sir, no more. These are unsightly tricks. Return you to my sister.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Never.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan. She hath abated me of half my train, looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue, most serpent like, upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on her in grateful top. Strike her young bones, you taking airs with lameness. Fie, sir, fie. Nimble lightnings dart your blinding flames into her scornful eyes, infect her beauty. You fen sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to fall and blister the blest gods.

Lizzie King-Hall: So you will wish on me when the rash mood is on.

Randall Duk Kim: No, no, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse. Thy tender hefted nature shall not give thee o’er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce. But thine to comfort and not burn.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Tis not in m thee what, tis not in thee.

Randall Duk Kim: Tis not in thee to grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, to bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, and in conclusion, to oppose the to bolt the door against my coming in. Thou better knowest the offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. Thy half of the kingdom hast thou not forgot wherein I thee endowed.

Lizzie King-Hall: But, sir, to the purpose.

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man in the stocks?

Tom Farber: What trumpet’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I note my sister’s. This approves her letter, that she would soon be here.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Is your lady come?

Randall Duk Kim: Yea, this is a slave, whose easy borrow’d pride dwells in the sickly grace of her. He follows out varlet, from my sight. What means your grace, who stalk’d my servant Regan? I have good hope thou dost not know on’t. But who comes here? O, heavens. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway allow Obedience. If you yourself are old, make it your cause. Send down and take my part. Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? Regan. Will you take her by the hand?

Jeanne Sakata: Why not by the hand, sir? how have I offended? All’s not offence that indiscretion finds, and dotage terms so.

Randall Duk Kim: Besides, you’re too tough. Will you yet hold? Who stop? My servant.

Tom Farber: I set him there, sir, but his own disorders deserve much less advancement.

Randall Duk Kim: You did you?

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, father, being weak seems so. If, till the expiration of your month you will return and sojourn with my sister, dismissing half your train, come then to me. I am now from home, and out of that provision which shall be needful for your entertainment.

Randall Duk Kim: Return with her and 50 men. Dismiss’d now. Rather I abjure all ruse, and choose the wage against the enmity of the air. Be a comrade with the wolf and owl, necessity sharp pinch’d. Return to her. By the hot blooded France that dowerless took, our youngest born. I could as well be brought to knee his throne and squire like pension, big to keep base life afoot. Return with her. Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter to this detested groom.

Jeanne Sakata: At your choice, sir.

Randall Duk Kim: I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad. Ay, I will not trouble thee. My child will no more meet, no more see one another. But yet thou, art my flesh, my blood, my daughter, or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, which I must needs call mine, knows how’r to boil a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood, that I’ll not chide ye. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not, I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide, judging Jove mend when thou canst, be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, I and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I looked not for you yet, nor am provided for your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister, for those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: This well spoken.

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir. What, 50 followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or so many? Sith it both charge and danger speak gainst so great a number? How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why not, my lord? If then they chance to slack ye, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20. To no more will I give place or notice.

Randall Duk Kim: I gave you all, and in good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Time you gave it.

Randall Duk Kim: Made you my guardians, my depositaries, but kept a reservation to be followed by such a number. What, must I come to you with five and 20, Regan, said you so?

Lizzie King-Hall: And speak again, my lord, no more with me.

Randall Duk Kim: Those wicked creatures yet do look well favoured when others are more wicked. Not being the worst stands in some rank of praise. I’ll go with thee. Thy 50 yet doth double 5 and 20. And thou art, twice her love.

Jeanne Sakata: Hear me, my lord. What need you 5 and 20, 10, or 5, to follow in a house where twice so many have a command to tend you?

Lizzie King-Hall: What need one?

Randall Duk Kim: Reason not the need A, Basest beggars are in the poorest things superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs. Man’s life is cheap as beast. Thou art a lady if only to keep warm were gorgeous. Why, nature needs not without gorgeous wearest, which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need you see me here, you, God, poor old man, as full of grief as age, wretched and bold. If it be you that stir these daughters hearts against their father, fool me not so much to bear it tamely. Touch me with noble anger. And let not women’s weapons, water drops stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural, hags. I will have such revenges on you both. I will do such things. What they are, I know not, but they shall be the, terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep? Oh, I’ll not weep. I have full cause of weeping. But this heart will break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I’ll weep.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Fool.

Randall Duk Kim: I shall go mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good, good. We’ll stop there. And next time I’d like to take it to the very end, if we could. Good. Okay, let me ask. Let me just first ask the question about. How do you find working with the folio?

Nathan Agin: Us?

Annie Occhiogrosso: yeah, you guys.

Tom Farber: I mean, it’s all I know at this point. Working with you too, so.

Randall Duk Kim: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s got a change. But, I, I. It really reminds me of scoring a text. And it’s almost like the score. This is such an obvious thing to say because this is what you’ve been proposing that it is. This is your thesis. It is like a score. so I, But I don’t.

Lizzie King-Hall: Of course, you would memorize It.

Lizzie King-Hall: But as I’m reading just reminds me that there’s an option for length, an option for emphasis, where to take the breath. it is like someone 400 years ago scored, you know, the text.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anybody else?

Jeanne Sakata: Well, when you were talking, was it last week or maybe the last two weeks, Annie. About the commas. I mean, I think that the thing that really came to life for me in this last month is the idea of keeping the text very alive.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes.

Jeanne Sakata: Because I think that. And, you know, like I said, I haven’t done as much classical theater as I would have liked in my career. And I think that I realized. I thought of it in such a. I think a more technical way. You know, the iambic pentameter and, you know, the stresses and where the trochees and the, you know, and all that. And, And I think that, you know, the real delightful thing about working with the first volume, what you said about the punctuation, the commas, really brought that alive for me, especially in the first scene when I’m making that speech, you know, about how I love my father the most. And it really came alive for me, observing the commas and making up that speech on the M, you know, on the fly, right in the moment. Because I totally caught off guard.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes.

Jeanne Sakata: The proposal and also gone roll, you go first. And whole game aspect of it, having to scope out, you know, what are my sisters going to say? So, So similarly, there’s not as many comments for Goneril in this scene, but it really brought alive for certain parts that, you know, when I say, I, hear me. And then I think it’s comma, my lord, that there can be a moment where. Where she’s, you know, I, mean in that moment. He says, I’ll go with. I’ll go with. Conroe, you’re only giving me 25, 50. Sounds good.

Randall Duk Kim: I’ll go with.

Jeanne Sakata: I have to stop him. So it’s hearing me, my lord, Right. All one. But. But that little pause. I began to wonder, why is there that little comma there, you know, And. And, Just little things like that throughout the scene. Little goodies, little tidbits were great.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah. I think. And I think the more you work with it, the more you’ll see it’s an interpretive tool, you know. I’m reminded that when Morris, gathered everyone around the table to do Lear, he said, I would like to say something now. And we all, you know, we took out pens and papers and we thought, we’re Going to write it down. We’ll never forget it. And he said, just talk. Okay, let’s start rehearsal. And I thought, that’s it. That’s the great Morris Karnofsky. And he’s saying, just talk. Where’s the wit? You know? And I found ever since he said that, that actors don’t talk, so often. And I think the Folio allows you to. I think, Jeanne, when you talk about the comma and the spontaneity of it, that that’s what I think Morris was ultimately saying is that you don’t know what you’re going. Just. Just the way I’m speaking to you now, I don’t have a speech that I have in my back PO Pocket. And I’m putting it forth. I’m thinking on my feet and expressing it. and I find for me, over the years that that’s what the Folio has helped with, is that people actually sound as if they’re talking to one another. And I thought that reading that time through, I thought you guys were pulling it together beautifully. there are a couple of suggestions that I want to make for the next step. because I think. And I might be wrong, but I think sometimes, at least in some productions that I’ve seen, we tend to want to say this character is such and such evil, good, sweet, whatever. And that’s what we play throughout. And I think what you’re doing now is you’re allowing those women to not do that, to not carry the coat of behavior or some kind of. I don’t know, the adjective that describes the things you do by the end of the play. And that’s what I’m looking for more. And there are even more moments, I think, that can happen, because I think sometimes we forget that we know the play now. The audience knows the play up to this point. Okay, we saw, Regan, leave her home when she heard Lear was coming. We heard. We said. And we heard the scene, where Cornwall and Regan said, no, we’re too tired. We’re ill. we can’t come to see the King now. And Gloucester’s trying to convince them to come down. We’ve heard that. We in the audience have heard that. So you have an opportunity when you see your father. And I think it. It makes the skin crawl more, than any evil you could ever. Tone of evil that you could put on it by welcome, welcoming him as if you have been dying to see him. Because we see hypocrisy come to life.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: See what I mean? Because we know, we know what led up to it, so that helps that that’s what in the end is going to let us know. Oh, my God. Is she really doing that? Randy, I would also suggest that when you, when you say I think you are, you’re glad to see me. I, I, I would say try a sense of absolute relief because you’ve just been told that she was in on stalking Kent.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And that she wasn’t going to come down to see you. So when she says, I’m glad to see you, I think the idea that, oh, thank God I still have, you know, and that’s why I think, my idea is to say, even joke a little bit about the mother, you know, you know, I, I would say I’d have to say that she wasn’t even your mother if that because of relief. I mean, I’m not, you know, from, for me to tell you how to act as a joke in itself, but, just giving, you know, take it and run with it. okay, and then the next good thing is, are you free? So that gets put aside. Even though that’s the reason. I keep saying that’s the reason you want to talk to them.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Now, I mean, you have the other reason, of course, to tell her about Goneril and all of that. But what provokes this idea of, Let me. The king wants to see the father wants to see his daughter. The kingdom, all of that stuff that came before was because of Kent in the stocks. And so now when he’s free, you decide, and you’ve heard that she’s happy to see you. That can be put aside now. Now I can get back to sharing with her. You know, what your sister did to me. This is terrible. Then the next moment is the next shocker. And that, of course, is Regan’s response. that I have hope you less know how to value her dessert than she. I think you all have a little more time after the period to take in and determine what your response is. I think if it’s an unfinished line, then you come right in. I get that. But there’s a moment, for instance, let’s see, even little things like, I’m m on the first part of the scene. Ah, Regan. I cannot think my sister right in the least would fail her obligation. And at the end of it, you say, tis on such ground and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame. And he finishes my curse. He comes right in. My curse is on her. Take just a moment for your next argument.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And we’ll see that. That. Oh, sir, you know, because I think if you come right in, it becomes almost argumentative. Rather than convincing him to go back to Goneril, the older you can make him be, the more feeble. And I think you have to ask yourself, how does one do that to an elderly person? It’s not by beating them up, which neither one of you did. but I’ll throw that caution out there. It’s by making them believe they can’t do anything on their own. You really need us to care for you. And, I think Brandy. that brings me to the next one.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Oh, and again, just a reminder. And I think you’re doing it. And I would urge more just as a reminder in order to make the line, you shall never have my curse. The tender. Thy tender hefted nature. Lizzy, we. He has to see that in you. So the. The kind of tightrope you’re walking here has got to make him believe you are not goneral. You are not the daughter who would ever do. Because if you show any sign of that, then one wonders what it. You know, then we come. Then what happens is, as scholars now take it, and they’ll say, well, he’s mad. This is proof he’s mad. But I don’t think that that’s what’s happening. I think you want to. To, you know, let be the good sister. Be that. Be the nice sister. You know, until. Until you have to m. You know, change things when he won’t listen. Okay. I’ll put my man in the stocks. Oh, Randy. After, I know it. My sisters approves her letter that she would soon be here is your lady come. That’s one of those moments. Take a moment. See him.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right. Rather than just saying, oh, this is like. Otherwise, it seems like Lear just gonna be angry at anything.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: All right. Okay. And I. And Thomas, what are you. What is it that you’re doing on what means. I know you’re doing the folio, but what is it that you’re asked. What does he surprise you in his reaction to Oswald? Are you angry? I can’t tell what you’re doing with the line.

Tom Farber: what I’m. Yeah, no, you go ahead. You go ahead.

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, I was going to say, you know, I’m not. I don’t want to pressure you into having. It’s not a matter of a final answer. I just want you to be.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Voice on It.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: All right.

Tom Farber: Right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And I would put the same caution out to you. Take your, Your behavior, take it off of Regan, because I think Cornwall follows Regan very closely. He has a couple of lines in this play where he’ll say, nor I, neither Regan. Or he talks to Edmund about her. so I would take my cue from her. Okay. Okay. I know it’s a tiny little thing. What’s happening for me now is you guys are filling it beautifully, and now I’m getting greedy.

Jeanne Sakata: To me, it’s starting to feel like a real family. You know, I feel like. I feel like, I mean, we’ve all had moments with aging parents, right, where we’re trying to say, this is for your own good. You don’t need all this, you know, I mean, in Lear, of course, it’s, you know, the nights. But I know with my own dad, it was other things. We had to try and convince him, you know, we can take care of this now. But it was a matter of pride. You know, he wanted it. Starting to feel that way to me, which is really exciting.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And I. It does. It feels to me like you. You are sisters. I feel the same thing. And that Randy’s your father. I mean, it’s starting to come to life that way. The thing we can never lose sight of, and it was occurring to me while you were reading it, while you were doing it, is Lear is astounded by this. Now, it’s all well and good to say what Goneril has said earlier, that he’s rash, that we saw his behavior with Cordelia, that, you know, and that is there. But we also have to somehow understand he gave his kingdom to you. That’s what he’s struggling with. You said you loved me deeply, thoroughly, and I gave you a kingdom. Absolutely. It’s a fatal flaw, one would say, but nonetheless, that has to be underneath this somehow. Not just father, daughter, car keys, that what’s at stake here is a kingdom. And I. And again, in your imagination, my imagination, we go into a world of. What would that be like? It’s not money. I mean, again, just. I think of funerals and how people fight over the remains of, you know, what was left behind and end relationships based on it. and this. This. You have to multiply it. And Randy, I think that, ah, what I was getting more and more of in. In this was if you look at your speech to Regan, you say the caps come in. You’re all lower. This the. No, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Nature’s capitalized and then everything’s lowercase. Until what? Offices of nature bond of childhood, effects of courtesy Jews. And look at here. Of gratitude. And look at the capital long spelling on kingdom. He’s reminding her. So it’s not just. No, you’re too sweet to have this happen. You would never allow, you know, ingratitude to take over what I gave you. And I think it plants a seed in her. This is why I. I think she starts to weaken.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think she hears it. She’s weak. And that’s why her point is. Stop talking to the purpose. Get to the point.

Jeanne Sakata: I love that moment. To the purpose, dad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And thank God that trumpet blab. That trumpet comes in and he’s. Now we get to Randy. The thing you were looking for a page ago. Who put my man in the stocks? That’s what you want to know, right? That when you hear that what trumpet said you hear. I know it’s my sister Regan. I suggest great relief. You don’t have to thank God she’s here. All right. Because when she comes in, you don’t speak, until she. She talks about, you know, you have that one at the. I pray you, father, being weak. But. But she takes over. Why not by the hand. And the fact that you take her by the hand. We know that you, Albany and Cornwall are preparing to fight each other. We’ve already heard that news. There’s news abroad that. That is happening. And you go and you see him and you take her by the hand. Why? Because the bigger enemy is not each other. It’s Lear. He can take it all back and then you can go fight all you want. But until we handle Lear, we’ve got to be friends. Then we’ll. Then we can separate and fight each other. So that’s why I think you rush over to her. He sees that. He’s shocked after everything he’s just said to you about her. And you take her by the hand. You’ve rejected everything that he’s put forward forth. Now the sisters are in league, right?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: Of kids too.

Lizzie King-Hall: I was the only person who could really stand up to my grandmother.

Lizzie King-Hall: I think people felt or just anyone where like, oh, let’s bring her along.

Lizzie King-Hall: She’s so good with him.

Lizzie King-Hall: So much easier to be around him when she’s there. And I feel that when Jeannie comes in, I’m like, oh, she’s going to take over. She always knows what to say.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. Okay. And then m. I love at your choice. It’s a great Moment. Oh, Randy. Now this next section starts with you. When you do, goodbye to her. Yes, I would suggest that. But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter. Well, let me ask you first, what. What do you feel about that line Are.

Randall Duk Kim: that no matter what my negative feelings towards her are.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Randall Duk Kim: She’s a part of me.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m a part of her. We’re down, somehow.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. And that’s what makes it so sad to say farewell, you know. But yet you’re my daughter. You’re my blood. so we get that and then that keys off the next section of her being a disease in your blood.

Nathan Agin: You.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Gave birth to that. So whatever is in her, some part of you is responsible.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: but then absolute security. But I’ll not chide you. And this is again one of those moments where my heart breaks because he thinks he’s so secure he can say do what you want. I’m not even going to yell at you. You know why I have her.

Jeanne Sakata: I’ve got Reagan.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. So that security, that false security believing that Regan is going to be there and what, it’s the same thing? Almost. Almost the same thing that Cordelia does to him. It’s false security. And then she comes in with. Of course not altogether so. And I keep that a little. I would try keeping it, not harsh. Look, I didn’t. I didn’t know you were coming. Try to see it from my point of view still, because I think you’re going to find. And you did this. You started to build from there.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s also the second time I’ve said that.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’ve already told you I’m not ready for you.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’m saying it again.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. And the way you’re saying it to me right now is that’s what I’m Instead of it sounded when you did the last time. It sounded agitated rather than. Let me say this one more time. So it still has a kind of spell it out for whatever. You know what I mean?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: okay. And then, again, confusion on his part. Is this well spoken. Now you swear to it. I dare a voucher. I swear it. And then you give your And that’s all fine. and then Goneril, you decide. Does it seem to you, Jeannie, that there’s a little change there from, you know. Now you come in with some good advice. Why don’t you do this and do this?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah. That felt to me like I was sort of following. I mean, Regan and Lear, you Are talking to each other and, and, you know, about. No, no, I’m not ready for you. You know, and I’m sort of following all this, and I’m trying to figure out, you know, what move she’s making and, you know, just trying to suss everything out as this is being spoken. And then when she says, what, 50 followers, is it not? Well, what should you need of more? I felt there was a little change there because it’s a different kind of topic. now she’s talking about, not that I’m not ready to receive you, but, hey, dad, you know, do you really actually need 50? And so my ear went up. My ears sort of went up at that moment because I thought, oh, I can pick up on this, and I can further this argument. I can take it further. I can, you know, because this is a very reasonable argument.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: You don’t need these 50 men.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And so look what you’re doing. both of you are not. It’s not like you want to throw them out into the storm. It’s. You want to diminish his power, his train. Those men can be dangerous. Remember when you were saying last week, Lizzie, about knights, what are we going to do about the knights? Well, you know, if they were just servants, they wouldn’t be as threatening. It’s important that they’re knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: they have weapons, and they’re going to back him. So, so the first, you m. Know, the thing we have to take care of here is diminishing that train. And, and you do it brilliantly. I mean, the women are just.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah, we’re sound. I think we sound very reasonable.

Lizzie King-Hall: There’s no.

Jeanne Sakata: We’re 50 or 25. 10 or 5. Because we have more than enough to take care of you.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Jeanne Sakata: but underneath, I don’t want them.

Randall Duk Kim: I want my own people.

Jeanne Sakata: I just love how human this is.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You know, I, I, I, I think when we get to what need one, I would say slow it down just a little bit, because that’s the end. We’ve, we tried 50, we’ve tried 25. We’ve tried 10. And now you’re saying, why do you need any?

Lizzie King-Hall: Don’t act like a famous speech is coming.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.

Lizzie King-Hall: That would help.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right? And then, Randy, I still think you have, a possibility. Not. Don’t feel like you have to jump right in because what they’ve just proposed. I think this speech is essential. This idea that you’re calculating, that a human life can be calculated. Well, unfortunately, that’s exactly what you did in the first act, the first scene. How much you love, you put a price on love. And now they’re putting a price on power or taking it away or what you need on need. And this play, I think, deals a lot with that. you know, Randy and I, Randy in particular, is doing a lot of research on the notion of the soul. And I think this play is such a perfect example of, people acting from the soul. And not the measure of love, not the measure of a king. I gave you a kingdom, you give me love. Doesn’t work that way. And I think that that’s part of the lesson that we have to find through the course of the play. So this speech right here about reason, not the need, I think is just really important. and Randy, this time through when we do it, I want you to read it only because you left out Grant me the patience.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, gotcha.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So that was, ah, very important.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, I’d love to have it memorized.

Randall Duk Kim: But my brain doesn’t work work as well as it used to.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Let’s see, we’ve had eight hours, you know. Okay, any other. Any other, questions?

Randall Duk Kim: No.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Get me to stop talking?

Lizzie King-Hall: No, I’m just eager.

Annie Occhiogrosso: okay. Can we do it one more time?

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, yeah.

Nathan Agin: I do want to make a note.

Tom Farber: That there is a storm going outside right now, so it’s perfect setting. Oh, what’s about to happen?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yikes.

Jeanne Sakata: Hey, thank you for letting us know, Tom.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Randall Duk Kim: A good morrow to you both.

Tom Farber: hail to your grace.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am glad to see your highness.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, Regan, I think you are. I know what reason I have to think so. If thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb sepulchering an adulteress. Are you free? some other time for that. Beloved Regan, thy sister’s naught.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan, she hath tied sharp toothed unkindness like a vulture here. I can scarce speak to thee that would not believe with how depraved the quality of. Regan.

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope you less know how to value her dessert than she descant her duty.

Randall Duk Kim: What say? How is that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I cannot think my sister in the least would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance, she have restrained the riots of your followers. Tis on such ground and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame.

Randall Duk Kim: My curse is on her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, sir, you are old. Nature in you stands on the very verge of his Confine. You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask, her forgiveness.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You.

Randall Duk Kim: But, mark how this becomes a house.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Wait, hold on a sec. I want to just go back. I pray you, Go ahead. Do it. Come on. Be a good boy.

Lizzie King-Hall: Therefore, I pray you.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Lizzie King-Hall: You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Annie Occhiogrosso: What? it’s still sounding harsh. I needed to be. I. I think I would like you to try to be, gentler.

Jeanne Sakata: Okay.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You know what? This is for your own good. Just go. Say. Say that you’ve wronged her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Simple. Yeah. And that’s why he says. Am I hearing this right? What? Yes. Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask her forgiveness. Do but mark how this becomes the house. Dear daughter, I confess that I’m. Old age is unnecessary. On my knees, I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food. Good sir.

Lizzie King-Hall: no more. These are unsightly tricks. Return you to my sister.

Randall Duk Kim: Never. Regan. She hath abated me of half my train, looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue, most serpent like, upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on her ingrateful top. Strike her young bones. You, taking airs with lameness, defies her. fie when the lightnings dart your, blinding flames into her scornful eyes, infect her beauty. You, fen, sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to fall and blift her the blessed gods.

Lizzie King-Hall: So will you wish on me.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Your choice was better. Your choice was better. Better than mine. No, because now it changes.

Jeanne Sakata: Okay?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Because now he’s. He’s becoming threat, you know? So stick with you. Oh, the blessed God, you did it before. And if that’s. Yeah, Randy, give it to her. Damn.

Randall Duk Kim: You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames into her scornful eyes. In fact, her beauty, you, fen, suck fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to.

Lizzie King-Hall: Fall and blistack the blest gods. So will you wish on me when.

Lizzie King-Hall: The rash mood is on.

Randall Duk Kim: No, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse. Thy tender, hefted nature shall not give thee O’er to harshness on her eyes are, fierce but thine to comfort and not burn. Tis not in thee to grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, to bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, and in conclusion, to oppose the bolt against my coming in. Thou better knowest the offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. Thy half of the kingdom hast thou not forgot, wherein I thee endow’d.

Lizzie King-Hall: Good sir, to the purpose.

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man I the stocks?

Tom Farber: What trumpet’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: My note, my sisters. This approves her letter, that she would soon be here.

Lizzie King-Hall: Is your lady come?

Randall Duk Kim: This is a slave whose, whose, Easy, whose easy borrowed pride dwells in the sickly grace of her. He follows out, varlet, from my sight.

Nathan Agin: What means your grace?

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man in the stocks? Regan, I have good hope thou does not know on it. But who comes here? O heavens, if you do love old men, if your sweetsway allow obedience, if you yourselves are old, make it your part.

Randall Duk Kim: No, your cause.

Randall Duk Kim: Stand down and take my part. Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? Regan, wilt not take her by the hand?

Jeanne Sakata: Why not by the hand, sir? how have I offended? All’s not offence that indiscretion finds, and dotage terms so.

Randall Duk Kim: O sires, you’re too tough. Will you yet hold? Who put my man in the stock? I said.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Well, let’s get it, so Thomas can get his luck. How came my man?

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, how came.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m sorry.

Randall Duk Kim: How came my man in the stocks?

Tom Farber: I upset him there, sir, but his own disorders deserved much less advancement.

Lizzie King-Hall: You did you, I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. If till the expiration of your month you will return and sojourn with my sister, dismissing half your train, come then to me. I am now from home and out of that provision which shall be needful of your entertainment.

Randall Duk Kim: Return with her and 50 men dismissed. Nor rather I abjure all ruse, and choose to wage against the enmity of the air. Be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Necessity’s sharp pinch. Return with her. Why, the hot bloodied France that dowerless took our youngest born. I could as well be brought to knee his throne and squire like pension, beg to keep base life afoot. Return with her. Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter to this detested groom at your choice. I, Prithee, daughter, do not make me mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I. I will not trouble.

Randall Duk Kim: I will not trouble you, my child. Farewell. We’ll no more meet, no more see one another but yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter. Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, which I must needs call mine. Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide ye. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide judging Jove mend when thou canst be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, ay, and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I. I looked not for you yet nor am provided for your fit. Welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister. For, those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: Is this well spoken?

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir. What, 50 followers, is it not well, what. What should you need of more? Yea or so many sit that both charge and danger speak against so great a number? How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Hold on. Hold for a sec. Because I want. I want to go back, but I. This is the speech. One of the things you are both contending with is a dangerous learning. He’s. He will. He’s. He’s going to take things back. He start, you know. That’s why I think you’ve got to get him to understand that this is for his best. You do, you know. but I think here, this is Regan. This is the speech. Sith both sit that both charge and danger speak. Speak against so great in them danger to who?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, you know.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You see what I’m saying?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yes, yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: We can’t gloss. Gloss over too quickly.

Lizzie King-Hall: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Even though it may be subconscious on her part.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So. So, Randy, if you can just take it to, But I’ll not chide thee.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Randall Duk Kim: But I’ll not chide thee. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide judging Jove mend when thou canst be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, I and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I’d look not for you yet, nor am provided for your fit. Welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister. For those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: Is this well spoken?

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir, what 50 followers is it not. Well, what should you have need of.

Lizzie King-Hall: More yea or so many?

Lizzie King-Hall: Sith hippo charge and danger speak gainst.

Lizzie King-Hall: So great a number.

Lizzie King-Hall: How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why not, my lord? If then they chanced a slackie, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20 to no more will I give place or notice.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay, hold this. Hold one sec. That’s a new figure. You’ve just. You’ve just subtracted 25 men.

Lizzie King-Hall: I know. I tried to slip it in.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Don’t slip. Don’t slip. Don’t slip so much because we need to hear. We. We need to hear that you. You cut it.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah, good tactic, Lizzy.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, very good tactic, very good. But. But I. I need to hear it.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And that will lead to see again. Every one of these is a blow to him. He thinks he’s going to you with a hundred knives. Yeah, and you burst that balloon pretty fast. And. And then we’re back to the 50. And now we’ve just reduced it to 25. Okay, just so we can keep hearing how it’s being pared down. All right. Why might not you, my lord?

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, I’m sorry. That’s me. Right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I’m sorry.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why, not, my lord. If then they chance to slack you, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20 to no more will I give place or notice.

Randall Duk Kim: I gave you all, and in good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Time you gave it.

Randall Duk Kim: Made you my guardians, my depositaries, but kept a reservation to be followed with such a number. What must I come to you with five and 20, Regan, said you so?

Lizzie King-Hall: And speak’d again, my lord.

Lizzie King-Hall: No more with me.

Randall Duk Kim: Those wicked creatures yet look well favoured, when others are more wicked, not being the worst, and some rank of praise. I’ll go with thee. Thy fifty, yet not double five and twenty, and thou art twice her love.

Jeanne Sakata: Hear me, my lord. What need you 5 and 20, 10 or 5, to follow in a house where twice so many have a command to tend you?

Lizzie King-Hall: What need one?

Randall Duk Kim: A, reason not the need. Our poorest beggars are the poorest things. Superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs man’s life Is cheap as beasts. Thou art a lady. If only to go warm were gorgeous. Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wearest. Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need. No, you God, you see me here.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Give me that patience.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, you see, you, you gods. Give me that.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Randy, go back, you heavens. Give me that patience.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m sorry.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. thou art a lady.

Randall Duk Kim: Thou art a lady. If only to go warm or gorgeous. Why, nature needs not without gorgeous wearest, which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need. Oh, you gods.

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, you heavens.

Randall Duk Kim: you, heavens, you heavens. Give me m. Patience, patience I need. You see me here, you gods. Poor old man. As full of grief as age, wretched in both. It be you that stirs these daughters.

Randall Duk Kim: Hearts against their father.

Randall Duk Kim: Fool me not so much to bear it tamely. Touch me with noble anger. And let not women’s weapons, water drops stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural, hags. I will have such rim vengeance on you both that all the world shall. I will do such things. What they are yet I know not, but they, shall be the terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep? No, I’ll not weep. I have full cause of weeping. But this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws. Or ere I’ll weep. Ooh, I shall go mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And if you have the script in front of you. Can we continue?

Tom Farber: Let us withdraw. It will be a storm.

Lizzie King-Hall: This house is little. The old man and people cannot be well bestowed.

Jeanne Sakata: It’s his own blame hath put himself from rest. And must needs taste his swelling.

Annie Occhiogrosso: For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly.

Lizzie King-Hall: But not one follower.

Jeanne Sakata: I purposed. Where’s my lord of Gloucester?

Randall Duk Kim: Okay, follow the old man.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I want you to do it again. And I want you to do it as the sweetest women on earth.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, even though we’re alone?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, and I’ll show you why. But trust me.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it?

Tom Farber: Want me to take it back to let us withdraw?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, please.

Tom Farber: Okay, Let us withdraw.

Randall Duk Kim: It will be a storm.

Lizzie King-Hall: This house is little. The old man that’s people cannot be well bestowed.

Jeanne Sakata: His own blame hath put himself from rest. And must needs taste his folly.

Lizzie King-Hall: For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly, but not one follower.

Jeanne Sakata: So am I purposed. Where’s my lord of Gloucester?

Annie Occhiogrosso: And now follow the. You go ahead. Keep going.

Tom Farber: Follow the old man. For he is returned.

Randall Duk Kim: King is in high rage.

Tom Farber: Whither is he going?

Randall Duk Kim: He calls to horse, but will I know not whither.

Tom Farber: Tis best to give him Way he.

Jeanne Sakata: Leads himself, my lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

Randall Duk Kim: Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds do sorely ruffle for many miles about their scarce a bush.

Lizzie King-Hall: O, sir, to wilful men, the injuries that they themselves procure Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors. These attended with a desperate train. And what they may incense him to being apt to have his ears abused, Wisdom bids fear.

Tom Farber: Shut up your doors, my lord. Tis a wild night my Regan counts as well. Come out of the storm.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay, hold on. Because it just turned into a horror film.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: It’s not quite right. Okay. It’s gonna get worse. So, so let’s. Let’s get there. All of a sudden, it was like. So here you have. You have Gloucester coming in, who’s terribly concerned. The king’s angry. He says he’s in a rage. Right. he’s asking for his horse. He doesn’t know, where he’s going to go. okay. you, Gonerill comes up with the idea. Don’t go any further with this. Right. And treat him by no means to stay. We’re not bringing him back in. and. And again, Gloucester pushes the idea that it’s a terrible night. Winds sorely ruffle many a mile. There’s no place to hide. make Gloucester believe this is the best thing for him. Let us decide in the audience just what kind of a daughter you are. This is what ha. This is to me. Okay. This is humanity. This is the person who says it’s a lesson. I tell you about that child who was put in that. In that garage. And he died. And the stepmother said, he’s got to learn. If he’s going to behave like that, he’s got to learn. Put him in that garage. And it’s. What was it, 30 below or something?

Lizzie King-Hall: Horribly.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Horribly frozen night. And he died. He died because he had to learn. And that’s what this is about. He’s got to learn. Again, you may not feel that. You may not believe that, but the point is, you’re dealing with Gloucester. And you’ve got to let Gloucester, who’s very concerned about the king, understand that this is the best course he is. As opposed to. Here’s how I feel. Go ahead. I’m sorry.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’m just making sure that I can fulfill these last three lines.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate train.

Lizzie King-Hall: Desperate meaning, we’ll do anything for him.

Lizzie King-Hall: And what they may incense him to.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: Being apt to have his ears abused. Wisdom bids fear.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes.

Randall Duk Kim: That they could turn him against you.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, I’m saying that to Gloucester. It’s hard. It’s a secret.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Oh, no, no. Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s like he is attending.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, oh, oh.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate train. And what they may incense him to. I got stuck on them, like, helping him stay warm or like.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, no, no. Yeah. No.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate. And what they may incense him to.

Lizzie King-Hall: What is being apt.

Annie Occhiogrosso: He’s already likely to. To be.

Lizzie King-Hall: so there’s kind of a slightly misplaced comma. It’s just one parenthetical being apt to.

Lizzie King-Hall: Have his ear abused.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, that’s right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Wisdom bids fear.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And what that, he’s already. He’s already likely to have is you’re abused with something against us. Against Gloucester. Yeah, got it.

Randall Duk Kim: And the wise person wisdom will. Will, Will notify you that it’s dangerous.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah. Ah, yeah, yeah. And. And, Cornwall, I want you to be a good leader to Gloucester. Put your arm around. Shut up. Your doors. My wig and knows what you’re talking about. Because that’s the thing that drives us crazy. We know it in our own politics, the smooth talk. I’m doing this for you, not for me. I’m doing it for you. We all know it, and that’s here. It’s only when we see it in a play that we feel we have to somehow make the audience see something else. I think that, to me, is what is so awful about human behavior sometimes is we do it under the guise of kindness and of generosity. And I’m doing it for you. And then you. Then you find out three days later how much money went into the bank on their part. Because it was doing it for you. That’s what. That’s what. And the audience knows it. You know, I remember I asked students why they act, and they wanted to show the audience about being human. And my response to them was, they are human. You better be good at showing. Coming up to being a mirror to them. Learn from them. If you want to learn how to act, learn from the human beings you’re playing to. Don’t think you can teach them. Theater is not about teaching for me. I’m saying this for me because I know some minute I open my mouth sometimes people think, oh, how dare she? But for me, it’s to make people feel, You know, Jacob Adler once said, don’t ever let an audience come to the theater without being better after they leave. But to do that, to do that, we have to love humanity. We disappointed by it, but Again, we have to go on that stage and say, I hope I’m doing justice to every human being out there. Okay, Got it. Good. Thank you. Okay. I think you’re splendid. I could go on with this play. And, you know, we talked about it. Somebody said to approach Lear is like being a flea on a behemoth’s back. and it is. It’s layer after layer after layer. But I hope. I do hope that you realize what we accomplished in four sessions, two hours each. You know, I wish now we could get up on our. You can’t do it on Zoom, but I’d love to see it now on Beat. You know, at any rate, if Nathan’s around, we can open it up. Or if you guys want to. Oh, there he is. Right on cue.

Randall Duk Kim: It’s fun.

Randall Duk Kim: thank you.

Tom Farber: yes, thank you.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, no, this is.

Jeanne Sakata: Hi to Elizabeth Swain. Hi, Elizabeth.

Annie Occhiogrosso: There.

Nathan Agin: yes. No, this is. This has been wonderful, and, I’ve been listening right along to everything. And, so if, If people who are, live in the. In the session right now, if you have any questions, you can, drop those in the chat. Or if, if you want to raise your, If. If you know how to raise your. Your hand via Zoom, the little. Little icon, you can do that.

Randall Duk Kim: And.

Nathan Agin: And you can come on the mic if you’d like to ask your question that way. no pressure either way. I’m happy to just relay questions. but, this is an opportunity for you to actually interact with, any of the artists, here. but I can, I can kind of kick it off, with a few, questions. first, I’d love to know, from the actors from. From Tom and Jeannie and Lizzie. you know, Lizzie, I know you worked on this a little bit in a previous session with us, but, for all of you, what either challenged or surprised you about the characters you played, you know, even if you hadn’t done the role before, you know, even just hearing sometimes about these characters, it can. It can set your imagination to work of, like, oh, I think they’re like this, or I assume they’re like that, or I have to play them like this. And, so I’d love to hear from any of you what, What your experience was, you know, diving into it over the. Over these weeks and how that, either supported your initial thoughts or, subverted them.

Lizzie King-Hall: I think that the daughters are really often cast as, a type. and actresses always, get Told that they could play the daughters. And I’m, I’ve learned that it really doesn’t have to be these.

Lizzie King-Hall: These concepts. I think that, that we’ve talked about this a bunch, that the daughters,

Lizzie King-Hall: Do evil things, but they don’t have to.

Lizzie King-Hall: I mean that’s bad acting to signal from the beginning that they are mean spirited. Because yes, like philosophically.

Lizzie King-Hall: And a director could definitely say like, all these people are very empty inside.

Lizzie King-Hall: And there can be a lot of signals on stage of that. But I was amazed, that how active all of this language is. And that’s why you saw me getting at the end so confused of what am I trying to do?

Lizzie King-Hall: What’s a secret?

Lizzie King-Hall: Who’s on stage. That’s why the next step is getting it on its feet. Right. It’s like, who is this front stage or backstage behavior? and so it’s very active. It’s not a tone, it’s not a mood. that’s the director’s responsibility.

Nathan Agin: Well, I love what you’re saying there, Lizzie. And I think, you know, for me it also opened up that dynamic of even with the sisters at the end, even if they might be on the same page of like, what do we do with dad? There may still be things that they don’t want to reveal to each other and which is so human. It’s just like, you know, as. As much as you might be like, well, this is my sister and she knows me very well. It’s like, but I don’t want to show her this card and I don’t want to say this because then she’s going to jump on that and, and which makes it so much more, ah, alive, like you said, and active and so much more like a family. And then when you bring up mean spirited, you know, we’ve all been in these situations where you can have a reaction to something that somebody’s done and it can feel very mean. But if you either have a conversation or take the time to think of it, it’s like, well, from their perspective with the information they had, it wasn’t mean at all. They totally thought they were in the right to do that or based on their beliefs. And I think to Lizzie, to your point, it’s like if you can approach the daughters, the sisters like that, that they’re. They always believe they’re in the right. then, then it doesn’t m. Make them evil. It makes them much m More interesting. fascinating. A story as it evolves. I think. Yeah, Randy, go ahead.

Randall Duk Kim: Once a character, if we say, okay, in this moment, the character is being mean spirited, you know, it’s just in that moment.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: It doesn’t necessarily follow the rest of.

Randall Duk Kim: The moments that follow that character. Of course, because we, as human beings, we do that.

Randall Duk Kim: We’re one thing one moment, and in the next thing we could be just the opposite.

Randall Duk Kim: Or, you know.

Nathan Agin: Absolutely, absolutely.

Randall Duk Kim: Kind of unpredictable creature. We are.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: But, just watch these characters take.

Randall Duk Kim: Those moments, make decisions, take actions. And where it all leads them is what’s tragic, because they all create a huge whirlpool in which they all get sucked under. You know, every. Almost every decision and choice that’s made. And they don’t mean it. They don’t mean for that to happen. You know, where, they. I don’t think. I don’t think they mean it.

Nathan Agin: Right, right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think Shakespeare leaves just enough out. I think this is why his plays last forever. Because I think, Randy, that question becomes something that after the show is over, we all go and have, you know, a drink, and you say, they didn’t mean. And somebody else says, I don’t know. I think she did me. And we. And the play lives. You see, I think that when it. When you try to, put a cap on it somehow and say it’s this and only this, that’s when it’s. It’s not the. The rich Shakespearean experience that I. That I think is in those plays. Look, I’ve been working on these plays for over 50 years. Every time we have this class, I go back to researching. I don’t. I don’t pull out. Out of my pocket. Here’s what I’ve learned. And here is Lear. Or I listen to you guys and I come to the understanding that, oh, wait, what is that? What’s happening there? Or what? So you’re always. You’re always working on it. I think it’s when you try to say it’s this and nothing else. The other thing that. That comes to my mind is, you know, when, a child, abductor wants to grab a child, have the child come into his or her car. Car. They offer candy. They don’t say, hey, I’m evil. Come here, little boy. So, of course, if you want something, you offer candy. And then you. Because it’s all about, what do you want and what must I do to get it? and sometimes evil takes a very smooth turn, you know, so that. That’s where I think, I think we tend to think the audience isn’t going to get it. If I’m not evil from the start, the audience isn’t going to get that I’m evil. But it’s not that anyone is evil. What someone may do becomes evil when we take a look at how far they go in what it is they want.

Randall Duk Kim: right.

Nathan Agin: I mean, I think even looking ahead, and I forget which sister poisons which or how that all plays out. But you know, I think if that becomes an inevitability rather than a pre planned decision, it’s a much more. I mean, it’s a much more tragic circumstance that here are these sisters, you know, trying to figure it out and make it work. And they’re on the same page. And then they have to. One of them has to kill the other one. You know, that’s. That’s where it’s gotten to. which if you’re. If you’re playing that in the first scene, it’s just not going to be as interesting of a journey for the. For the audience and certainly not for the actor either. I don’t. I wouldn’t think. But, Jeannie, I wanted to hear what your thoughts on playing Goneril.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, well, that. Yeah, that’s interesting, following what you just said, because they think the thing that surprised me about Goneril, and it’s so funny because I’ve read the play, I’ve seen it several times perform, but I was surprised by how. What’s the word? Reasonable. Found her up until a certain point, you know, and then what you said, Nathan, about then circumstances change and, you know, the worst comes out. But I think up to this point, is there really anything that I can’t relate to in her? You know, if I’m put in a position where I have to participate, in a contest, you know, at the very beginning of the play. How much do I love you? You know, and. And receiving this third of the kingdom. And then feeling like I. I better do what I can to hang on to it. And then the. The hundred nights come and make a mess of my place. And here I am, you know, like, you know, the first lady of the White House or something. Everything’s just been very elegant and, you know, beautiful. I mean, you know, like. Right. They’re just ruining everything. And, And then the whole thing about he might take it away. He has 100 nights that could wage war on. So then I have to worry about holding on to what I have. And then I. So I didn’t find any. And I was surprised by how, Relatable.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: I was very surprised by that because I thought, you know, I’m not making any arguments that, that don’t make sense to me. You know, I mean, I do have that underlying motive of protecting my power. But I mean of course we, you know, the Lear is thinking about. He says reason, not the need. These are my badges, my knife.

Nathan Agin: Right.

Jeanne Sakata: Badges for my lifetime of being king. But it is a reasonable argument to say you don’t need them. You really.

Nathan Agin: Right. Yeah, yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: I mean, so that’s what surprised me. And I think that ties in adding to what you said about it and Nathan, about if the sisters start out as evil. You know, I guess I always saw them like, you know, the wicked stepsisters and Cinderella. We just know they’re bad.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right.

Jeanne Sakata: But if you don’t play that, if you just play daughters dealing with this very difficult father and having to, you know, quote unquote prove their love and then, you know, all the sibling rivalry and hanging on to power, I mean it’s just such a, a, ah. Potent mix but all taking place with a real flesh and blood family.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: Because I just so many times. Another thing I was surprised by just seeing my own family dynamics in this so many times. You know, we’re obviously not from a royal family, but just this is the genius of this play to me is just how he captures these relationship within a family. And they’re so much like our families.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, right, right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s so wrong. It true. If anyone says this is unrealistic. I don’t believe anyone who like, ah. If that you’re saying that the most hurtful things you’ve ever said, the worst things you’ve ever said have not been to your family. Like that’s, that’s false.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. The people you say you love the most. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know. It’s, it’s, it’s that, that’s that fascinating dichotomy of, yeah. Of how we, how we treat our, our closest relatives and things like that. and, and Jeanne, I love the point you made about you know, just these being such relatable characters. I mean it made me think of Claudius and Hamlet that, that he’s, he’s immediately, you know, when we first. He’s trying to, you know, he, he thinks he’s, he should be the ruler. And his whole first speech is, I’m going to tell you why I think I should be. I should be in power instead of Hamlet. And, and, and he believes he’s totally in the.

Randall Duk Kim: Right.

Nathan Agin: And. And. And we could. You know, there’s a number of other characters we could cite. I mean, even though Iago and Richard III tell the audience, here’s what I’m gonna do, they. I think they have a totally morally m. Justifiable place in their own head of, why this is a good thing to do, of why we need to do this. And so, you know, I think looking at these characters from that lens, is such a. Such a richer place. and, you know, you mentioned something about that contest in the first scene, and it’s almost easy to gloss over it, that, you know, whatever age you play Goner or whatever age you cast it, this is still an adult woman being asked to perform in this contest. And it’s just like, what do we. I mean, this is. These aren’t like, you know, three kids, like 10, 7 and 5, like, tell dad how much you love him. It’s like, she’s an adult woman. This is just such a weird thing that he’s suddenly. And it’s public, too. It’s not just like, write me a letter. and this is what will decide how you get the king. So it just. I mean, like, it’s almost one of those Stanislavski things where you don’t really have to, like, think too much of what. How would this. It’s like, no, this is really awkward. Just put yourself in that position. It’s like, this is weird. And, that’s exactly what France says later.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, just, you know, I know this is a fable, not history, but I just thought to myself, if my father had. I had two sisters with their three. Three sisters in my family. And I thought if my father had ever said, you know, all right, Jeannie, Cindy, Janice, I’m calling you before me, and I want you to tell me how much you love me. And, Jeanne, you go first. And you can. You know, and we had an inheritance at stake or whatever. I mean, I can just imagine the electric. Electricity, you know, of each of us kind of scoping each other out, you.

Nathan Agin: Know, in a moment of like. Yeah. A moment of like, is this. Is this actually happening? Like, is this. Yeah. Ah. Is there a candid camera that I don’t know about?

Jeanne Sakata: Like. Yeah. Such a rich scene, you know, that it kicks off the play like that it’s absolutely.

Nathan Agin: No, I know. I know. And then I think, too often, it’s kind of played as all very. Almost rehearsed to some degree where. Where. Where it’s just like, no. This is a bombshell that the king has dropped that no one is really prepared for and certainly not the daughters. Thomas, I did want to ask you because I know Cornwall doesn’t have as much to say, but you guys did talk a little bit about Cornwall and his role in the scenes and certainly reading the other scenes, and how he factors in with Regan and what she’s deciding or doing. So I’d love to hear, Tom, just your thoughts on looking at what Cornwall does, you know, up to this point in the play and your, your, your take on the character.

Tom Farber: So I, so some of the things that like I had on this play before, this, before they were like, hey, we want you to be part of it. Before Randy and Annie had approached me and be like, hey, we want you to be a part of this and read Cornwall. And you know, we had talked a little bit about like each of the characters. I had focused mainly on the fool in our readings because that’s the character that I really find myself drawn towards and you know, his honesty and all that. And something that has really even occurred to me even today was like, Cornwall really is someone who I feel they need to prove themselves constantly as a rule, as a ruler of this kingdom. And you know, balancing that with, you know, his attitudes with Regan and towards Reagan, as well as his own hot headed personality and trying to find, you know, some sort of, you know, common ground between those three and possibly even more personality, more aspects of his personality that I’m not even touching upon right now. That that’s just kind of what I’m feeling at this point.

Nathan Agin: That’s great. And, and, and you know, I know you guys have talked a little bit about, you know, in that, in that vein of Cornwall trying to prove of how that might play out with, with just, you certainly blocking or stage business of, you know, talking to Lear and how Lear acknowledges or doesn’t acknowledge you. And, and obviously that. That may not become the focal point of the scene, but there’s. It makes it very active for you as a character of attempting to reach out to him or attempting to say something and he might not even acknowledge your existence in that moment. He just goes right back to Goneril or Regan. And yeah, I mean, as we’ve talked about it, I think that just makes it much more active and alive for you rather than, here’s your line, the king nods or whatever. And then you just go back to observer, that you have this, this inner life going on of feeling like I Want to show you that I can be a good ruler and I can do this. So, No, that’s really. That’s really cool to hear. And so it’s fascinating, to hear the journey, even with a character that may not have many lines, that there’s still a lot going on for them in the context of the scene. I would love to hear, Annie and. Or Randall, both of you. I know you guys have been. Well, You know, you did this play, at your theater, a number of years ago, and you continue to revisit it. why do you keep coming back to it, this play in particular, versus any other play? So much?

Randall Duk Kim: I’m old.

Nathan Agin: But you’re not playing Fears in the Cherry Orchard, right? You know, you don’t come right back.

Randall Duk Kim: To that new fear. Sure. But I. After all the Shakespearean work, this. This character is the one that I’ve gotta. I’ve gotta pay attention to at this stage of my life. This is the one I’ve gotta contemplate.

Randall Duk Kim: Over great tracks of time, you know, and to ponder what becomes of this man, who is. He was his, How is his soul revealed in what he experiences?

Nathan Agin: And Randy, do you. Are you saying in some ways that it, Like, have you needed a lifetime of your own experience to try to start a. Approaching those kinds of ideas? Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Randall Duk Kim: All of it.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. And Annie, what excites you about the play? This play particularly?

Annie Occhiogrosso: for me, I love the challenge of understanding the, The depth of a play. And I’ve seen a lot of productions of it, you know, and I’ve always felt something’s not right, something’s not speaking to me, you know, and so then I go back to it and see if I can find out things about it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: It’s hard for me to say, Nathan, because I’m so devoted to Shakespeare’s plays that I’m a perpetual student. So if I’m asked to do Lear, then I jump in and try to find out anything that I. I can find out. Now, Randy’s old, so it means he’ll probably. That’s the role he would do. So I would spend a lot of time helping him find, out, you know, what he could about it. But I love the challenge of Lear. I just think it’s so massive. And I think we try to simplify it. We just try to kind of bring it down and say it’s this. And I find that every time I look at it, I find some new facet. That I want to see actors do it. I want to see actors bring it to life. And the way Jeanne and Lizzie and Thomas were talking about it, that’s the leer I’m looking for. The leer that someone from the, you know, the, Our century, the 22nd century, looks at something taking place in ancient Britain and sees themselves. And I just wonder if we can see that, would that make us a little more, conscious about something we do today lasting 400 years? You know, that, that, that somehow we’re on a. We’re connected. We’re all connected. I, I also am always holding the flag up for not updating them. I think they’re so exciting the way they’ve been written. And I think in order to, when you update them, you have to cut so much out of the original and change it and fit it into our time or whatever time you put putting it in. And every single time I sit with one of these plays, I think, I wish an audience could see this or hear this just the way it is. M so you know, I’m sitting here next to, I would say maybe 50 books that Randy and I went through when we put together Shakespeare’s birthday celebration. Fifty books, stuff written on shape that’s not even a three thumbprint of what’s out there. And I’m thinking to myself, you really think you can improve on Shakespeare? Wow, that’s hubris. Improve on him. Do you know how many books have been written? Psychology, books, medicine, every, I mean philosophy. Everybody has had a hand in reading Shakespeare and, and learning from him and growing from him. You think you could do better?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay. Good luck. All I know is I hope I can come close to bringing what he gave us on stage. I know I’m outside of the question, but it’s all fascinating. You should see me when I have Hamlet. Randy and I studied Hamlet 14 years before we did our first production.

Randall Duk Kim: I think too a play is dead when it’s not embodied. Yes, on the page, it’s in a book, but it’s, it’s not alive. And we need to see them alive. We need to see these stories alive. Done by actors who cared. Care about it. And not just doing it for employment’s sake, but who care.

Nathan Agin: Well, I mean, you know, it’s it makes me think of a couple of things. There’s that Magritte painting. This is not a pipe kind of thing. That there’s that. And then if you look at the blueprints of a house that’s not the house we now need to embody this. We need to create this so that it’s something that we can all experience. and, Annie, what I really enjoyed about what you were saying is, you know, I know we touched a little bit on the First Folio work today, but all of the discussions that you guys have been having today, and we continued a little bit about the dynamics, the family. None of that has to go away in the approach that you’re talking about. It’s not conceptual. It’s like, no, this is how you make these real people. And you have people see themselves in characters that were written 400 years ago. It’s. None of that work disappears. It’s all part of it. and yet it seems to allude so many productions, that it doesn’t, incorporate that stuff. So, No, I think it is very, exciting, even if, only in a small way. We can do some of it here. but I think it just so illuminates, the text and, just create some really wonderful scenes to watch. And so, I mean, I’m just so appreciative of all the effort and work that all of you put into this, because it’s just been. It allows me to come see the play kind of anew, even as many times as I’ve seen it or read it, that it’s just like, oh, wait a second. There’s all this other stuff going on that I might not have, seen before or thought of before.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, Nathan, we, Ah, as actors, we give, our bodies and our voices and all of that to the performance of characters. But I think the most important thing is giving our hearts and perhaps something even deeper of ourselves to the characters. We certainly give mind because you need to, you know, have your intellect with you. But there’s, something about maybe heart and soul that’s needed for these particular characters to, I don’t know, breathe again.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, to be alive. And they need these characters. Need the actor’s heart, need the actor’s soul, really. Or else it’s just. It’s just mouthing. Mouthing off. And it’s a bore when we do it that way.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, that’s great.

Randall Duk Kim: well, like, it’s not like it should be like tightrope walking. It should have that danger almost.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: That caught that dangerous quality. Like, oh, at any moment, they. They could fall into the abyss, you know.

Randall Duk Kim: Absolutely.

Randall Duk Kim: That.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s.

Randall Duk Kim: I don’t know. That’s what makes the theater exciting, I think. Yeah.

Nathan Agin: Well, I want to be just conscious of the time until. Of the time. If there are any last, burning questions, people can drop those in now and I’ll just wait a few seconds for that. But, otherwise, I want to thank, those who attended live, for observing. And, again, I want to thank all of the, artists here for all the work they’ve done over the month. and I will just say again, that in July we’re going to be working on Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, an adaptation of that. I mean, it’s a different kind of project here, so I’m excited to see how it goes.

Lizzie King-Hall: It sounds absolutely wild. I’m so interested in that.

Nathan Agin: I’ll be sure to let all the artists know, if they want to find out more about that, how they can, kind of check in on that. Magdalene wrote. Thank you all so much. So. Thank you, Magdalene, for being here. Appreciate. Appreciate that. and, yeah, I think. I think if there’s nothing else, ah, we can, kind of wrap up the. The official public part of this. And again, thanks to all the participants for showing up. and the. The cast can stay here and I will, usher the audience out to the, the lobby as I continue my metaphors of actual theater. And And thank you all for. For coming.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.