"From Grief to Action" in HAMLET: Act 2, Scenes 1-2(a). Week 1 - Shakespeare | The Rehearsal Room

Welcome back to The Rehearsal Room as we kick off Act 2 of our HAMLET Project in SEASON 10 🙌, where we explore one scene (or section) of Shakespeare's Hamlet - one month at a time.

New sessions are still being produced; we recently crossed one year working on this play and are about to begin Act 4. Yes, a LOT happens in Acts 2 and 3. 😉

For this month, we'll look at Act 2, Sc 1, and then Act 2, Sc 2 (descriptions below) - and scene 2 has so much going on, we spent multiple months on it, hence the "part a".

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🏁 In this session, highlights include:

➤ The transition into Act 2 as we reflect on the journey so far (by reading ALL of Act 1!)

➤ A deep dive into Polonius' approach and the implications of his nature

➤ Exploring the complex dynamics between Hamlet and Ophelia

cover photo: actress Terry Kerr

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🎭 CREATIVE TEAM for this month:

DIRECTOR: Annie Occhiogrosso

ACTORS: Randall Duk Kim, Benjamin Reigel, Nick Bettens, Michele Schultz, Liz Swain, Sarah Mabes, Jim Stubbs, Terry Kerr, Steven Helmeke and Sharon McCune

AUDIENCE: Sandy Robbins, Sandy Ernst, Laurie Strother, Doug Strother, Charles Stransky, Frank Tobin, Cindy Griffith, Rebecca Oettinger, Alexandra Mitchell, Roseann Sheridan, Val Lantz-Gefroh, Chris Chinn, Robert Duerr, Celine Noguiera, Adriana Roze, Ben Farrow, Jessica Gibbons, Aaron Mendelson and Sara Giacomini.

A big welcome to the many new participants with this project!

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We explore...

• Act 2, Scene 1: Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris to question Laertes’s acquaintances. Ophelia enters, deeply disturbed about a visit she has just had from an apparently mad Hamlet.

• Act 2, Scene 2: Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two boyhood friends of Hamlet, to spy on him. As Hamlet and his "friends" talk, a company of touring actors enters and Hamlet persuades one of them to deliver a speech. Hamlet hopes that when the players stage their show for the court, he can determine whether Claudius is guilty of King Hamlet’s death.

The links above will take you to the Folio version, which we use heavily here.

 

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