Download Guide - Clemens Center

TEACHER TOOL KIT
1
List of
TOOLS
Section 1: Introduction
How to Use This Guide
#
Who are National Players?
Section 2: Early Modern Theatre
Shakespeare's Language
#
Section 3: The World of the Play
Ghosts and Elizabethan Spirituality
From Madness to Mental Illness
Theory of Revenge
Gender and Marriage
Section 4: Before the Show
An Actor's Perspective #
Character Map. #
A Brief Synopsis #
A Designer's Perspective
Before You Watch#
Observe#
#
Section 5: After the Show
Activities and Lesson Plans
#
Compiled by Alexandra Ley, Brittney Biddle, and Katie Jeanneret
Editors: Kevin Hasser and Jason King Jones
Lesson Plans: Brittney Biddle and Katie Jeanneret
Dramaturgy: Alexandra Ley and Maegan Clearwood
2
HOWto use this guide
1. Introduction
What you have in front of you may seem like the largest study guide of all time. In
fact, it’s not a traditional study guide at all! We wanted to blow up any notion of what
a study guide should be and instead give you the power to choose what you want to
teach—we’ve merely assembled the tools you need to teach the subjects you find
most relevant.
This Teacher Tool Kit includes six unique sections. Each section includes context
information, activities, and further reading—all arranged by specific areas of focus. If
Facebook: View archival you want your students to learn about Ghosts, go to Section 3: The World of the Play;
photos and share your own if you want a simple guide to theater etiquette, you’ll find it in Section 5: During the
work.
Show. Utilize any or all of these tools as you see fit for your students.
Twitter @NationalPlayers: Whether your school employs Common Core standards or other standards specific to
Follow the Players across the your state, within these pages you’ll find a wealth of resources, sample lessons, and
country and use #NPTour68 to substantial historical and literary support material.
engage with other audiences.
With this National Players Teacher Tool Kit, we invite you to build the lessons you
Tumblr:
For behind-the- choose. Please contact me at [email protected] with any feedback, questions,
scenes photos and videos of or ideas for other tools we can include in future Tool Kits. Enjoy!
life on the road.
YouTube: Find trailers and
video clips of shows.
Instagram: For fun photos
of life on the road and the
venues we visit.
Email: Contact the Players
using their individual email
addresses, found at www.
NationalPlayers.org.
Send
general educational questions
to
NationalPlayers@
olneytheatre.org.
ENGAGE WITH
THE PLAYERS
– Jason King Jones, Artistic Director of National Players
This Tool Kit includes:
• Essential background on Shakespeare in performance including a
playwright biography, language guide, and Early Modern theatre practices.
• Historical context, with insight into the political, social, and cultural atmosphere
of the world of the play. This section prepares students to thematically engage with
the play and make connections between Shakespeare’s world and their own.
• Selected excerpts from the play that relate to its primary sources and
historical context.
• An in-depth character study, integrating theatre-making, text analysis, and
historical context to help students actively engage with the play.
• Post-show questions and activities used in conjunction with or separate from
National Player workshops.
• Additional resources referencing production of the show and the creation of
this guide.
• Photos, illustrations, and other images providing nuanced, visual insight into
different interpretations of the play.
National Players has a 68-year legacy of making the classics relevant and exciting for
new audiences; we are always looking for the latest ways to engage with students and
audiences. We make our educational and artistic work as accessible and relevant as
possible, from the thematic underpinnings of our texts to the creation of each year’s
national tour. We invite you to engage with us in any way.
Your students are welcome to contact the Players before or after their visits: track the
Players’ travels, share classroom materials, post questions and comments. Also, chat
with the Players about their performances and life on the road! To engage with the
Players via Facebook, Twitter, video and more, contact Education Coordinators, Alex
Turner ([email protected]) and Lynn Favin ([email protected]).
3
WHOare National Players?
1. Introduction
HISTORY
“The sup​​​​​​​​​reme reward is in
the powerful storytelling.
Attention to clarity of
word and action, as
well
as
passionate
characterizations, reaps
the benefit of capturing the
audience’s imagination
and uniting them in story.​
"
—Carole Lehan, Glenelg
Country School, Ellicott
Celebrating its 68th season, National Players is a unique ensemble bringing
innovative theatre to communities large and small across the United States.
Founded in 1949, National Players stimulates youthful imagination and critical
thinking by presenting classic plays in contemporary and accessible ways.
National Players is the hallmark outreach program of Olney Theatre Center in
Olney, Maryland. A model for artistic collaboration and national education
outreach, National Players embodies the Olney Theatre Center educational
pedagogy: to unleash the creative potential in our audiences and artists, and
to stimulate individual empowerment. National Players exemplifies these goals
by presenting self-sustained productions of Shakespeare and other classics to
learners of all ages and in all environments. Through performances and integrated
educational programs, National Players empowers these learners to build stronger
communities through artistic collaboration.
National Players has performed in 41 states; in the White House; and for American
military in Europe, Asia, and the Arctic Circle. Committed to artistic excellence
and community engagement, National Players has brought literature to life for
more than 2.9 million people.
Credit:
National Players offers an exemplary lesson in collaboration and teamworkin-action: the actors not only play multiple roles onstage, but also serve as stage
managers, teaching artists, and technicians. This year, the Players consist of 10 actors
who travel across the country and visit schools and art centers.
A self-contained company, National Players carries its own sets, lights, costumes,
and sound, meaning that the actors rebuild the set and hang lights for more than 90
performances a year.
The actors also memorize lines for three different plays—this year, Hamlet, The Grapes
of Wrath, and The Giver—often performing more than one each day. It is a lot of work,
but the Players are dedicated to celebrating and teaching literature and performance to
as many audiences as possible.
4
Life on the
Adam Turck
ROAD
1. Introduction
is returning to National Players for Tour 68 after going on the road with Tours 65
and 66. He plays Laertes in Hamlet and is the Production Manager, Technical Director, and Strike
Coordinator for Tour 68. In this interview, Adam reflects on the entire experience of life as a Player—
from rehearsals and meeting fellow company members to taking each show on the road. Along with a
general timeline of the production process, this section includes job descriptions of each offstage role
that the Players fill while on the road.
AUDITIONS
Auditions for National Players were held January through March. More than 1,000
young actors vied for a place in the company, auditioning in Maryland, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Boston, Georgia, Chicago, Memphis, and New York City.
“Working as an actor for a year and the travel opportunities are great, but what really sold me on National
Players was the feel of the audition room. Auditions can be really scary, they can be this terrifying thing
where everybody has to prove something to everybody else—but the General Manager and Artistic
Director were so friendly, so inviting, so playful and so positive, that all the anxiety just went away the
minute they opened their mouths.“
MEETING THE GROUP
For the first half of their contracts, all ten players live in residency at the Olney Theatre Center, where they rehearse, get to know each other, and prepare for life on the road.
“It’s really strange, because on day one when you meet everybody, you look at these people and you think,
'We are going to spend the next year of our lives together.' And there’s a great weight in that, and there’s a
great expectation of having to get along, so everyone is typically very friendly.”
REHEARSALS
Players spend approximately three to four weeks with each director, analyzing the text, staging
scenes, and incorporating design elements on the Olney stage.
“I like to have a working, functional knowledge of all three plays before we start. I walk in with just a functional artistic knowledge of the world of the play, and I read everything I can about it—I read essays, I read
different versions of it, I watch adaptations, I just kind of fill my head with this play—and then just kind of
see what happens.”
OFFSTAGE ROLES
In addition to acting roles, each Player takes on at least one offstage job in support of the
company, based on his or her skill sets and interests.
“Work hard. And if you think you’re working hard enough, you’re not; there’s always more work to do.”
TRAVELING
The Players take turns driving the company’s three vehicles: a truck for their stage equipment, a van, and a car. Last year, they visited 19 states and 44 cities. Once, they performed five shows in four days in three different states.
“I do audiobooks while driving, specifically radio plays.”
5
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6)
COMPANY MANAGER
Schedules regular company
meetings, handles
emergencies on the road,
serves as the point of
contact for venues, and
relays information to
the company’s General
Manager.
Tour 68: Alex Turner
Runs read-throughs and
rehearsals, maintains the
script and blocking notes,
and calls many of the lighting
and sound cues during
performance.
Tour 68 for Hamlet: Allyson
Boate
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Supervises load-in of scenery at each venue and performs upkeep of the set
while on the road.
Tour 68: Adam Turck
Assistant: Allyson Boate
WARDROBE
Builds and maintains the
costume inventory, creates
a laundry and maintenance
schedule, oversees repairs.
Tour 68: Lupe Campos
MASTER ELECTRICIAN
Installs and maintains
all lighting equipment,
determines position for
lighting equipment and
cables, executes focusing.
Tour 68: Moira Todd
Assistants: Ignacio GarciaBustelo and Audrey
Tchoukoua
SOUND ENGINEER
Ensures proper placement,
upkeep, and maintenance
of sound equipment; sets
and checks sound levels
and microphone cues.
Tour 68: Jered Hobbs
1. Introduction
LIVING ON THE
ROAD
Each Player is allowed to bring one
large bag and one small bag for
their personal belongings. Without
regular access to a refrigerator or
gym, taking
carealways
of themselves
“Working
out isn’t
easy, but if on
you
have 20 minutes you can spend them doing calisthenics or jumping rope or doing
push-ups. It’s the diet, not being able to
cook for yourself, that’s really hard. The
only way to really be healthy is to buy
pretty expensive stuff, so you can’t always be both frugal and healthy.”
Credit: Players’ Achive, The Players’ truck
needs to be reloaded after each production.
It contains all of their sets, wardrobe pieces,
and lighting and sound equipment.
BEING A TEAM
Working together for an entire year means that, despite long
hours and challenging load-ins, all ten Players need to work
as a cohesive team.
“A Player from Tour 65 once said that ‘Expectations are a really bad thing
to have with this job because everything is a curve ball; we’re thrown them
every day, so you have to approach everything with a spirit of adventure
at all times.”
WORKSHOPS
Along with performing, the Players host educational
workshops for many audiences. Workshops include
improvisation, text analysis, stage combat, and more.
“They are a great way for us to get to know the community for whom
we are performing. It is also incredibly rewarding to get feedback from
these community members. It helps remind us that what we do can
make an impact.”
KEEPING IT “FRESH”
After presenting three plays dozens of times for dozens of
audiences, the Players work hard to keep their performances
exciting and authentic.
“I find it hard not to keep each show fresh, because every space is
different and every audience is different. As a company, we have
rehearsals on the road, and sometimes when we do read-throughs of
the script we’ll put a little bit of a spin on it.”
6
Early Modern
2. Shakespeare’s World
THEATRE
SHAKESPEARE’S
LIFE
“He was not of an
age, but for all time!”
—Ben Jonson, Preface to
the First Folio
THE GLOBE
THEATRE
Despite his being the world’s most produced
and studied English playwright, little is
known of William Shakespeare’s life. One
of six siblings, Shakespeare was born in
Stratford-upon-Avon on or about April 23,
1564. He married Anne Hathaway in
1582 and had three children. For the seven
years after, Shakespeare fell off all record.
Eventually, he arose in London and joined
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men acting troupe.
When James I took over the throne following
Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1604, the troupe
officially became The King’s Men.
Shakespeare’s professional days are a
mixture of fact and legend. He and his
business partners purchased property on
the south bank of London’s Thames River,
where they established The Globe Theatre. A copper engraving of Shakespeare by
There, the acting company performed many Martin Droeshout, published on the
of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. Famed for using title page of the First Folio in 1623.
iambic pentameter, Shakespeare’s works are
steeped in metaphor, illusion, and character— sometimes they even take precedence
over plot. Shakespeare began his career writing historical plays, bawdy comedies,
and the occasional tragedy. His plays gradually became more structurally complex;
his later plays include the iconic Hamlet and Macbeth and the curious tragicomedies
Cymbeline and The Tempest.
William Shakespeare died on or about April 23, 1616, and is interred at a chapel
in Stratford-upon-Avon. Most Early Modern playwrights did not publish their work,
but 18 of Shakespeare’s plays were printed before he died. Luckily, nearly his full
collection of plays survived because friends and colleagues commemorated his life
in a publication known as the First Folio.
A century after his death, dispute began to arise: his birthdate, deathdate, and even
the spelling of his name are in question. No definitive portrait exists of the man, and
no government record lists his theatric profession.
Many scholars have doubted that a minimally-educated man could write such complex
and eloquent plays. Some theorists have long held that “Shakespeare” was a nom de
plume, or pseudonym, for another playwright, nobleman, or even collection of writers.
However, the vast majority of scholars believe that unofficial documentation provides
proof of Shakespeare’s existence and prolific abilities. Regardless, Shakespeare’s
plays have been translated to 118 languages and are in constant production around
the world.
Live theatre was an integral part of popular culture in 16th- and 17th-century England,
drawing citizens from every social and economic level together in an otherwise
strictly hierarchal world. The Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s company
produced many of their famous plays, was constructed around 1599 along the
Thames River on the Bankside of London. The Bankside provided an escape from
the strict, regulated life by which so many Londoners abided; along with theatre,
Londoners could find bear-baiting, cock fighting, bowling, and many other forms of
entertainment on the Bankside.
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
7
2. Shakespeare’s World
THE GLOBE
THEATRE
(CONT.)
PERFORMANCE
PRACTICES
The Globe Theatre was a circular wooden
structure constructed of three stories of
galleries (seats) surrounding an open
courtyard. It was an open-air building,
and a rectangular stage projected into
the courtyard. The performance space
was backed by a large wall with doors
out of which actors entered and exited. In
front of the wall stood a roofed structure
supported by two large pillars, providing
a backstage for when not in a scene. The
roof of this structure was referred to as the
“Heavens” and could be used for actor
entrances.
The theatre housed up to 3,000
spectators, mainly because a great
number had to stand. The seats in the
galleries were reserved for the upper
social classes, who largely attended
the theatre to be prominently seen.
Sometimes, wealthy patrons were even
allowed to sit on or above the stage
itself. These seats, known as the “Lord’s Although there are no surviving illustrations
Rooms,” were considered the best in the of the original Globe Theatre, historians
house despite the poor view of the back
of the actors. The lower-class spectators think it looked something like this
stood in the open courtyard and watched description of the Swan Theatre, located
the play on their feet. These audience down the road from the Globe.
members were known as "groundlings"
and gained admission to the playhouse
for prices as low as one penny. The groundlings were often loud and rambunctious,
eating, drinking, shouting at the actors, and socializing during the performance. To
keep the audience’s attention, playwrights incorporated of action and bawdy humor
in their plays.
In Early Modern England, new plays were written and performed continuously.
Each week, a company of actors might receive, prepare, and perform a new play.
Each actor had a specific type of role he played that he could perform with little
rehearsal. This role was known as a “stock character.” Such characters included
romantic lovers, soldiers, clowns, and female characters. Because women were not
allowed to perform, young boys whose voices had yet to change played the female
characters.
Other than a few pieces of stock scenery, set pieces were minimal. Artificial lighting
coud not convey time and place, so it was the audience’s responsibility to imagine.
Because of this, playwrights described the setting in great detail. For example, in
order to establish the weather and late hour in Hamlet, the guards describe the
conditions of their watch:
FRANCISCO: You come most carefully upon your hour.
BERNARDO: 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO: For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
BERNARDO: Have you had quiet guard?
FRANCISCO: Not a mouse stirring.
The costumes of this period, by contrast, were rich and luxurious, a source of great
pride for the performers. However, they were rarely historically accurate, which
again forced audience members to use their imagination to envision the play’s time
and place.
8
Shakespeare’s
2. Shakespeare’s World
LANGUAGE
PROSE AND
VERSE
A poet as much as storyteller, Shakespeare
had an astute grasp of language and sound.
In addition to writing a few long-form poems
and 154 sonnets, he moved interchangeably
between verse and prose in each of his plays.
Prose, the unmetered language of everyday
speech like our own, is employed more
heavily in Shakespeare’s comedies; it is often
used to distinguish class, indicate a character’s
disconnect from reality, or identify moments of
comedic relief.
Pronouns were also used to distinguish class
and status. “Thou” and “thee” indicated a
closeness among characters. “You,” on the
other hand, was more formal or distant. It
was used to address superiors—children to
parents, servants to masters. Shakespeare uses
these words to establish character, status, and
sometimes physical proximity. When a form of
address shifts in dialogue, it conveys an altered
relationship.
SCANSION
Actors use scansion to trace metrical patterns throughout the text as they search for
clues about meaning and character.
Blank verse is Shakespeare’s standard poetic form, also known as unrhymed iambic
pentameter. "Iamb" means a poetic foot and is comprised of two syllables, unstressed
and stressed. "Pentameter" indicates that there are five iambs in the line, making
each line ten syllables long. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English
poetry and follows the same pattern as the human heartbeat. A complete line can
be written as the following:
de DUM | de DUM | de DUM | de DUM| de DUM
The following is an example of Horatio from Hamlet using iambic pentameter in Act
I, scene ii:
I saw him once; he was a goodly king.
Scanned, it looks like this:
I SAW | him ONCE; | he WAS | a GOOD- | ly KING.
However, Shakespeare often breaks from iambic pentameter, changing rhythmic
patterns and marking variations in tone and structure. ,
9
2. Shakespeare’s World
SCANSION
(CONT.)
Shakespeare was
deliberate in naming
his characters;
in many cases,
names reveal clues
about characters’
personalities or
histories. A few
notable examples
of hidden meanings
behind names in
Hamlet include:
Ophelia: From Greek,
meaning "help."
Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern: Danish
noble family names
in the 16th century.
Fortinbras: French for
"strong in arm."
Claudius: Derives
from Latin for "lame"
or "crippled; the
Roman emperor
Claudius committed
adultery when he
married his niece
Agrippina.
Some of the most common pattern rhythmic and metrical variations include:
SHARED LINES
Shakespeare sometimes splits a line of verse, so that two characters share the ten
syllables. This is called a shared line, and it marks quick thinking or strong emotion,
and also creates a sense of movement and speed. Have a look at these lines,
shared by Gertrude and Hamlet in Act III scene iv :
GERTRUDE: Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET:
What's the matter now?
Together, the shared line scans as:
Why, HOW | now, HAM-| let! WHAT'S| the MAT-| ter NOW?
FEMININE ENDINGS
A feminine ending is a line of verse that ends with an extra syllable. The result is
that the rhythm is thrown off just enough to indicate that the characters feel unsettled
about something. The following is an example, spoken by Hamlet in Act III, scene i,
of an iambic pentameter line with a feminine ending:
To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Scanned, it looks like this:
To BE, |or NOT | to BE:| that IS| the QUEST-| ion.
TROCHAIC VERSE
A trochee is another type of poetic foot. Its pattern of a stressed syllable followed
by an unstressed syllable is the exact opposite of an iamb: DUM da. Compared
to an iamb, this feels surprisingly unnatural to speakers of the English language,
so Shakespeare often uses trochees to indicate something strong and disturbing,
especially elements of the supernatural. In Hamlet, Hamlet speaks to the Ghost for
the first time in a trochee in Act I scene V:
Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.
Scanned, it looks like this:
WHERE wilt | THOU lead | ME? speak; | I'LL go | NO furth- |
ER.
10
3. The World of the Play
Ghosts & Elizabethan Spirituality
RELIGION IN
ENGLAND
Shakespeare wrote plays during a highly religious time in English history when the
majority of the population identified as Protestant or Roman Catholic. Most people
were taught to fear and reject the power of un-Christian and supernatural elements,
which made their inclusion in dramas all the more significant. Shakespeare was fond
of using natural phenomena (such as unreasonably large storms and shipwrecks),
dreams, prophecies, and ghosts to put plots in motion and convey information to
the audience as well as the characters onstage. The mysticism associated with these
beings and occurrences contributes to their validity; although they are not sanctioned
by a Christian God, they are sanctioned by something or someone that surpasses
common understanding and demands the audience’s attention.
SPIRITS
ONSTAGE
The use of ghosts in particular indicates a bias of Shakespeare’s toward Catholicism
as opposed to the national religion of Protestantism. Hamlet’s father seems to be
coming from a place of Purgatory, a concept abolished by the Protestant church
during the Protestant Reformation. A ‘revenant,’ a dead person returned, does not
exist in Protestant theology,. Hamlet, therefore, operates within a Catholic theological
structure. Although there has been much debate about which denomination
Shakespeare followed personally, the literary scholarly consensus is that his plays
lean slightly more toward Catholicism than Protestantism. There is also historical
evidence that suggests Shakespeare’s father was secretly Catholic during his son’s
upbringing in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The presence of the ghost also signifies an essential theme of the play: the conflict
between life and death, which Hamlet grapples with throughout. The interaction
he has with his father's ghost informs his thoughts and actions later: the decision
not to kill Claudius or not during his time of prayer; his contemplation on suicide;
the struggle to keep living as more and more people around him perish. Hamlet,
potentially more than any other Shakespearean work, analyzes the human condition
of living while surrounded by the reality of death.
According to Catholic scripture, once a person dies, his soul is subject to a final
PURGATORY judgment. pure, virtuous souls are sent to Heaven ; sinful God-hating souls are sent to
Hell; and those in between are sent to Purgatory. There, souls are cleansed of their
lingering sins before before entering Heaven. Purgatory is can mean both a place
of waiting and a state or process of purification—hence the common word root,
"purgare," meaning to purge or cleanse.
It would seem that the ghost of Hamlet's father is in a state of Purgatory because he
was murdered before having a chance to pray and earn forgiveness for his final
sins. He will presumably be admitted to Heaven after a period of waiting.
Outside of Catholocism, "purgatory" can refer to a temporary place or state of
suffering or waiting—similar to Hamlet's state of anxiety as he debates his best
course of action.
LIMINALITY
A closely related anthropological concept is that of a liminal space. "Liminal" comes
from the Latin word "limen," meaning "threshold." When in a liminal space, someone
will be a the threshold between a previous life structure or identity and a new
one. time, or community, and a new way. Tradition becomes uncertain as a onceguaranteed future is thrown into doubt. "Liminal" describes Hamlet's state perhaps
more accurately than purgatory: he enters as a college student whose notion of life
and order has been disrupted, he's asked to take revenge, and then stands at the
threshold of changing his life irrevocably by killing another human.
11
3. The World of the Play
From Madness to Mental Illness
Moods and mental states were of particular interest to Elizabethan society.
MELANCHOLY ‘Melancholy’ was seen as a particularly English mental disorder, which may contribute
to Shakespeare’s characterization of Hamlet in the Danish court. Characters around
IN THE him pass judgment on his mood as if it is rare and inconvenient in the court, making
him feel like even more of an outsider after returning home. See the following
ELIZABETHAN exchange between Gertruge and Hamlet:
GERTRUDE: Thou know'st 'tis common. All that lives must die,
MAN
Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET: Ay, madam, it is common.
GERTRUDE" If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
Death is part of life, so Gertrude is puzzled as to why seems affected more than
anyone else.
Prominent sixteenth-century physician Andreas Laurentius wrote a treatise “Of
Melancholike Diseases,” wherein his description of melancholy heavily resembles
Shakespeare’s description of Hamlet:
The melancholike man…(I mean him which hate the disease in the braine)
is…out of heart…fearfull and trembling…he is afraid of everything…a
terror unto himselfe…he would runne away and cannot goe, he goeth
always fighting, troubled with…an unseparable sadnesses which turneth
into dispayre…disquieted in both bodie and spirit…subject to watchfullness,
which doth consume him…and unto sleepe which tormenteth him…dreadful
dreams…he is become as a savadge creature haunting the shadowed
places, suspicious, solitarie, enemie to the sunne, and one whome nothing
can please, but only discontentment, which forgeth unto itselfe a thousand
false and vaine imaginations.
The cause of melancholy was thought to be unbalanced humors in the body; the four
principal humors were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile, and they were
recommended to be present in descending amounts in that order. Some common
cures for melancholy were bloodletting, purgation (particularly with black hellebore
or borag), immersing the body in hot and moist environments, and including warm
and moist foods like lettuce and watercress into the diet. As it was recognized as at
least partially a mental affliction, physicians also recommended music and drama
as cures to the heaviness of spirit and mind, and increased rest.
HYSTERIA
In a man, medical abnormalities were signalled by a lack of energy or emotion; in
a woman, the opposite was true. Hysteria was the diagnosed cause of emotional
outbursts, hallucinations, and nervousness in women (and only women). The name
comes from “hystera,” Greek for “uterus,” because Hippocrates was the first to
declare that abnormal female behavior was the result of strange movements of the
uterus within a woman’s body. Hysteria was a valid medical term from about 500
B.C.E. until the 1950s, and women suffering from the condition were often treated
with cold showers, an extensive period of rest or seclusion, or pelvic massages.
12
3. The World of the Play
MENTAL ILLNESS
SUICIDE
Many of the symptoms common between Laurentius’s description and
Shakespeare’s Hamlet resemble today's anxiety and manic depression. Like how
we understand mental illness to manifest itself today—a chemical imalance often
without a clear cause or motivation—Hamlet does not quite understand the root of
his feelings or inner conflicts, and nor do his friends or the audience of the play.
Melancholy as a result of ‘love sickness’ or longing for a women was considered
a common affliction for men in Elizabethan times, but Hamlet’s exhibition of
symptoms in conjunction with his father’s death was considered odd.
When Ophelia describes an alarming encounter with Hamlet, telling her father:
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors—he comes before me.
Polonius is similarly alarmed and determined to tell the king of Hamlet's strange
behavior.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, intense mental insanity, which was
often seen as either the result of humor imbalance or demonic possession, was
treated with doses of bloodletting, herbs, and religion. The church was very often
seen as the answer to this sort of abnormal behavior; the reaction to someone falling
into ‘madness’ was to generally conceal their condition and treat them with the same
‘cures’ as to remedy melancholy.
Suicide was considered immoral and illegal in Shakespeare’s time. If someone
from the court overheard Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” speech, he could
be legally punished. Those who committed suicide were seen as un-Christian and
disgraced, because they were throwing away God's great gift of life. Their bodies
were buried outside of the city limits, and it was seen as a blight on the family’s
honor if they continued to acknowledge how that person died. Although the phrase
“To be or not to be” is general knowledge today, it would have been shocking to
see the titular character of a play question his mortality in this way.
When Ophelia drowns, presumable committing suicide, she gets abbreviated
funeral rites. When Laertes protests, the Priest responds:
No more be done:
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
To honor those who commit suicide is to dishonor those who live out their lives 'as
God intended.'
13
Theory of Revenge
ELIZABETHAN
TRAGEDY
REVENGE
ONSTAGE
CATHARSIS
3. The World of the Play
After a long period in which theatre was generally steeped in Christian stories
and themes, the dramatic genre of tragedy reemerged in Elizabethan England at
the end of the sixteenth century. Geoffrey Chaucer was fond of the term ‘tragedy,’
using it to indicate the results of an unfortunate course of events that alters a story’s
trajectory. As popular theatre started to focus less on religious themes and became
a part of secular life, playwrights populated their stories with blood and battles for
dramatic effect. Tragedies such as Macbeth and Hamlet were popular during their
time because of their political implications to the common people; the actions of
monarchs and their governments are inherently tragic.
While Hamlet certainly has its share of blood and death by the end, the main
conflict is within Hamlet himself. Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus acted as a
sort of precursor to Hamlet and other tragedies with its depiction of the the battle
over a man's soul. Neither the Ancient Greek dramatists nor many of Marlowe’s
contemporaries had written a story like that before.
Thomas Kyd established the revenge tragedy genre in 1587 when his play
Spanish Tragedy took the stage by storm. He perfected the structure of middle and
final climaxes within the narrative and composed a psychological profile of the
protagonist Hieronimo that many scholars believe paved the way for Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. Kyd is often attributed with having written the play on which Shakespeare’s
Hamlet was based, often titled "Ur-Hamlet" by academics. Hamlet now epitomizes
the genre of the revenge tragedy with its major ghost figure, a publicized event
that turns murderous, and feigned madness in an attempt to gain information: all
conventions that are also present in Spanish Tragedy.
A “revenge tragedy” is defined as a drama in which the dominant motive of the
main character is revenge for a real or imagined injury carried throughout the entire
story. While the quest for revenge can simultaneously be a quest for order, tragic
events disrupt the existing order—from the moment that Hamlet’s father appears to
him in his ghostly form, chaos is inevitable.
In Hamlet’s Denmark, the concept of revenge is problematic because the ultimate
form of revenge is silence or death, and the difference between revenge and murder
is the justice gained from the act. Hamlet finds it difficult to take revenge while
grappling with the concepts of death and mortality. Although his inclination is to
respond in the expected manner (commit murder), his thoughts and conscience
temper that impulse, creating the tension in Shakespeare’s play.
Early views of the desire for revenge relate to the purely physical view of the body
and its actions, much like the concept of the ‘humors’ that was popular during
Shakespeare’s time. It was believed that venting aggression could purge it from
the body (and consequently the soul) for good—what we call "catharsis" today. A
"cathartic" is a used in medicine to purge toxins and poison from the body. Aristotle
first used the term "catharsis" in his "Poetics" to describe a possible result of watching
a tragedy; instead of physical poison, drama can purge the body of emotions like
"pity and fear," and give a sense of release.
The impulse to take revenge can be viewed as a natural psychological urge to “get
even.” When an offender suffers after having caused suffering, balance is restored
to the universe. For some revenge seekers, the suffering itself is not enough—the
offender must understand he is being punished for a particular action. The difference
between these two types of revenge escalates Hamlet’s dramatic journey—it becomes
insufficient to simply kill Claudius without proving and announcing his crime. His full
revenge comes at the end of the play, when he forces Claudius to drink poison while
accusing him of murder in front of the entire court.
14
3. The World of the Play
JUSTICE AND
REVENGE IN
HAMLET'S COURT
The term 'justice' can be applied to an act of revenge that is well deserved and
publicly acknowledged as such. The murderer of a king should be murdered; this
assumption of action follows lex talionis, the law of the talion.
The law of the talion has origins in the Old Testament: "Your eye shall not pity. It shall
be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Deuteronomy
19:21, English Standard Version). The concept of equivalent payment for the loss
of life or limb is sometimes referred to as Hammurabi's Code. Hammurabi was a
Babylonian king whose complete legal code was carved into a large pillar at the
end of his reign and unearthed in 1901. The artifact is considered the first thorough
and complete legal code of a civilization in world history.
Laertes's actions specifically show how Hammurabi's code is engrained in the Danish
court. After Hamlet kills Polonius, Laertes quickly concludes that he must fight Hamlet
in front of the court and kill him, even if it means privately sacrificing his honor and
rigging the competition with poison. Old Hamlet's ghost clearly operates under
the same code, as he urges Hamlet to kill Claudius to avenge his death. Hamlet,
however, sturggles with the idea that Claudius's death would be justice. The contrast
between Hamlet’s and Laertes’s actions while seeking revenge is the foundation of
the analysis of the two of them as literary foils.
REVENGE IN
WORLD HISTORY
“Taking revenge” sounds like the foundations of a romantic literary plot arc, but is a
common theme in our own world history: murders, duels, and wars have all been
carried out on the basis of revenge.
Some famous historical acts of revenge:
Genghis Khan: The infamously brutal emperor of the Mongol Empire sent a
caravan of 450 traders as a sign of goodwill to the Khwarezmid Empire. Upon
arrival, Governor Inalchuq of Otrar killed them all. He sent to a delegation to Shah
Ala ad-Din Muhammad II to settle the disagreement; instead, the Shah cut off the
delegates’ heads and sent Genghis Khan the head of the interpreter. A few months
later, Genghis Khan attacked Inalchuq’s citadel and poured molten silver into the
Governor's eyes and mouth. Kahn then stormed Khwarezima with 200,000 of
his best soldiers and obliterated the entire empire, which consisted of four million
people.
Hamilton and Burr—Dueling: The practice of dueling was not meant to result
in death, though it often did; rather, it was a show of speed and accuracy—in short,
a battle of masculinity. Women rarely entered into conflicts that were resolved by
this method, but men often used duels or fights with various weapons as the way
to resolve conflicts of honor, finances, and any other issue for which one of the
duelers felt was worth laying his life on the line. The most famous duel, or “affair of
honor,” in American history is that of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, which
was conducted in New Jersey on July 11, 1804. Burr challenged Hamilton after
Hamilton led a series of public attacks on Burr’s character and political aptitude, and
he shot a bullet in Hamilton’s stomach that lodged in his spine. Hamilton died the
following day, and Burr was considered a disgraced and wanted man.
World War II and Japanese internment camps in America: On
December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked an American
naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than 2,000 American soldiers
and sailors. This attrack persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare war
on Japan, inciting World War II. Many Americans grew hostile toward Asians and
Asian Americans as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack. Government-sanctioned
internment camps were developed and Japanese Americans, the majority of whom
were citizens, were forced into them. The camps were publicly declared a solution
to fears of espionage and rising immigration rates from Asia to America, but are
now widely recognized as legalized fear, discrimination, and racism in action.
15
3. The World of the Play
THE
AFTEREFFECTS
OF REVENGE
More often than not, acts of revenge have resulted in colorful stories, but no concrete
solutions to problems. Vengeful acts are seen as products of the heart and emotions—
not necessarily the most logical or direct paths to success. Scholars disagree on
why exactly Hamlet takes on the task of killing Claudius: perhaps his fear of the
supernatural spurs him on after the ghost tells him of his murder, perhaps he had
previously held a grudge against Claudius, or perhaps he is slowly devolving into
insanity and needs a goal to fixate upon.
The fact remains that the act of murder is not as clear a path as Shakespeare sets it
out to be. Fortinbras and Laertes also pursue revenge for their fathers’ deaths, but the
only one satisfied and alive at the conclusion of the play is Fortinbras. He sets out to
pursue revenge, but other people and events interfere and restore balance for him;
by the time he arrives in Denmark, he has no need to fight or kill anyone. Revenge
was not necessary for Fortinbras, though his inclinations towards it put him in the
right place at the right time. Perhaps the natural order of the world was all that he
needed, and not his emotional reactions to it.
16
Gender and Marriage
3. The World of the Play
"CHASTE,
OBEDIENT, AND
SILENT"
Although Shakespeare’s plays feature a variety of strong female characters,
Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society. Women were considered lesser
than their husbands and fathers in all capacities: morally, spiritually, mentally, and
physically. At the time, biological differences between the sexes were used to defend
the notion that women were meant to be dominated by men. Elizabethans believed
that physical appearance was a reflection of inner condition, leading to the maxim
that “a woman in the temperature of her body is tender, soft, and beautiful, so doth
her disposition in mind correspond accordingly; she is mild, yielding, and virtuous.”
All women were expected to remain virtuous and constant. Before marriage, a
woman’s most important asset was her virginity; after marriage, it was her fidelity.
Popular handbooks for women, nearly always written by men, spelled out the ideals
of femininity and marriage as being “chaste, silent, and obedient.” The way that the
major male characters of Hamlet—Hamlet, Laertes, Claudius, and Polonius—treat
Ophelia shows how she was supposed to adhere to these standards. Laertes and
Polonius tell Ophelia how she is expected to interact with Hamlet, and she obeys:
OPHELIA: No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his fetters and denied
His access to me.
Before marriage, a woman obeyed her father or the family patriarch. After her
wedding, she was considered the property of her new husband. Throughout this
exchange, she had no right to inheritance. Marriage, therefore, was the focal point
of a noblewoman’s world. Women’s access to education increased significantly
during this era—those from wealthier families were often tutored in the classics and
languages—but schooling was still mostly limited to preparing for domestic married
life. Marriage in Elizabethan England remained heavily contingent on parental
influence, particularly among the higher social classes, but the church emphasized
the binding power of two consenting individuals. Sonnets, therefore, evolved into
more nuanced narratives about a variety of love-related themes and reflected the
timely conflict between romantic love and familial obligation.
THE VIRGIN
QUEEN
Over the course of her 44-year reign, Queen Elizabeth I (1533–603) defied various
societal conventions of gender. A lifetime of hardships had prepared her for the
political and social challenges specific to a woman governing a patriarchal society.
After her coronation at age 25, Elizabeth was constantly bombarded with advice
from noblemen hoping to impart their own ideas on this member of the “weaker
sex.” The young queen had a variety of suitors clamoring to be her king, among
them members of Parliament. Rather than wed them, she used these relationships
for political gain. When Parliament threatened to cut government funds until she
was married, Elizabeth declared that “In my end, this shall be for me sufficient, that
a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and
died a virgin.” Although her gender certainly presented challenges, Elizabeth also
recognized the power that such a unique situation offered. By the second half of her
reign, when she was beyond the age of childbearing, Elizabeth fostered the image
of herself as the Virgin Queen. In contrast to this pristine, feminine representation,
Elizabeth was often compared to an Amazon warrior by her subjects. These two
contradictory images of Elizabeth I—the delicate, maternal virgin and the brutish,
masculine warrior—exemplify the careful balance that Elizabeth struck between
conforming to and diverging from patriarchal gender norms.
17
3. The World of the Play
WOMEN IN
PERFORMANCE
WOMEN AS
HAMLET
Women were not allowed to perform onstage during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and,
consequently, female roles in his plays were originally performed by young boys
whose voices had not deepened yet; perhaps because of this convention, many
female characters in Shakespeare’s plays defy the traditional gender roles. They are
often protagonists in their own stories and achieve their goals by the play’s end,
instead of acting solely as romantic interests to male characters. Shakespeare’s
supporting female roles also run the gamut in terms of their vocations and literary
uses; the worldly-wise Maria in Twelfth Night, the dutiful Nurse in Romeo & Juliet,
and the Fairy Queen Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are all instrumental to
the plots of their respective plays.
For all of these progressive uses of female characters, many also fill more ‘traditional’
roles in Shakespeare’s plays as daughters, mothers, and romantic interests. Gertrude
and Ophelia are typically discussed in relation to Hamlet, Gertrude as his mother
and aunt and Ophelia as his love interest. The tragedy in both of their stories lies in
these relationships.
Gertrude, as Queen of Denmark at the time of Old Hamlet's death, shows a vested
interest in protecting her son and keeping him safe. Some scholars have posited
that Gertrude marries Claudius in hopes that Hamlet would gain that protection and
perhaps stay eligible to rule.
Ophelia does not have quite so much agency—as a young woman of marriageable
age, Ophelia is subject to the whims and authority of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and
Hamlet. When Claudius wants to use her as a way to lure and investigate Hamlet’s
behavior, she must comply. When her father Polonius and brother Laertes advise her
to stay away from Hamlet, she must obey, though her heart says otherwise. When
Hamlet rejects her one night and then tries to woo her another, there's little she can
do.
By the time Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia’s stable reality has shattered to the point
where she cannot emotionally or mentally cope with the events at court on her own,
and she presumably drowns herself. Gertrude perishes while unknowingly giving her
son a few more moments alive and helping to expose Claudius’s murderous plots.
Both women die trying to best serve the men, especially Hamlet, in their respective
lives; although they exist in the play to serve the male protagonist, today the narratives
Shakespeare constructed for them capture the reality of being a woman in his time.
Despite the original Elizabethan restrictions on casting, many woman have since
taken on the role of Hamlet.
– Charlotte Charke began acting Shakespeare’s greatest roles at the age of
17, often donning britches onstage to play male roles. She performed onstage from
1730 till her death in 1760, and inspired a generation of young actresses to take
on Hamlet and other notable male Shakespeare roles throughout the nineteenth
century.
– Sarah Bernhardt was a French actress and theatre manager who played
Hamlet on stage in Paris and London in 1899. She became the first actress to play
Hamlet on film in 1900.
– Asta Nielsen was a Danish actress who also played Hamlet on film, this time
in a silent adaptation, made in Germany in 1920. The film was a box-office hit that
portrayed Hamlet as a woman raised as a boy.
– Frances de la Tour played the role in 1979 at London’s Half Moon Theater.
– Maxine Peake played Hamlet at the Royal Exchange Theater in Manchester,
England
18
3. The World of the Play
Metatheatre
WHAT IS
METATHEATRE?
“Metatheatre” refers to the parts of a play or musical that draw attention to the fact
that it is theatre and not reality. One device that Shakespeare uses in Hamlet is the
inclusion of a troupe of Players who perform "The Mouse-trap"—a play within a play,
performed for both 'The Court of Denmark' and audience for Hamlet.
This particular production of Hamlet is itself being performed by National Players, who
tour around performing as a troupe and serving the needs of various communities,
just as Hamlet’s traveling players do; this unusual circumstance adds another level of
metatheatricality to the production.
Hamlet decides to use a play to mimic real life events because he understands
theatre's ability to influence people's emotions and actions. He knows that in
response to the Players’ acting, Claudius will be re-acting, and Hamlet will in turn
be able to re-act off of him. Audiences can also take Hamlet’s cue (we might say)
and think about how watching a play affects us as audience members.
Another display of metatheatre that Shakespeare often uses is direct address to the
audience, or ‘breaking the fourth wall.’ One of the most famous instances of this
tool is Hamlet’s iconic “To be or not to be” speech. This is actually one of multiple
soliloquies in the play in which Hamlet voices his internal thoughts and deliberations
to the audience, giving us special insight into his actions. Without them, his actions
toward ‘revenge’ would seem chaotic, random, or maybe even pointless. These
addresses humanize the character of Hamlet and his motivations, which drive
the actions of the play. When Hamlet breaks the fourth wall, we as an audience
understand why the story is progressing the way that it is, even though none of the
characters appears to.
The character of Hamlet puts on his own performance of madness for the court while
we watch the actor perform the role of Hamlet at the same time. As the audience,
we understand when and why Hamlet acts the way that he does. We are able to
delineate between the two performances and understand Hamlet in a way that none
of the other characters can understand him.
METATHEATRE IN
TODAY'S MEDIA
After "The Office" was remade for American television from its original British
program, faux documentary-style comedies became exceptionally popular. Like
"The Office," "Parks and Rec" and "Modern Family" both include confessionals that
expose the characters’ motives and intentions for complicated plans. These 'private'
shots give the audience the context they need to understand the bigger picture of
each storyline.
"House of Cards" is a popular Netflix drama in which the protagonist Frank
Underwood frequently addresses the camera, breaking the ‘fourth wall’ and telling
the audience what is actually happening behind the scenes in the White House.
Frank establishes himself as the smartest man in the room, so the audience is inclined
to follow his story even if he is not the easiest character to sympathize with. The show's
stars and producers have said they lifted this technique directly from Shakespeare,
particularly Richard III.
The smash musical Hamilton is presented as a story by the entire cast of characters:
in the opening, the major characters describe their relationships with Alexander
Hamilton, ending with Aaron Burr’s “I’m the damn fool that shot him.” With that lyric,
the audience understands where the performance is headed, and who the major
characters are.
Disney's adaptation of the musical Into the Woods begins with "Once upon a time,'
indicating that the following events are a story or fairytale. All of the characters and
their desires are introduced immediately after this opening. The end of the movie
shows the protagonist the Baker starting that same story over, revealing that the
movie was him retelling a story to his son the entire time.
19
An Actor’s
4. Before the Show
PERSPECTIVE
For Tour 68, Hamlet is played
by Jered Hobbs. Jered is from
Tulare, CA and received his MFA
in Acting from the University of
Southern California and his BA
in Theatre from Fresno State.
His other onstage roles for
Tour 68 include Noah Joad and
Connie Rivers in The Grapes of
Wrath and Father in The Giver.
Offstage, he serves as Sound
Engineer, Treasurer, and Truck
Loader for Tour 68.
“Hamlet represents so many
different things that he becomes a
man that is easily relatable if you’re
inclined and/or bold enough to let
him in. And I think that’s why Hamlet
is arguably the most interesting,
complex, and famous character
ever been written—he’s relatable.
Because when we look at him, we
see ourselves.”
—Jered Hobbs, Tour 68
Tell me about the first time you read or saw Hamlet.
What were your first impressions of Hamlet?
Believe it or not, the first time I read Hamlet was when I
was in undergrad. My first impression was, “God this play
is long!” I was taking a lot of credits that semester and I had
to stay up until 4 a.m. to finish reading it. So I wasn’t really
able to fully digest the material. Hamlet is a complex piece of
literature; it takes effort to really dig in and grasp the world
that Shakespeare was exploring.
Did you do any specific research before you jumped
into the role?
I’ve actually been researching and exploring the world of
Hamlet off and on for the past seven or eight years. Playing
Hamlet was on the top of my “dream roles” list so it’s been an
intellectual and artistic curiosity that I’ve been carrying in my
bones for quite some time.
PHOTO TBD
How do you relate to Hamlet?
Of all the roles I’ve played in my lifetime, I probably feel the most connected to Hamlet. I know what it’s like to be
tripped up, stunted, and paralyzed by my own thoughts and belief systems. And I’m all too familiar with unrequited
love, betrayal, and feeling like a loner. Hamlet is a man who is very much in his head, and I can relate to that.
What is the nature of Hamlet’s relationship to Ophelia?
Hamlet and Ophelia live in a world where people can’t be together just because they want to. Hamlet is a prince,
and as such, his life is under a microscope. Things concerning his personal life are subject to popular demand, for
better or for worse. Their love story is quite relatable, especially to those still in their youth. Parents have a way of
getting into their kids’ love lives, and sometimes even forbidding them. One of my first girlfriends was forbidden
by her parents to date me. She came from a well-to-do family, and, simply put, my breeding wasn’t up to par with
their standards. To love someone and treat them kindly isn’t always enough.
What have you discovered about his character that most surprised you?
I’m constantly surprised by the level of humanity that is trickled throughout the play, especially in terms of lighter
tones. Hamlet is about as colorful of a character that has ever been written; he is playful, sarcastic, and funny. If I
accomplish anything, I hope to truly illustrate who Hamlet is as a human being.
What is your favorite part of playing Hamlet?
The investigation into my own humanity—what it means to live and what it means to die. Researching and
meditating on Hamlet’s musings are quite fascinating and cathartic.
What is his biggest strength and his weakness?
Hamlet’s greatest strength is also his weakness: his mind. He has an extraordinary ability to question popular ideas
and swim upstream against the social constructs that he was born into. But the problem is, he overthinks things. To
borrow a quote from Bruce Lee, “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” And I
think that’s a very important thing to consider. Having the knowledge or the will to do something is very different
than doing something about it.
If Hamlet existed in contemporary times, what do you think he would be doing?
Probably something quite similar. He’d probably be so distressed by the goings-on in this world that he would be
walking around lamenting about all of the corruption and injustice. But I don’t see him as a man of action. He’s
way too in head for that. Hamlet is perhaps one of the deepest thinkers I’ve ever come across, but he doesn’t really
know how to rally or inspire change like Martin Luther King, Jr., for example. He’s more of a philosopher than
change maker.
PHOTO TBD
20
Meet the
4. Before the
CHARACTERS
Married
Brothers
Claudius
new King of Denmark
Polonius
Chief Counsellor
to the King
King Hamlet
Gertrude
Parents
Queen of Denmark
Deceased, a Ghost?
Father of
Laertes
Friends
from university
Ophelia
Childhood Friends
Hamlet
Prince of Denmark
Hires
to
perform
Players
Player King
Horatio
Player Queen
Rosencrantz Guildenstern
Fortinbras
Gravediggers
21
A Brief
SYNOPSIS
4. Before the Show
Bernardo, one of the Danish king’s guardsmen, tells Horatio and Marcellus about
a ghost that he has seen wandering the castle grounds. When the ghost appears to
them, they all realize it looks like the recently deceased king. Horatio tells Bernardo
that young Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, is determined to recover the lands his
father lost in battle to the late Danish king.
Prince Hamlet disapproves of his mother’s hasty marriage to his father’s brother
Claudius. Horatio tells him about the ghost of his father. Hamlet speaks to the ghost
and learns that Claudius poisoned his father to gain his throne and his wife, and the
ghost charges him to avenge his murder. Meanwhile, before leaving for Paris, Lord
Laertes tells his sister Ophelia to be careful about her relationship with Hamlet. Their
father Polonius, an adviser to King Claudius, agrees.
Hamlet decides to act insane to learn about the people around him who may have to
do with his father’s death, frightening Ophelia with his antics. The King and Queen send
for Hamlet’s school friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to see if they can help figure
out what’s going on with Hamlet. They also eavesdrop on Hamlet’s contemplations of
suicide, and they stage an encounter between him and Ophelia to see how he reacts
to her; he tells her to leave court and go to a nunnery, seemingly ending all affection
between them.
A group of traveling players come to the castle and Hamlet asks them to perform the
play “The Mouse-trap,” in which a king poisons his brother and marries his wife, to see
how Claudius reacts. When Claudius gets upset with the actions onstage, he decides to
send Hamlet to England. Hamlet considers whether to murder Claudius while he prays,
now that he has shown guilt for his crime, and decides against it. Hamlet goes to speak
with Gertrude and accidentally kills Polonius, who was eavesdropping. Hamlet is sent
off to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Ophelia begins to go insane after Hamlet leaves, distressing the King and Queen.
Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father’s death, and Horatio receives a letter
from Hamlet detailing his escape onto a pirate’s ship bound for Denmark. Claudius
and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet when he returns. Gertrude arrives and tells them
that Ophelia has drowned. When Hamlet returns, he walks through the graveyard with
Horatio and grieves for Ophelia when he sees her burial. Laertes and Hamlet begin to
fight, and then return to the palace to fight in a duel of rapiers.
Laertes’s rapier is dipped in poison and Claudius repeatedly offers poisoned wine
to Hamlet. When Laertes hits Hamlet with his rapier, Hamlet grabs it and wounds
Laertes, so they are both poisoned. Oblivious, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine and
collapses. Before dying, Laertes tells Hamlet that Claudius is to blame for her death.
Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the rest of the poisoned wine, and he dies. Hamlet
asks Horatio to tell his story, then dies. Prince Fortinbras enters to tell the court that
Norway has succeeded in killing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and he begins to take
command of Denmark.
22
A Designer’s
4. Before the Show
PERSPECTIVE
Paige Hathaway is the set designer for Hamlet & The Giver in Tour 68. She received her BFA in Scenic
Design from University of Oklahoma and MFA in Scenic Design from University of Maryland. She has
designed for theaters across Washington, DC, as well as the national tour of Remarkably Normal.
What are a set designer’s main responsibilities?
A set designer’s responsibilities fall into two categories: creative and practical. Our creative responsibilities are to collaborate with the
director and creative team to conceive of a scenic design for a particular production. We may do visual and contextual research, sketch,
render, paint, or build models to express our ideas. Once the final vision of the design is agreed upon, we move into the second category:
practical. We do drafting (re: blueprints) to express our designs to technical directors who will help execute the building of the scenery. We
also work closely with crafts people and painters to help realize and flesh out the design.
How would you describe the National Players’ aesthetic?
The National Players’ shows are quite unique in that three wholly realized scenic designs need to fit in one box truck. This means that the
scenic designs need to be minimal and tell the various stories with as few gestures as possible - which is both challenging and exciting.
There’s also quite a bit of sharing happening between the different production designs. For Hamlet, specifically, I was interested in creating
a fragmented, harsh, angular, and stark world.
How is the collaborative nature of National Players unique?
The National Players is unique in that it truly is an enormous team effort to get the three shows on the road; from all the designers, directors, and production staff to the talented actors themselves!
Can you walk us through a brief timeline of your design process? What were early conversations with the director
like, and how did your designs evolve throughout the pre-production and rehearsal process?
The beginning of the design process always begins with an initial discussion with the director about ideas and themes you would like to
explore within the play. Moving forward, there are a series of creative conversations where I may show the director visual research, drawn
or photoshopped sketches of the design, or a scale model of the design itself. There’s an ebb and flow to these conversations as we move
in one direction or another. Then, once we have decided on a final design, I create drafting for the design to give to the technical director
who is in charge of executing the design. If the design falls within budget, we then move forward with building and painting it. As the show
eventually goes into rehearsal, small adjustments may be made depending on how the staging for the play develops.
What is it like seeing your design realize itself onstage?
It takes a village to pull off a realized scenic design, and I’m always somehow surprised and thrilled when it turns out exactly how I had
imagined it however many months ago!
If I want to be a set designer, what skills should I work to cultivate?
If you are interested in being a scenic designer, I would recommend increasing your knowledge of art and architecture. Scenic design is
very much like sculpture in that you are given an empty space and are tasked with filling it; being familiar with art and architecture helps
deepen your visual vocabulary. For beginning practical skills, I recommend drawing and painting. For more advanced practical skills, learn
photoshop, scale model building, and computer drafting.
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BEFORE you watch
THEATRE
ETIQUETTE
HEARING
SHAKESPEARE
4. Before the Show
Coming to the theatre involves a more active form of participation than other types
of entertainment, such as film or television. Theatre is a two-way art form: the
performers and audience feed off of each other, so the more energy coming from
the spectators, the greater the experience will be for everyone. That said, a certain
degree of respect and decorum is necessary for the actors to perform their very
best. This list of etiquette rules is designed to help you enjoy this artistic experience
as much as possible, whether you are a regular theatre-goer or this is your first time
watching a live performance:
DO respond to the onstage action with applause and laughter. Performers feed off
your energy, so feel free to engage with them as much as possible.
DON’T speak aloud or whisper to your neighbor during the show; there will be
plenty of time for discussion after the performance, and you run the risk of distracting
the actors from their work.
DO turn off your cell phone and similar devices before the performance begins.
DON’T check your phone during the performance. Even if you have your device on
silent, the bright light can be a distraction for the performers.
DO use to the restroom before the performance. If you must leave the theatre in the
middle of the show, be as quiet and respectful as possible.
DO take notes. Jot down ideas, connections, and opinions that come to you during
the performance. If you are attending a talkback, brainstorm some questions you
have for the actors, either about the play itself or about the experience of being a
National Player.
Although Shakespeare’s language can sometimes seem difficult to understand, a bit of
practice and preparation can help you follow the story as easily as possible. Here are
some tips to help you enjoy and appreciate the onstage action:
• Relax. You do not have to understand every word in Shakespeare’s lexicon to
understand his plays. Instead, just try to grasp the gist of what each character is
saying, and before long, the rhythm and sound of the language will feel secondnature.
• Watch the performers’ body language, gestures, and facial expressions. In terms
of storytelling, body language is just as important as the text, and actors employ a
variety of performance techniques to make their dialogue as clear as possible.
• Although he uses prose as well, Shakespeare often uses verse in his plays, a
metrical form of poetry called iambic pentameter. This rhythm, which uses stressed and
unstressed syllables, makes it easier to both understand and to learn Shakespeare.
The rhythm guides the ear to the important parts of each phrase.
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Further
RESOURCES
READING
COMPANIONS
ONLINE
RESOURCES
Brooks, Harold F. The Arden Shakespeare Edition of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.
Along with an extensive introduction to the play’s cultural, stage, and textual history, the Arden edition of the text also includes pages of footnotes
and additional information.
Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All.
A unique guide through all of Shakespeare’s plays, this is an accessible and
comprehensive text for both beginners and scholars.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became
Shakespeare.
A descriptive, engaging biography of William Shakespeare, Greenblatt
includes information on Elizabethan life and culture, entertaining anecdotes,
and clever storytelling to paint an entertaining and educational picture of the
playwright’s life.
Holzknecht, Karl J. and Raymond Ross. Outlines of Shakespeare’s Plays
Act-by-act synopses of each play with helpful character descriptions and
relationship information, this collection also includes relevant background
material.
Kott, Jan. Shakespeare our Contemporary.
One of the most influential Shakespeare criticism works of the 20th century,
Kott’s selection of essays includes provocative analyses on all of Shakespeare’s
plays.
Sarrazin, George and Alexander Schmidt. Shakespeare Lexicon and
Quotation Dictionary.
A comprehensive collection of definitions, phrases, terms, and locations, as
well as more than 50,000 exact quotations.
shakespeare-literature.com and absoluteshakespeare.com
The complete texts of Shakespeare’s plays as well as links to study resources.
shakespeare-online.com
An excellent, regularly updated repository of information on Shakespeare.
folger.edu/Home_02B.html
The website of the Folger Shakespeare Library, with study guides and primary
resources.
globelink.org
A website maintained by Shakespeare’s Globe in London with links to resources,
archives, and information about the Globe’s current season.
opensourceshakespeare.org
An online library of Shakespeare’s texts, including advanced search options
and a concordance.
ShakespeareinAmericanLife.org
A project of the Folger Shakespare Library, with visual, textual, and video
companions to Shakespeare’s plays.
pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered
A series of films and educational companions to the historical and artistic
impact of Shakespeare’s plays.
25
OBSERVE
5. During the Show
National Players tours all of the country, performing its three productions on a variety of
stages. How does this photograph of Tour 68’s first venue compare with your performance
space?
What are the different kinds of
ways you imagine the blocks will
be used? How does the way they
are arranged suggest different
settings and/or usages?
What kind of locations might this
wall suggest? How do you think the
different panels will be used?
Why do you
think there is
a standing
microphone on
stage? Which
characters
do you think
will use the
microphone,
and what does
that tell you
about them?
How will the
microphone's
use affect
certain scenes?
26
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
WRITING YOUR OWN ADAPTATION
OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to partake in the process of adaptation. Students will be able to compare and contrast artistic work.
Students will be able to identify important aspects of Hamlet.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 - 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Material to adapt, writing utensils, paper
1. Discuss the idea of adaptation with students. What do they know about it? What sorts of things have they seen adapted from one
form to another? What tends to happen to things when they are adapted?
2. Hamlet itself is an adaptation (it is believed to be based on the play Ur-Hamlet by Thomas Kyd), and has also inspired many adaptations in film and other media. Share information about Ur-Hamlet, Shakespeare's inspiration, as well as film adaptations of the play.
Talk about the differences required in content, length, and structure. Discuss why these differences are necessary and how a director
or playwright might make those decisions.
3. Choose a scene from Hamlet to analyze and adapt as a class. Work with students to understand and analyze the essence of the work:
Who is present? What happens? What is the sequence of events? Where does the scene take place, and what does that environment
look like? What is the tone or mood of the scene?
4. Once students answer these questions, tell them they are going to form their own adaptation of this work. To do this, they must select
what elements of the work are essential and what can be altered or removed.
5. Divide students into groups or work as a class. They can rewrite the original work in a totally different format, make it into a performance piece or represent artistically. Encourage students to be creative and loose with their adaptations, adding/changing characters
or changing the time period or setting.
6. If students are working in groups, they can share their concepts with each other and exchange feedback. Ask students to identify
commonalities among their adaptations and observe which elements have been adjusted and which tend to stay the same.
7. Follow through on the concepts and create a first draft of the adaptation, in part or in full, and revisit the issue of commonalities and
changes.
8. BONUS ACTIVITY: Take a look at the following "adaptations" of Hamlet.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard (play 1966, movie 1990): "Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece,
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm's-eye view of the bewildered
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare's play. In Tom Stoppard's best-known work, this Shakespearean
Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where
reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end." (Samuel French)
• The Lion King (1994): " This Disney animated feature follows the adventures of the young lion Simba, the heir of his father, Mufasa.
Simba's wicked uncle, Scar, plots to usurp Mufasa's throne by luring father and son into a stampede of wildebeests. But Simba escapes, and only Mufasa is killed. Simba returns as an adult to take back his homeland from Scar with the help of his friends Timon
and Pumbaa." (IMDB)
• Are these adaptations? How can we judge that? Do they share the same themes?
• What are the major differences between these and the original? What are the benefits to adaptations?
• Who do these stories relate to that the original may not?
VARIATIONS:
• WHAT ELSE HAPPENS? At the end of the play, most of the characters in Hamlet are dead, but some survive. What do you think
would happen to them in the future? Write a speculative scene featuring one or more of the characters at some point down the road.
What are they doing? How do they feel about it? How have they changed? You don’t have to write it in dramatic format, it can be
a short story or even a comic book style telling. Alternatively, can you think of any scenes within the play that are referenced or
described that you didn’t get to see? Create a “fill in the gaps” scene in the same way, filling in things before or during that play that
are not depicted in the script.
• GET INSPIRED Oftentimes, when directors are preparing for a show, they look for outside inspiration to guide them. Find another
work of art (painting, picture, song, poem, novel, TV show/episode, movie) or person, place, or theme that you think represents this
play well. Write about the connections you see between your inspiration piece and the play. If you were directing your own production, how would you use this inspiration piece to guide your team toward your own vision of the final product?
• STAGE YOUR OWN One of the best things about theatre is the enormous number of valid and interesting interpretations of great
plays. Have students pick a scene from Hamlet and have them create their own interpretation of the scene. What is happening at this
moment? How do you want to present it in a theatrical way? What resources are available to you? Assign different roles to students
and work together to make a version that is your own. Take a video of your work and share it with National Players online; we’d
love to see what you do.
27
ACTIVITIES
3. The World of the Play
DEBATING METATHEATRE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand metatheatrical techniques and differentiate between breaking and maintaining the fourth wall.
• Students compare and contrast varying forms of metatheatre.
• Students analyze the use of metatheatre within dramatic work.
• Students form arguments clearly and suscinctly.
“The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 — 12
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Metatheatre page from Teacher Tool Kit (pg. 19),
historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragicalexcerpts from Hamlet
comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or
1. After reading the Metatheatre page, ask the class to describe what
poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy,
metatheatre is.
• Why would Shakespeare choose to use metatheatre so prevalantly in nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the
his writing?
• What is the importance of metatheatre in Hamlet? How does it function liberty, these are the only men.”
in the play? How would the play be different without it?
- Polonius, II.ii
2. To learn about the various forms metatheatre can take, have the
students either as a class, or in small groups, compare the following:
• Hamlet's "To be or not to be" monologue (III.i) as a character who speaks directly to the audience.
• Hamlet's "Speak the speech" monologue (III.ii) as a character who talks about theatre
• The Players' "play-within-a-play" (III.ii)
3. Next, have the students consider the following questions:
• What is the effect of these different forms of metatheatre?
• Does it make the audience trust a character more? Or create doubt in what else might be hidden from the audience?
4. Have the students decide which of these two different types is most effective individually. Ask the students to form two parallel
lines, with the individuals who favor the characters who speak directly to the audience on one side and those who favor characters
who talk about or use theatre within the context of the play on the other. Have the lines face each other.
5. The teacher will now act as an impartial judge in the upcoming debate. He or she will walk slowly between the two lines. As
the teacher passes, each student must speak out an argument for why their side is the most effective. Students may re-arrange
their lines strategically, but every student must speak. Students may use whatever tactics (bribery, logic, degrading the other side,
empathy) they can think of to make their point.
6. After the the teacher reaches the end of the line, he or she will reveal the winning side and the arguments that were most
effective.
7. Have a follow-up discussion as a class:
• What is still valuable about the losing side?
• Where do you see metatheatre in modern storytelling? What effects does it have?
PHOTO TBD
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ACTIVITIES
EXPLORE PROSE VS. VERSE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand some of the stylistic variations within Shakespeare’s writing.
• Students connect Shakespearian writing with the present day.
• Students can articulate Shakespeare’s writing style.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: writing utensils, paper, "Shakespeare's language" (p. 9)
1. Using "Shakespeare's Language" page from the toolkit, ask students to explain the difference between prose and verse in
Shakespeare’s writing, noting that both are used throughout all of his plays and can provide insight into what is happening on
a structural and character-based level.
2. For each of the following scenarios, ask students to choose which writing style is most appropriate (prose or verse) and why:
• You are at a backyard barbecue kicking off the beginning of summer. You and your friends don’t know everybody, but you
are excited. Your parents are in charge of the food, but you are in charge of the good times.
• You’re in a new school. You have just moved to a new city and don’t know many people, and you are slightly uncomfortable
in your school uniform. You run into your English teacher in the hallway, introduce yourself, and ask for directions to your
next class.
• You are with a friend at the service for a religion other than your own. Afterwards, you greet the service leader and thank
him/her for allowing you to observe. You and your friend then get something to eat and talk about some of your favorite
memories together.
• Create your own!
3. Have students share and explain their answers. If there is time, have them come up with some rough dialogue that falls under
the category they have chosen and expresses their intended style.
4. Follow up questions:
• Can you think of any similar differences in style within contemporary TV, movies, books, or theatre?
• What about the way you use social media? What causes you to use Twitter over Facebook, or Instagram over Tumblr? Do
you communicate differently on social media than you do in real life?
• The medium used is part of the message. When you contact someone, how does the message change when you receive it
by letter, phone call, email, or text message, even if the exact same words are used?
• If you were performing Shakespeare, do you think you would prefer to work with verse or prose? Why?
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2. Shakespeare’s World
DISCOVER SHAKESPEARE’S STAGE
OBJECTIVES:
• Students understand Shakespearian theatrical practices.
• Students explore acting techniques.
• Students describe different theatre spaces.
• Students relate theatre-going to social class.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 5 – 8
SUPPLIES NEEDED: One line from Hamlet, ample space to speak and perform.
1. Ask students where and when they have seen live performances.
• What did those spaces look and sound like?
• What strategies did the performers use to make sure they were seen and heard?
2. Pick a line from Hamlet, e.g. (or choose your own!):
• “To be, or not to be, that is the question” (III.i)
• “This above all, to thine own self be true” (I.iii)
• “That it should come to this!” (I.ii)
3. Have the students say lines in unison with no intentional emphasis or inflection, as if they were just saying it to a friend. Have them note natural
emphasis on word and syllables and which moments are most clearly heard.
4. Ask students to imagine they are in a theatre, standing on stage to deliver this line to a sold-out crowd. Have them close their eyes and picture
the space.
• Which direction do they have to face? How do they have to talk to make sure they are heard?
5. Talk about the theatre structure in which Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed (see The Globe Theatre, p. 7-8).
• What might Shakespeare’s company have considered while performing?
• How were the actors heard? How were they seen?
6. Have students picture The Globe Theatre and its various audience members in different locations. Picture the open air theatre and the acoustics.
Have them say the line again, communicating meaning (not just shouting) to as many audience members as possible.
7. Ask students what has changed.
• Do they hold their head differently? Do they use their voice in a different way? Do they stand differently?
8. After, arrange students similarly to The Globe, with some students (the upper class) at a higher level and others (the groundlings and lower class)
down below and in the middle of the space. Ask one student at a time to deliver the line and note the different techniques seen amongst the students.
9. Ask students to think about the theatre where they will see Hamlet (show pictures or visit the theatre, if possible).
• How do they think the actors will adapt to the space?
• What do they think their performance style will be like?
Photo courtesy of Shakespeare's Globe
30
3. The World of the Play
UNDERSTANDING THE TRAGIC HERO
OBJECTIVES:
• Students will learn the elements of a revenge tragedy and tragic hero
• Students will think critically and conduct an in-depth character analysis of Hamlet
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 9 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Copy of Hamlet, writing utensils, separate paper for notes, access to internet and Facebook
1. Using the "Theory of Revenge" (p. 14) section of the toolkit, as well as the links below, as jumping-off points, discuss the elements of a
revenge tragedy. What makes a play a tragedy? What makes a play a revenge tragedy, as opposed to just a tragedy? What elements do you
see in Hamlet?
• Elements to cover: Play-within-a-play, madness, a vengefl ghost, gory scenes, a character who seeks revenge for a serious grievance with
an opponent (use this to segue to the next step)
2. Distribute the chart below, and discuss the characteristics of a tragic hero. Do all of these qualities apply to Hamlet? Why or why not?
3. Individually or in small groups, have students find a specific quote from Hamlet that supports each characteristic of Hamlet as a tragic hero.
Discuss findings in groups or as a class. Which characteristic was the easiest to find evidence for, and why? Which characteristic was the hardest
to find evidence for, and why?
4. Instruct students that they will be moving Hamlet from the 15th century to the 21st century. Direct them to The Wall Machine (website linked
below), where they will each create their own Facebook page for Hamlet. Encourage them to use evidence found in the text, but to also be
creative, using 21st-century language to describe Hamlet's 15th-century thoughts. Some guidelines to consider:
• This exercise is about the tragic hero, so limit posts to Hamlet's tragic elements.
• Try to have at least one post that exemplifies each characteristic of a tragic hero.
• Make inferences: As readers/audience members, we have a lot of questions about Hamlet. For example, why does he delay his revenge
for so long? Try to answer those questions!
NOTE: Depending on your school's Internet filter, it may be necessary to assign this step as homework.
5. Share Facebook pages as a class or in small groups. Discuss some of the best status updates that give insight into Hamlet's thought process.
Were you able to answer some of the questions you had about Hamlet as a character? What did you learn about him?
Tragic Hero Characteristic
Example in Hamlet
Character is born to a high social class.
Character has an enemy.
Character is unhappy with the way things currently are.
Character tries to do the right thing.
Character's actions affect lots of people.
Character has a fatal flaw: a specific trait that causes his downfall.
Character makes an important discovery.
A reversal of fate occurs: what happens is the opposite of what the
character expects.
Character suffers greatly.
Character dies.
Links: The Wall Machine, Shakespeare Online's Revenge Tragedy, Literary Devices' Tragic Hero
31
ACTIVITIES
2. Shakespeare’s World
CREATE A CHARACTER THROUGH COSTUME
OBJECTIVES:
• Students differentiate between period-specific and non- period-specific costumes.
• Students can think critically about costume design.
• Students make connections between different time periods.
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 6 – 12
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Access to research about Hamlet, costume design template (p. 33), writing supplies, art supplies (optional)
1. Talk with students about costuming practices of Shakespeare’s theatre (See Performance Practices, page 8).
2. Have students choose a character from Hamlet to research. Have them research portrayals of that character in different productions of Hamlet, calling attention to the differing costumes.
• What place and time do these costumes seem to be evoking?
• What costume elements are similar? Where are costumes distinctly different? For what purpose?
• Do any costume elements signify character traits or relationships? (i.e. wearing black to mourn a death)
3. Have students identify a few costume pieces in their research, and have them answer the following questions.
• Does this costume match the time period in which the play is set?
• Does this costume match the time period in which the play was originally produced?
• What would the equivalent of this costume piece be if the show was performed today?
• What does this costume say about this character? What does this costume say about the character's relationship to other
characters in the play?
4. Have students choose a line that their character says that sums up their character. Have them use that line as inspiration to
create a modern equivalent costume for their character. Distribute the costume design template for them to draw their design on.
5. Share these sketches with the rest of the class. Note smilarities and differences across characters. Discuss as a class.
• Are there any commonalities in these modern costumes, or are they all unique?
• Have you made any discoveries about these characters through their costumes?
• How does putting your character in modern clothes change your understanding of them?
• What kind of costumes do you expect to see in the National Players production of Hamlet? (i.e. Lots of costume changes?
Modern or traditional attire?) Why?
• After the show: What costume elements did you see? What setting did the costumes evoke? What relationships and character traits were established through costume?
Design by Sorna
Design by Sophia Nagasaka
Design by Spencer Potter
32
Design by Iann Lundberg
COSTUME DESIGN TEMPLATE
33