The Hamlet Project

I really want to mess around with this scene now in a rehearsal room. I mean, I’ve always liked it. I’m generally a fan of a comic moment in a tragic play so this scene is a welcome relief when watching and fun to play from the inside. (I assume. I’ve never played it on stage.) But now the status battle between these two gravediggers feels so clear and I would like to dive into that directly. The default is almost always the First Gravedigger as the master grave digger and the Second as his apprentice. His stupid apprentice, too. But number 2 is really taking number 1 down a peg, again and again. Calling number 1 “goodman delver” – essentially Mister Digger – is a way to lower number 1’s status, especially after his bloviating for a while. Like – alright, Mister Digger, let’s not get too big for our digging britches.