The Hamlet Project

I bet it is, murderer.
Me? I’m doing okay. While I am frustrated by many things, I’m pretty unified in myself and pretty clear about what sorts of things need to be done. I won’t say it’s not hard. Because it is. But things being hard is very different than having a soul full of discord and dismay. I’ve managed to keep the discord and dismay outside of myself for the time being. Outside may be chaos. And it does feel like chaos sometimes.
But inside. I am clear as a mountain stream in spring.

Traveling feels like one of those things that makes life worth living. In a world that can get dull and worn with age, a change of scene can activate a sense of wonder and surprise. It is one of those things than can predictability inspire me to create.
On my own, I can rarely find a way to travel much or very far – but my mother has recently retired and so, every few months or so, she’ll suggest another journey. Come away to Greece. Come away to Rhode Island. Come away to Ireland. And I will.

And here we see Claudius’ chief concern: his own reputation. He really is a politician.
He is not worried about Hamlet (obvs) or Gertrude or mourning for Polonius. He is simply worried about his political reputation. It is remarkably transparent. Nice line, though. It’s a funny time to get poetic. But hey, probably policy is the one thing Claudius truly loves.

Who are these wise friends? The Royal Bridge partners? Their usual dinner parry guests? Their roommates from college?
It’s interesting to have these people we’ve never met or heard referenced before turn up at this point in the play. Because he begins with “Come, Gertrude…” it seems as though he may be referring to their mutual friends – their couple friends – but, of course, he could also mean HIS friends, the Royal “Our friends” which would be the more political group of “friends” I imagine. This might make more sense given that Claudius’ chief concern about this murder are its political repercussions.

This kid I was working with as part of his drama club was still sitting while the rest of his classmates stood, ready onstage. When I asked him why he wasn’t up there with them, he told me he was preserving his energy to the last possible moment when he would spring up and do the task. He thought this was a really smart strategy he’d invented. And maybe for him it IS a upper effective strategy. Me, though, I don’t usually go from zero to 60 like that. I have to get myself moving, jamming, running, if I have to, so that my energy isn’t dead by the time we get to my moment.
But that is a lesson in the future for this young actor. He has not yet worked out how much of the work is about energy manipulation, about speed and readiness. And if you have urgency or haste nowhere else, please, at least, put it on stage.

See. You start doing the King’s dirty work and the next thing you know you’re moving dead bodies for him. I mean….it’s a short road. First, you do a little reporting back. Then you do some errands. And then, before you know it, you’re moving freshly killed bodies.

This is generally good policy. Even and especially when speaking with someone who’s just run his blade through another man. If you’re trying to avoid getting a blade through the belly yourself, that is. If you’re keen on death then inciting a murderer, still high on the kill, is probably a great way to go.

In the dream I had last night, I had a playful imaginative quick witted director as a mentor/creative partner. He led me through an adventure – but it was all in a rehearsal studio. Or was it me leading him? I think I created this guy in my dream because he is what I need. The first step will be to determine if such a person exists. The second step will be to go seek him out.

And I imagine the third step will be to finally understand that that director guide is in me.