Globe Education Online

This week, Geoffrey discusses rehearsing the first scene and the final scene, learning lines and how he feels Horatio has developed.

The first scene

We rehearsed Act 1 Scene 1 on a hill in the dark in Otley, which wasn’t altogether satisfactory. I have some quite difficult speeches in this scene. I’m filling in all the background, but we’ve also just seen a ghost. So we need to get the balance just right, which is proving to be quite hard. We need to discover what the ghost signifies. Does the ghost appear because of some strange disruption in the state? There must be something going on to bring the ghost. I’ve been finding it quite hard to find a through-line. I need to find a way to show how terrified Horatio is of the ghost, whilst also showing that he tries to deal with it rationally. He tries to order it to do things. It is very important that the story make sense here, otherwise the audience will get confused. It is a very dramatic first scene, but at the same time there is a lot of important information to get across. We are approaching this through the language and the blocking. But the most important way of getting things across clearly, is to have your intentions very clearly set out in your head. If you know what you’re thinking then it will be clear to the audience. The point of it is to try and work out why it is that the ghost has come. We need to work it out together as a company.

I find this to be quite a tricky stage in rehearsal. I’m only just beginning to make major discoveries and there’s never enough time to try them out. I’m having trouble with the scene between Horatio and Ophelia. Despite my discoveries in Otley, I still think it’s odd that he should be around in the court once Hamlet has gone away. I know from Otley that his deepest instincts are not to be involved in politics. I justify it to myself by saying that he helps Ophelia because Hamlet asked him to.

Lines

It’s frustrating that I still don’t know my lines perfectly and consequently break down at critical moments and have to be prompted. We have done a lot of work on the stage. We’ve tried the gravedigger’s scene - figuring out how deep the grave should be. We’ve also been trying out the scene where the ghost appears. We are having him appear from under the stage and have been trying to discover from which area of the stage his knocking is most effective.

The final scene

We’ve been working on the final scene, which is also quite difficult. Hamlet wants to die standing up, so that he can be seen more clearly. But I don’t think that I can say my line whilst propping him up, so I think I shall have to lay him down first. I don’t know yet, we still have more work to do.

We ran the play right through sitting in a circle, where you move into the centre to act, without thinking of the moves too clearly. It turned out to be quite revealing, especially at the beginning. There were some lovely things going on.

Character development

My main problem with Horatio at the moment is that I keep thinking things, which aren’t in his lines, and that there is no evidence for in the text. I want to say to Hamlet ‘pull yourself together. Either do it or don’t do it, because you’re in danger.’ I have to stop thinking this, as Horatio is not. Lots of his lines tend to be slightly less serious, and I keep thinking why isn’t he advising Hamlet that his life is in danger. I think that it’s just not his place in the play. He is supporting Hamlet with integrity, without ever questioning what he is doing. I struggle with that a little.

I am coming to terms with many of the major issues in the play, at last. I still haven’t got completely used to the stage yet. I think it might take me a few performances to get comfortable on it.

These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process-they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

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