Globe Education Online

In her third blog post, Penny discusses the cast's rehearsal weekend at Otley and how improvisations helped her discover more about Ophelia.

Otley

We had a very interesting time at our rehearsal weekend in Otley. We spent the first day improvising scenes that happen before the play begins. It was fantastically useful. We went through things in order, and I am beginning to understand why it is that Ophelia goes mad. I have experienced the chain of events in sequence that Ophelia goes through and have seen how quickly one thing happens after another.

Improvisations

I have started to look at Ophelia’s history in the play. The first thing we improvised was a familiar scene for Ophelia, which was the first time she and Polonius had helped Laertes pack his things ready to go to university. Really we were just building up the relationship within the family. It began to make it real for us.

I wrote Ophelia’s journal for a few days. I did this because there are so many times where she is sent to her chamber. I began to see how isolated she is at court and how lonely she must have been feeling. I think that this could be one of the reasons she goes mad. She becomes an orphan and therefore totally alone.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance over the weekend to look at my relationship with Hamlet before the play begins – the good old days. The first improvisation that Hamlet and I did was after the election of Claudius. He came to my room and said that he’d been having terrible dreams about his father and to ask me whether I thought about my mother. I was trying to console him. It was very gentle and intimate. Then he was called away to speak to the Queen. I began to write in my journal again and suddenly I could hear Hamlet shouting below me, and I had no idea what was going on.

It was very interesting because all the improvisations were happening simultaneously. This meant that you really did get the feeling of being at court and that lots of things were happening that didn’t always involve you. I began to see that Ophelia is always on the outskirts, but that she hears and sees things, although she never finds out what has been happening until after it is over.

It wasn’t until the second day at Otley that I began to feel exactly what Ophelia goes through. I began to feel how quickly things happen to her and around her. I began to get upset at the idea that Hamlet was thinking bad thoughts about me. I felt her confusion. I was worried about what he was up to. Later I was looking out of my window trying to see what was going on. I saw Hamlet with lots of bags covered in red and I could see people chasing him. I ran downstairs and by the time I had got there Horatio was the only person left and he had to tell me that Hamlet had killed my father. This was a lucky coincidence, as it explains why Horatio cares for me after Polonius’ death.

It was a very difficult week, but going through all the emotions was what made it a success for me.

These comments are the actor’s thoughts and 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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