HAMLET FINAL – PERFORMANCE AND DIRECTOR’S NOTEBOOK

Your Hamlet final will be a performance.You have two choices:

Work as a group to stage a cohesive scene

Work individually to deliver a soliloquy

You may use any setting in time or place, but you must use Shakespeare’s dialogue, and you must take it seriously.

Parts must be mostly memorized—you may have a “cheat script,” but it must be clear that you have thoroughly rehearsed your lines and understand the meaning and emotional content of what you are saying. You may choose your own groups. We will have a day or two after the break when you will be able to rehearse during class, but the rest of the work will be done on your own time.

GROUPS:

A group may have a non-performing Director. If this is the case, the Director will be responsible for collecting and assembling the Director’s Notebook, as well as for writing a Director’s Concept paragraph in which you address the choices that you have made in terms of interpretation, as well as those you would make to stage the scene if money were no object. (This is in lieu of the actors’ Character Analysis.)

Even if you don’t have a non-performing Director, each group will submitthe Notebook in a folder or report cover. (Binders are nice, but very bulky.)

  1. Name your acting company (Shakespeare’s was the King’s Men.) Decorate the cover of your Director’s Notebook. Include the name of your company, the members your group and the role each is playing, and the act/scene you will perform.
  2. Include a master copy of your scene that is annotated for each character:
  3. Vocal pauses, stresses, and inflections; tone of voice
  4. Gestures and facial expressions
  5. Notes or diagrams of movements and actions
  6. Definitions/translations of obscure words/phrases

Color-code the annotations for each performer.

  1. Costumes: Design a conceptual costume that you would wear in your particular production if money were no object. You may draw it, find an appropriate picture online, or put it together from magazine clippings, but no screen shots from Hamlet films. Include a paragraph that describes the costume and explains its relevance to the production. Also, briefly describe what you chose to wear for the actual performance.
  2. Character Analysis: Each performer is responsible for writing an analysis of the character they are playing in the scene. Thoroughly address the following (but please make it a real paragraph, not one in which you are simply ticking off each of these items):
  3. What does the character want in this scene? Why?
  4. Do the character’s objectives change during the scene? If so, when and why? What obstacles stand in the character’s way? How do they deal with them?

While some characters are obviously more open to analysis than others, you should be able to write at least a full paragraph (with complete sentences and correct punctuation!)

  1. Music: Select appropriate music to play as a 30-second (no longer) introduction to your performance. Your selection should relate to the mood and thematic content of your particular scene.

SOLO PERFORMANCE:

  1. Memorize the soliloquy. You may have a prompter to help you if you get stuck.
  2. Complete #2-5 above. Submit in a folder or report cover.

All performances will take place during the 2-hour final period for your class, so it will be essential for you to be prepared and organized. While this is a group project, individual grades may vary.You will receive an evaluation sheet just before finals. Be sure to fill it out completely and submit it with your Director’s Notebook.

Performance: 100 points Director’s Notebook: 100 points

PREPARING FOR PERFORMANCE

Read your scene with your group several times, until you feel you understand it well. Ask each other (or your director) questions about the line readings, the characters, and the action.

Discuss staging within the confines of our classroom. Talk about props, costumes, music.

Work on staging—determine blocking, entrances, and significant gestures. The scene must incorporate movement—you are performers, not trees! Do not spend the entire scene rooted to a single spot!

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! There is no substitution for saying the words aloud.

SUGGESTED SCENES FOR PERFORMANCE

In some scenes, it may be possible to combine or eliminate small roles. If one character has an extremely large role, consider casting two people to play it, portraying different facets of the character or just switching off. If you want to do a scene that isn’t on the list, clear it with me first.

In performance, scenes should last 7-10 minutes.

1.4Horatio, Marcellus, and Hamlet encounter the Ghost

1.3Polonius “counsels” Ophelia

1.5The Ghost speaks to Hamlet

2.2Polonius and Hamlet

2.2Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

3.1Hamlet and Ophelia

3.2“The Mousetrap”—Player King, Player Queen, Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius

4.5Ophelia’s mad scene—Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes

5.1The Gravedigger scene—Gravedigger, Hamlet, Horatio, Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, Priest

5.2Hamlet and Horatio have some sport with Osric

5.2.The final fight—Claudius, Hamlet, Laertes, Osric, Gertrude, Horatio, Fortinbras, Ambassador