Hamlet Workshop Offers Behind-the-Scenes View
Upper School English students recently had a unique opportunity to see how a classic scene from Shakespeare—Hamlet’s banishment to England by King Claudius—could be interpreted for a modern audience. IDS Chair and resident thespian Dr. Julian Willard (playing Claudius) brought members of the Ghost Light Players to the Black Box Theater, first to stage the scene, then work with groups of students to critique their own scenes from Shakespeare’s other plays.
Students attending the performance were from Juliet Chase Bailey’s 11th and 12th Grade Shakespeare elective, Meghan Regan-Loomis’s AP English Literature and Composition class, and Willard’s English 10. Bailey’s and Willard’s students had been assigned a specific scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Macbeth to prepare for the actual workshop.
The Ghost Light Players, a community theater group based in Marlborough, had staged an abridged production of Hamlet last year, and took the show on the road to the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. Joining Dr. Willard at Rivers was Michelle Leibowitz playing Queen Gertrude, Robert Slotnick playing Hamlet, and Chris Maloney playing Guildenstern. Alecia Thomas, the company’s education outreach coordinator, rounded out the group of actors who have been holding similar workshops in area high schools.
The actors began by discussing their characters in the context of the scene they would perform, then staged an energetic version, including an assault on Hamlet by Claudius (aka Willard!). When the students broke up to work on their assigned scenes, the Ghost Light actors moved among the groups, helping them develop their own interpretations of their scenes, several of which were performed at the close of the workshop.
“Watching the actors make certain artistic choices, especially with a very minimalist set, really helped my vision for and planning of my partner scene,” commented Joe Nedder ’18. “The actors’ dedication to their roles and their knowledgeable background of Shakespeare really showed me the correct way to go about analyzing and performing Shakespeare—their knowledge of Shakespeare brought the show to a whole new level!
“Also, when performing for them, I received a lot of helpful feedback about how to play certain characters, what body language to use, and what actions to emphasize in order to elevate the scene and convey meaning. I took a lot of their advice about thinking of my characters’ goals and physical and mental traits into my own Shakespeare scene, and I believe it really elevated the project. The actors were all extremely helpful, outgoing, and passionate about Shakespeare, and it was a great privilege to have them in class.”
“For our final project, my partner and I are doing the scene directly before the one the actors performed (Hamlet, III.IV.),” commented Dominique Marshall ’18, “so it was interesting to see their interpretation of the conclusion to that act, and the similarities and differences to our take on the characters.
“They reminded us that even when we aren’t speaking, we’re still acting, projection being key. They especially helped us get to know our character, what their purpose and motivation is. This feedback I intend to incorporate not only now, but also in future performances. I’m truly thankful for getting such an amazing learning opportunity.”
“Watching the Ghost Light Players bring the Hamlet scene to life, then hearing why the actors made the blocking and characterization choices they did allowed my students to see how an actor’s decisions about dialogue and movement bring the words on the page to life,” concluded Ms. Bailey.
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