Act I Scene I Actioning

We spend a good hour reminding ourselves of the physical side of the process we will be doing in this workshop on Shakespeare.

We do this by means of the Dumb Show from Hamlet. We do it in I minute, thirty seconds and fifteen seconds.

In groups we then look at the first scene in MSND in which we meet Egeus and the lovers. We spend ten or fifteen minutes in our 'Hamlet' groups (of four or five) familiarising ourselves with it from the point of view of Stanislavskian objectives and tactics.

We reassemble to discuss our findings. The work is good and clear.

At this point we're introduced to the methodology of Max Stafford-Clark of the Out of Joint company as described in Letters to George (Nick Hern Books 1990 P. 66 - 70). This involves assigning to each unit (often no more than a sentence or even a phrase) a TRANSITIVE verb. ie Lysander MOCKS Egeus. Theseus PLACATES Hermia. Demetrius FOCUSES Theseus etc.

Steve gives the group a list of 100 or so of these for safe keeping and use.

Bit by bit, having identified the objectives, we try to find a verb for each discrete action or tactic that the speaker employs. This is quite a thorough process but it does seem to provide yet another method for the actor to employ in her armoury.

Once again, this is not meant to be a straight-jacket for the actor but a framework to make her work more detailed and to make the analysis and thought about the work more thorough.

Out of Joint Theatre Company Website