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The Conscience of the King

The Conscience of the King

I’ve always approached any of Shakespeare’s characters that I have the honor to play, with an open mind and blank canvas. Preparing Claudius was certainly no exception, but came with some new discoveries. Now, I always begin my process with characterization in the external sense, like what do others say about my character, and what does my character do that is implied in the script. So, without giving too much away…those things said by others, well…aren’t very flattering. How

Happy in Hamlet

Happy in Hamlet

One of the many things I enjoy about acting, is the opportunity to meet and learn from other actors, and the cast of Hamlet has been amazing! Each actor has a different approach, and a different energy in bringing their characters to life. I was never formally trained in acting, so I'm not one to look to for deep discussions of acting methods, movement choices, etc....I'm not sure how to explain those things. I have been learning to act play by play, through the Pigeon Creek

Meet the Cast of Hamlet: Riley Van Ess

Meet the Cast of Hamlet: Riley Van Ess

A few thoughts on the character of Horatio The name Horatio bears a striking resemblance to Orator, which in latin means speaker. We see the charge a couple times from Hamlet at the end of the play—for Horatio to tell his (Hamlet’s) story. And then the play ends quite suddenly with Fortinbras and an ambassador to England arriving to the bloody scene. Leaving us to question Horatio’s fate. But alas, that does not matter. Horatio does not matter. The show is called Hamlet after

Meet the Cast of Hamlet: Mark Gmazel

Meet the Cast of Hamlet: Mark Gmazel

First Experience of Hamlet? My first experience with Hamlet was middle school, where I found a stack of the old Illustrated Classics. These were comic books. I recall MacBeth, King Lear, Richard iii, and Henry V, had the better parts of the text with comic book illustrations, which really helped me keep track of who was who and what was happening. Later, when I read the plays in full as text, I could remember the images from those graphic novels. I recall MacBeth being the f

Flowers & Herbs as Rhetorical Device 101 with Professor Ophelia

Flowers & Herbs as Rhetorical Device 101 with Professor Ophelia

Hi there. My name is Ophelia. I’m glad you’re here with me today. We have a small yet vibrant garden here in Elsinore, and even in the off season I have plenty of flowers and herbs to tend. In this lesson today, I will discuss a few particular plants I, personally, hold in high esteem. We’ll start with my favorite flowers, in no particular order: 1. Pansies. The yellow, white and purple of this flower adds a lovely color to our garden. The pansy is the birth flower of the mo

The Age Old Question...Literally

The Age Old Question...Literally

How Old Is Hamlet? Shakespeare rarely gives an exact age for his characters, probably for the same reason he usually refrains from giving them specific physical descriptions, as a practical consideration to make the roles playable by a variety of actors. When he does reference a character’s age it is usually because it is relevant to the plot of the play (Juliet’s extreme youth, Lear’s extreme age), while specific physical descriptors are most often played for humor (Hermia’s

On "Doubling"

On "Doubling"

One of my favorite – and one of the most challenging – aspects of working with Pigeon Creek is their practice of doubling which, for those who might not know, is having one actor play multiple characters. I really enjoy the unique challenges it presents, despite the stress it can sometimes cause. The biggest benefit, for me at least, is that it gives me more to do in any given show. Instead of my handful of lines as “Guard #1” (in this case, Francisco) and sitting backstage f

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