Sian Williams lead a physical session focusing on III.1’s interplay between Hamlet and Ophelia; “Get thee to a nunnery…”.

After a warm up we got into pairs to explore leading and following, manipulation and submission and how these lines can blur as trust is built between you.

In groups of four we explored the way physical contact could trigger emotions and were interested to find that they were not always in obvious correlation to the form of contact; a punch could feel friendly, a kiss deceptive, especially when contextualised within the scene. We took a very simple exchange;

A: Hello
B: Hello.
A: How are you?
B: Fine. How are you?
A: Fine.
B: Good.

and explored the myriad subtexts that could be applied to it, settling in partners on one interpretation, then honing that until it was very precise. We than took out the words and explored the physical relationship between us, once again honing that until it became a well rehearsed set of movements and timings. The last step was to re-apply the words and see how they fit. The exchanges became very deep and rich in layers of subtext and subtlety.

Sian had distilled III.1 Into it’s simplest form;

1 H notices O, they acknowledge and greet each other
2 O shows affection toward H
3 H refuses to accept sign of affection
4 O is questioning and continues to show affection
5 H is elusive and rejects O
6 O is shocked and hurt
7 H is self-admonishing then suspicious
8 O appeals to H
9 H behaves outlandishly
10 O continues to appeal to H
11 H is in pain, lashes out and leaves
12 O is frightened and compassionate

we explored this as an exaggerated dumbshow, attempting to make the story as clear as possible, then did our best to bring it down so it looked less hammy and more emotionally connected. Some very touching and wonderful interpretations were created.