Hamlet (2013) - Bethany Lutheran College

things to note!

• Claudius (August Jeske) acting circles around everyone
• his sharp suit
• the adoring smile he gives Gertrude
• the cool cut direct he gives Hamlet before talking to Laertes
• how carefully he watches Gertrude and Hamlet and how quickly he cuts in when Hamlet tries to make her feel bad
• the fingers curling back, the clap of the hands (you’ll see that hand clap again, it’s what he does before preparing himself for something necessary and unpleasant)
• unmanly grief

things to note!

• the ‘thanks babe’ smile Claudius gives Gertrude when she corrects Rosencrantz’s and Guildenstern’s names
• Gertrude all smiles when greeting the courtiers then going thoughtful and melancholy stage right (this happens a lot, she doesn’t show her sadness in public, only in flickering moments when no one’s eyes are on her)
• Gertrude performing polite interest in Polonius, hands folded, smile plastered on, it’s a struggle
• Claudius’s twirling ‘get on with’ hand gesture that Gertrude translates into ‘more matter, with less art’
• Gertrude taking Claudius’s hand for strength (and Claudius letting her take it, not forcing it on her, just making sure he’s nearby in case she needs him)
• Claudius asking Gertrude’s opinion in a close, confidential way, he cares far more about her thoughts than Polonius’s – who can blame him?

things to note!

• lots of pacing
• Claudius explaining a terrible plan to Gertrude like it’s not terrible (the reasonable cadence, the statesman-like hand gestures)
• the disbelieving eyebrow raise when Gertrude says ‘so I hope your virtues will bring him to his wonted way again’ to Ophelia, so what do you really believe, Claudius?
• Claudius cold and unimpressed while Ophelia is sobbing center stage, the stark contrast
• full on eyeroll when Polonius still insists Hamlet is in love, love doesn’t look like that (and maybe, this is sheer speculation, but maybe he’s heard the same thing about Hamlet Sr and how he truly loved Gertrude even when Gertrude was sobbing on the floor about something he said)
• it’s subtle, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but he gulps when Polonius suggests putting Hamlet in a room with Gertrude – but he still allows it, so hope nothing bad happens

things to note!

• everyone dressed up so nice for the play!
• Claudius laughing at the silly dumbshow with his wife until the point it stops being funny (the point where there’s poison)
• the poison watering can!!!
• just everything about the dumbshow poisoner and what it says about how Hamlet sees Claudius and how he came to power
• the sparkly green tights, too
• ‘what do you call the play?’ so saltily
• Claudius’s nervous fiddly fingers, right before he clasps the chair to stop them fiddling and furiously rises, it’s such a good simmering build
• sorry your nephew read you like that, Claudius

things to note!

• Claudius tearing off that tie and twisting it around his hands like a garrote
• the purple lounge coat he wears is my favorite thing he wears all play and he’s got some good looks
• he’s so done with Polonius
• nervous fiddly fingers! this is my favorite thing August Jeske does, his body language as Claudius is so contained, but the anxiety shows in his hands, hands Claudius often hides behind his back (hiding his true feelings)
• the buildup to this speech! and when he blurts ‘brother’s murder’ and has to stop and accept it, the little nod that he does aaah
• there’s so much good body language stuff here, just watch those fiddly fingers go
• shouting to the angels to help him, as if he can see them, and that soft vulnerable look before he crosses himself
• he looks so defeated when he parts his praying hands

things to note!

• Claudius seeing Gertrude sobbing and instantly, instinctually, he puts up a hand to request privacy and goes to her
• his body language, the crossed arms, the Elezen thinking emote, it’s like he’s holding himself in to keep himself from spiraling out
• ‘O Gertrude, come away!’ Gertrude crumples as soon as he raises his voice – he sees that, and soften, and kneels down to her level
• (Gertrude is straight up lying btw, some Hamlets wept to see what they’ve done, this Hamlet didn’t, but Gertrude still needs to apologize and make excuses for him because that’s her job)
• the hand clap! preparing himself for the unpleasant business ahead
• Claudius speaking directly to the audience about how dangerous Hamlet is, trying to convince us that something has to be done (is it murder? Claudius, you can’t solve all your problems with murder)
• Claudius’s fiddly hands suddenly going still when Hamlet tells him to go to hell (‘seek him in the other place yourself’)
• the ‘I’m going to strangle this kid’ hand gestures
• the most elegant cheek wipe
• as he addresses the audience and England, he adjusts his shirt-sleeves and his collar, making himself presentable … it’s kind of hot

things to note!

• the scene, my favorite scene, get ready
• the reason Claudius is a machinist – it happens quick, he unbuttons his jacket and slides out the gun and prepares it so swiftly, he has to have done this before (and at the last possible moment he hides the pistol behind his back because he doesn’t do direct confrontation, he can’t show his hand)
• ‘your rebellion’ so sassy
• and the click of the pistol when he says ‘there's such divinity doth hedge a king’ (i.e. ‘i’m safe, god looks out for kings’ – except he knows that’s not true, he had a whole soliloquy about how he and god are not on speaking terms, but he has a gun and that’s good, too)
• my favorite moment in my favorite scene, ‘let him demand his fill’ and Claudius smoothly pushing Laertes’s gun aside and revealing his own before disarming it, so they can talk like civilized people
• another blink-and-you-miss-it moment when Ophelia comes in, Claudius pulls Gertrude aside to safety, whispers something, starts to reach for his gun again but then he exchanges a look with Laertes and lets the gun go
• the ‘flowers’ Ophelia dismissively gives Claudius, fennel and columbines – fennel is thought to symbolize flattery, and columbines to symbolize faithlessness (fitting for an adulterer or a heretic)
• Claudius looking at the ‘flowers’ and deliberately setting them down before speaking to Laertes and communing with his grief

things to note!

• just as a general structure-of-Hamlet note, it’s interesting that Laertes and Claudius enter mid-conversation and we don’t get the specifics of how Claudius seduced Laertes to his side (which means if i headcanon that they made out offstage no scholar in the world can contradict me)
• the nervous tapping Claudius does with the letters, his anxiety really does come out in his hands
• Claudius saving the letter meant for Gertrude and slowly and deliberately tearing up the letter Hamlet wrote to him
• ‘Will you be ruled by me?’ eyebrow raise
• the intimate chest touch on ‘to thine own peace’
• Laertes kneeling, swearing fealty (Laertes just wants to be a blade in Claudius’s hand, and Claudius enjoys that)
• and the way Claudius kneels down to be on Laertes’s level, and how that mirrors him kneeling down to Gertrude earlier – the ship launches itself!
• storytime with Claudius! lots of illustrative hand gestures, he’s having fun with this, and Laertes is having fun, too, laughing and smiling at his story
• ‘Laertes, was your father dear to you?’ oh he went there and he just stands there unflinching when Laertes gets in his face (he kinda likes Laertes there)
• that headshake and chuckle when Laertes brings up poison, like he just brought Claudius the perfect gift, how did you know (in most productions Claudius is clearly a bad influence on Laertes, but these two are bad influences on each other)
• whoops stop the shipping time to be sad! just a quick note! in an earlier scene Laertes reached out to comfort Ophelia twice and each time she flinched away and refused to let her touch him, this time Gertrude reaches out for Laertes and he does the same, refusing comfort
• and Claudius reaching out with gentle soothing gestures, then clapping his hands together in that bracing-himself-for-something-unpleasant way when Laertes leaves

things to note!

• everyone’s mourning wear is on point, love the hats (guess they all already had good mourning wear in their closets from Hamlet Sr’s funeral)
• Claudius reaching out too late to stop Laertes from walking right into a grave, whoops!
• Claudius stopping for a moment to savor Laertes attacking Hamlet
• when Claudius finally steps in to intervene, throwing down his hat
• the hand on Laertes’s chest, damn, you didn’t have to get that personal but all right! any excuse to touch Laertes’s chest
• brushing off Laertes’s jacket when he lets Laertes go, they’re so intimate
• the saucy little snap behind Laertes’s back on ‘present push’
• ‘your son’ not even pretending Hamlet is his son anymore, this is the cruelest he’s ever been to Gertrude (be nicer, Claudius? you don’t know how much time you have left)

things to note!

• the royals sitting in the same chairs they did for the play, the court gathered all around, there’s just something neat about it Claudius exchanging significant looks with Laertes, distracted while Gertrude takes the poisoned cup (and then he’s gently trying to dissuade Gertrude from taking a drink, but it’s too gentle – he can’t be suspicious, he can’t take it too seriously, so she doesn’t take it seriously, either)
• his face when she takes the drink
• his hand folded behind his back – hey, remember what i said about his anxiety showing in his hands? so when he hides his hands behind his back it’s like he’s hiding his true feelings? yeah
• when Gertrude walks back up to her seat, and Claudius reaches to put a steadying hand on her back, but she has no idea, she doesn’t need steadying yet (maybe it’s to steady him)
• (okay but Laertes landing that hit on Hamlet still gets a smile from Claudius, he’s gotta enjoy something before he dies)
• Gertrude feeling the poison in the background, look and you’ll see her subtly take Claudius’s cup before she gets up – she thinks whatever’s wrong is wrong with both their drinks because she doesn’t know Claudius was the one who put the poison there, the dramatic irony is pointed and painful
• when Gertrude collapses on the stairs, and Claudius runs right to her, just like he ran at the sound of her sobbing earlier (and he backs away just before she dies, just as she shouts ‘the drink, drink!’ so he doesn’t even get to hold her as she goes)
• if you watch closely you can see Claudius getting his gun ready behind his back, preparing to defend himself – it doesn’t work out for him!
• fun fact there’s a dramaturge’s blog for this production and they talk about Claudius’s vest in this scene and how they made it out of raincoat material so it wouldn’t be ruined by having prop wine poured on it every night
• August Jeske’s bow at the curtain call because i always watch the curtain call to feel better after a tragedy