The Lady of the Hour

How to portray Ophelia is key, of course. And it is different from deciding how to portray her in the productions I was in. If I had the opportunity to play her in production again, I would want to try something completely different, simply because I could.

One of the reasons she is so intriguing is that Shakespeare leaves much of her character up to interpretation. I believe that's why artists have been drawn to her over the years, and one of the reasons actresses love to play her even though she is a small role.

In my production last year I played her madness with a good dose of rage, a freedom from social norms, a desire to implicate and expose the corruption she saw around her. And later, with her brother, the sadness of her loss. If I had the opportunity to play her again, I might toy around with the idea of her madness bringing her a great sense of calm. As if all her sadness were too much to bear so she just disconnected from them and entered another realm.

So first I have to decide where in Ophelia's timeline we are in my piece. I said originally that I wanted to avoid an Ophelia who is simply "looking back" on all that has happened to her. But I also would love to see her after everything has already happened to her with a sense of acceptance. I said earlier that I want her to be reacting to what the professor is saying, but I think that could be through image rather than a direct reference. Always better to show than to tell. Part of me wants her first entrance to be the opposite of the professor's first entrance. We could have her distraught, in her father's jacket (an image I love though I haven't used it), with a soundscape occurring while she is in silence. The verbal, intellectual appearing against the nonverbal feeler. This would also give me room to have two complete character arcs that cross in the center. Ophelia begins in pieces, and ends with a sense of acceptance. The professor begins with a firm grasp of things and ends in pieces.

But who is this Ophelia? I guess I should start with my character analysis from when I played the role. She can begin where I feel the character is, and then go beyond that, to a place where Shakespeare's Ophelia was unable to go.

THE Library

So it turns out that I didn't actually take research notes while I was prepping to play Ophelia. I read many, many things, and then let them naturally synthesize their way into (or out of) my system. This means that I needed to make a trip to the research library where many of the Opheliac books are housed.

The research library in Manhattan is quite an intimidating place. There are no instructions for the lost researcher on how to acquire books, and there is little explanation as to why these particular books were chosen to be set apart from the rest. You must make your way to the third floor with little to no guidance, discover the carbon copy request forms, take the to the correct librarian, and sit down to wait for your number. All of this ceremony and secrecy may be confusing, but it certainly makes you feel important and legitimate.

Although I requested several books in the main reading room, two of my requests sent me to the even more separate, even more secretive Room 300. This room houses all the Art and Architecture books and has it's own rules and ceremonies that reminded me of many an intellectual thriller that involves deep research in order to discover the culprit. I turned in my slips, gave the librarian my seat number, and sat in silence, waiting for my books.

I had two hours to spend, not long enough I know, and I spent it all on one beautiful book entitled The Myth and Madness of Ophelia. This book was written as a companion to an exhibition of Ophelia paintings and photographs around 2001. The first two articles are written in response to the character of Ophelia, and what she has come to mean in our culture, rather than her actual role in the play. They seems to mirror one of the few lines I have already written, "she has become greater than the sum number of words she actually speaks in the play".

I could go on, but this entry is getting a little long. I believe now that the books I will encounter written specifically about Ophelia will encompass not just her role and the interpretation of that role in the play, but also the mythical figure she has become. If I remember correctly, however, the books on HAMLET are not so kind to her, and will provide me with more material for my scholar character. I turn next to Michael Pennington's book on Hamlet, which was one of the materials I read during my research last year that was somewhat helpful, and somewhat irritating. I imagine a great deal of research will be needed for this piece before I am satisfied with my characters voices. Perhaps I have a direction for the professor, but I am still not clear as to how I want to portray the lady of the hour.

Beginnings of Form

At this moment I have a general idea of what I want this piece to consist of. I have two characters that will alternate with one another and create a dialog. One character will be the voice of the research and one character will be Ophelia. At this moment I am thinking that the research voice will be an English professor, or something of the sort, and she will be doing this research because of her own obsession with the character. Perhaps she is working on writing a book exposing the real Ophelia. I want to shy away from her being an actress researching the part because I want this person to start with a total outside/intellectual approach. Her speaking will probably take on the feeling of a class lecture, and perhaps it will start out with her actually giving a class lecture to make the audience a concrete part of the story. Her scenes will be interspersed with Ophelia scenes. I'm not sure how these will go either. I want her to be reacting to the information we have learned from the Professor. One idea is to have her sing. I feel that music should be involved in some way as a way of breaking up the portions where I am talking. I also am spurred on to use music by the script. When Ophelia enters in her madness, the script says she is carrying a lute. I am just getting in to the swing of playing my guitar again, and I think that Ophelia could be using the guitar through most of her scenes. My husband has offered his assistance with music, and this could allow for some scenes that are wordless, using either music or sound-scape behind them. Scenes would interweave until we hit a climax in which both characters would either confront one another in a scene, or perhaps through some other convention involving voice over or music.

I think the arc of the play will be in the Professor character. She will begin very academic and outside of all the feeling of the character, until through circumstances in her life, she will follow the path of Ophelia to some extent. I have the closing image already in my head, but I will save that for later...

The next step is to go through all of my character notes from the time I first played Ophelia. From here I will begin to find the bits I want to use, and see what information I am missing that I need to do more research on. Then the Professor will have the beginnings of her voice.