Dec 15, 2009

Hamlet | Staging for Shakespeare's Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii, Lines 85-221

R. Moore gives a detailed staging plan of this scene for a theatrical production of Hamlet, including set, costumes, and movement.

Act II, scene ii is set simply in "a room in the castle." As Claudius and Gertrude greet some of their guests—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and the ambassadors from Norway—the room should be elegant and comfortable. As the set and costuming for this production is particularly understated, the room is suggested through the draping of five large swatches of diaphanous material—three violet and two grey (as opposed to the setting of the state room which is hung with many, multi-colored swatches of material). Two of these swatches—one violet and one grey—are draped across the...