In a fit of whimsical curiosity, I asked my roommate and her boyfriend to act out the infamous scene already shown in this blog (see previous entry).
I figured it might be interesting to see what a couple of college students could bring to this play that Ian McKellen couldn't. The answer: humor. Seth's (my roommate's boyfriend) performance made an already creepy character take on a third dimension. Chelsey, my roommate, is a theatre performance major from Weber State, and she made a point of acting exactly as she would expect Lady Anne to act.
Plus, since they were in actuality a couple, it changed the whole dynamic of the scene. When Richard/Seth told Lady Anne he belonged in her bedchamber, I was about to roll on the floor (from laughter of course).
The result was a slightly soap opera-ish performance, nix props that just get in the way. But it really helped cement in my mind just how the scene could work.
(Incidentally, Chelsey and Seth continued to talk in Shakespearean English long after they finished the scene. I may have helped Seth discover the blooming poet inside!)
