from Phillip

I've been reading Backwards and Forwards by David Ball for script analysis this semester, and throughout the book he continually references Hamlet to apply the techniques he introduces. There's one specific example that he makes I believe will be helpful to the group in the rehearsal process. Ball says that something all aspects of a show should adhere to - acting, direction, design - is to make sure that they do not make choices that make the audience get ahead of them. It's easy to brand Claudius as the villain right from the start, as many theatre artists may wind up doing due to the pervasiveness of the play. That being said, the audience has no evidence that Claudius is actually guilty of anything (but being a little perverse) until Hamlet himself receives proof of it in act 3. If we force this assumption of guilt on the audience too early, we ruin the joy of the first half of the show for them.