RALPH: In act 3 scene two, you and the players are preparing for the next performance. And, you have a lot of advice for the actors. 

HAMLET: Well here's the thing with actors. Most of them, they overdo it. Just drives me nuts. 

RALPH: That's right, you tell the lead actor to suit the action to the word, the word to the action. In fact, you go so far as to define the very purpose of acting. How do you put it? 

HAMLET: They should hold the mirror up to nature, show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image. 

RALPH: To hold the mirror up to nature. So when we see an actor perform, we should feel like we're seeing things as they really are. 

HAMLET: That's right.

RALPH: I wonder, what if someone were to play Hamlet? 

HAMLET: What do you mean? 

RALPH: What if someone were to act, you, act Hamlet? What would they be trying to show? What's the truth of Hamlet? 

HAMLET: What's the truth of Hamlet? I don't know you're talking about. 

RALPH: Well, you say a good actor should suit word to action, action to word. But you, not an actor, just a person, are having trouble doing just that. You're not sure what to do, or what to think. I wonder if that's why you love the theater so much, because an actor just simply performs the part they're given. No hesitation, no doubt. 

HAMLET: Okay, if somebody gave me a script, entitled Hamlet, and I was just to play all the things in that script, yeah that would be easy. You know, I underestimated you, Ralph. 

RALPH: So, if someone were to play Hamlet, the point would be to show that very difficulty, the gap between our sense of ourself, and the things that we might say or do. The only part you've been able to play lately is to pretend to act crazy. 

HAMLET: But that's about to change because once the play starts, and Claudius reacts to it because he is guilty, then I'll know what role I am to play, and I will play it well. 

RALPH: Well we're about to see how well that works. Everyone is assembling for the performance of the play,—or the mousetrap, as you have renamed it,—you start acting crazy again and you sit next to Ophelia. You're giving her a hard time. It's cruel really. 

HAMLET: She's a big girl, she can handle it. 

RALPH: The play is performed as planned, and it culminates in a Duke being poisoned and robbed of his wife and estate, just as your father's ghost said that he was killed by Claudius. 

HAMLET: All right. Well, what happens next? Does Claudius react? Sarah? 

SARAH: We are just in time, Ralph. The players are getting to the moment where the Duke is murdered, by having poison poured in his ear. And I have a good view of Claudius from where I'm standing. 

LUCIANUS: Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; Confederate season, else no creature seeing; thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected; with Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, thy natural magic and dire property, on wholesome life usurp immediately. 

HAMLET: He poisons him in the garden for his estate. His name is Gonzago. The story is extant and written in choice Italian, you shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. 

OPHELIA: The King rises. 

HAMLET: What, frightened with false fire. 

GERTRUDE: How fares, my lord? 

POLONIUS: Give o'er the play. 

CLAUDIUS: Give me some light: away! 

SARAH: There you have it. How is Hamlet handling this development, Ralph? 

RALPH: So, the King stormed off in reaction to your mousetrap production. What's going through your head? 

HAMLET: Why, let the stricken deer go weep, the hart ungalled play; for some must watch and some must sleep, so runs the world away. You think I could join that acting troupe? 

RALPH: Yes, I suppose you could. What do you think about Claudius? 

HAMLET: What do you mean, what do I think about-- you saw it. Case closed. 

RALPH: Well, then Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive and they tell you that Claudius is quite upset, and that your mother has sent you a message. 

HAMLET: My mother? What is it? 

RALPH: Well she says she's quite amazed at your behavior, and that she'd like to see you in her chambers before you go to bed. 

HAMLET: O wonderful son that can so astonish a mother. 

RALPH: So, you'll go see her? 

HAMLET: Yeah, she's my mom. 

RALPH: Then you send every one away, and you're alone again. It's a key juncture in the story. You finally have the answer you've been looking for—the King is guilty of murder. What are you thinking about? 

HAMLET: Now is a very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes all its contagion to the world. Now could I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on. 

RALPH: Sounds like you're ready to kill Claudius. Is that what happens next? 

HAMLET: Well yeah, but I've got to go see my mom first. 

RALPH: Oh dear, so you're still pretty mad at your mother, I take it. 

HAMLET: Let me be cruel, not unnatural. Let me speak daggers to her, but use none. 

RALPH: But, Hamlet, if you don't mind, if I could make a suggestion. Perhaps it's best to just go kill Claudius now, while you're really feeling it. Suit words to actions, and all that. 

HAMLET: Okay, Ralph, I don't know what your story is. I don't mind answering your questions, but I really don't need to take advice from you. 

RALPH: Okay, you're right. It's not my place. So, you're off to see your mother.