Skimming the Drowning Pool

I saw the free Hamlet on Boston Common on Tuesday. It was very imaginatively staged and the acting wasn't half bad. An overall enjoyable experience even though I was sitting on the ground and my entire body was on the verge of cramping up throughout. I went with some people from work including a certain Harvard educated Shakespearean scholar (everyone I work with is smarter, younger, and better looking than I am...why they put up with me is a mystery). I had seen a little blurb on channel 2 the night before about the play and, ever eager to display inside knowledge, I was pointing out where Orphelia would be drowning when she said "We know, they were skimming the drowning pool earlier." Ah yes, skimming the old drowning pool...an evening at the theatre is barely complete without it.