Enter the PLAYERS.

HAMLET         You are welcome, masters, welcome all. I am glad to see thee well. Welcome, good friends. O old friend, why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last! Com’st thou to beard me in Denmark? What, my young lady and mistress! By’r Lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw you last by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. Masters, you are all welcome. We’ll e’en to’t like French falconers – fly at anything we see. We’ll have a speech straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality. Come, a passionate speech.      (2.2.359-370)

Hamlet does seem genuinely pleased and excited to see the players—and to know them well: you are welcome, masters, welcome all. I am glad to see thee well (presumably addressed to one in particular?) Welcome, good friends. O old friend, why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last! You’ve grown a (proper) beard! Perhaps one of the men in the group is now sporting a full, mature beard rather than an elegant goatee; perhaps he’s grown a beard where he formerly had none. Hamlet is probably addressing the Player King: there might be a striking resemblance to old Hamlet—and Claudius; if the same actor isn’t doubling the Ghost and Claudius, it’s not uncommon for them to double the Ghost and the Player King. Com’st thou to beard me in Denmark? Are you here to show it off, and defy me? (It’s not a very good pun, but it’s quite a warm and playful one, unlike Hamlet’s previous bitter quibbling and point-scoring.) Then, mock (or genuine) admiration for the boy player, who is presumably not wearing women’s dress but is still recognisable: what, my young lady and mistress! Well, HELLO there! (Heavy, knowing flirtation? Or mock awestruck admiration?) By’r Lady, your ladyship (an elegant, controlled triplet: my young lady—by our Lady—your ladyship) is nearer to heaven—taller, older—than when I saw you last by the altitude of a chopine. You’ve shot up, no need to wear platforms any longer, then!? Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. I hope you’re still able to play the woman’s part, that your voice hasn’t dropped—like a clipped coin that’s no longer legal tender (and there might be a quibble on the loss of virginity, with cracked and ring). Hamlet makes a joke of it, but surely in any acting company, it was a source of anxiety and tension, and an awareness of impending loss and change. (I think that it’s a company in-joke. Hamlet needs 3 boys, as does Twelfth Night. Troilus and Cressida can be played with only 2. Jonson’s Sejanus, very close in date, has 3 roles for women, but they never appear onstage together and could be doubled.) I think that one of the boys—perhaps the boy playing Gertrude, if not this one—was coming to the end of his time as a player of women’s parts.) Masters, you are all welcome! And Hamlet’s full of energy, or acting like it: we’ll e’en to it like French falconers—fly at anything we see. Let’s get on with it straight away, without pausing to think. (An image of impetuosity, not calm cogitation.) We’ll have a speech straight, right here, right now. Come, give us a taste of your quality, show us what you can do! Come, a passionate speech!