BWW Blog: Paisley Haddad - Hamlet Mania!

Instead of a written final, our teacher has made a compilation of monologues, raps, and a play that brings Shakespeare's Hamlet to a modern day understanding. The class wore all black to show that we are ready to be anything that the play wants us to be. We started the show with a prologue that reminds the audience of how much they quote Shakespeare without knowing it, like "if you recall your salad days, YOU are quoting Shakespeare!". Then, to introduce our theme of Hamlet, we performed a monologue about a couple going to see Hamlet at the theatre,which ended with a marriage proposal "right out of the play" and then we consoled "Moody Dane" about being so broody (light up skull included). As much as we would like to be just as skilled as the cast of Hamilton at rapping our "Hey There Ophelia" rap, we tried our best with some instrumental rap music and our mic stand. The show included a battle between William Shakespeare and Dr.Seuss, where Dr.Seuss says Shakespeare leaves a classroom looking like the end of the Scotish play, because all us theatre buffs know that you cannot say "MacBeth" in a theatre because it brings bad luck. This leads right into the perfect mash up of both literary icons, in "Green Eggs and Hamlet", which is a 10-minute play that brings Dr.Seuss's language to Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Finally, we had a special visitor, "Donald Trump", come and talk about Hamlet in terms of today's presidential election. It is important for us to perform this for our school, because it shows the other students that Shakespeare is not just "those plays" they have to read once year in their English classes, but they are much more than that. Shakespeare gave theatre it's backbone, and helped it to develop into the art form it is today. Putting Shakespeare's words in this modern day application, makes Shakespeare easier to understand and to become relatable. It was very rewarding to be able to be in a Shakespeare class because instead of being the performer on stage all the time, we get a glimpse into the beginnings of how theatre was produced and written. Also, we get some sophisticated quotes to add into our every day conversations, just because it makes us look that much smarter. It's always sad to say goodbye to the seniors after being in the same theatre class all year, learning so much about everybody and becoming so close. Theatre brings everybody together with a bond that can never be broken, no matter where you are. I'm going to finish this blog post with a Shakespeare quote that was favored by our whole class while reading the sonnets, "But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end." What it's saying is that if you are having a bad day, just remember the best times and I will always remember this class as one of the best times I have ever had.