Sunday, November 12, 2017

HAMLET: The play's the thing

Leave it to the courageous actors at Unionville High School to take on "Hamlet" as their fall play. We had never before seen senior Suchi Jain, who played the lead role, on the UHS stage and greatly admired her intensity and her command of the language (not to mention her fencing skills).
Sophomore Rachel Tierney played Ophelia, and she did a great job with the "mad scene," staggering painfully around the stage wearing only one shoe.
The lighting, designed by Jonathan Chidekel, was striking, especially in the opening scene, when a spotlight narrowed in to highlight the telling detail of Claudius and Gertrude's clasped hands.
The curtain call was funny: everyone reverted to being smiling high school kids only seconds after the last scene, where pretty much everyone dies violently.
Hearing the Bard's words reminded me of the play's many contributions to our language -- to name just a few, "neither a borrower nor a lender be," "ay, there's the rub," "to thine own self be true," and "there's method in his madness."

No comments:

Post a Comment