To Be...Or Not To Be?

We've all heard of Shakespeare in the Park, right? Well, last night we almost had Shakespeare in the dark instead!

The elder child and I went to the Old Town Actors Studio production of Hamlet, and the power went off during the "turn off your cellphones" announcement. (Done as a cool retro film intro with a projector) Some emergency lights were soon set up. Not a whole lotta light, but enough to see by. 

Now, the theatre offered refunds and ticket exchanges - but like all good theatre folk, the cast was willing to perform in what little light could be scrounged up. As some of us had conflicts with other performances that meant this was the only night we would be able to see this production, the show did indeed go on! And sitting in the dark before the ghost is first spotted certainly did lend itself well to the eery atmosphere.

The power was back on midway through the second scene. I found myself very caught up in the beauty of the language. I am not sure if I am more or less inclined to be moved by the scenes of Ophelia's madness after delving so deeply into her character for the "Rue for Ophelia" movement piece earlier this summer, but the raw and vulnerable portrayal here felt like a punch in the gut and made me cry.

The elder child said they felt they had been lied to all their life - not EVERYBODY died, there were at least three people alive by the end!  (Having seen many interpretations, take-offs, and pop culture references to the play featuring the Danish prince, they felt that maybe it was high time to view the source material. I have a strong preference for taking the kids to actual live performance to expose them to Shakespeare, I really dislike the "let's read this difficult text first!" approach that is so common in the U.S. Give 'em the Cliff Notes version of the plot and let them SEE it and EXPERIENCE it. I'll just get off my soapbox now. :))

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