Jeffrey Hatcher's HAMLET
Jul. 27th, 2013 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lsandersonI went to see Jeffrey Hatcher's HAMLET at the Illusion Theaterr Fresh Ink series last night, and I really enjoyed it. It's not an evening of Shakespeare; it's an evening of Jeffrey Hatcher telling you about doing HAMLET in the fifth grade English class of Stark Elementary School in Steubenville, Ohio. If you've seen Mrs. Mannerly, you've already been introduced to Steubenville, Ohio.
There are similarities between the play and Fellini's Amarcord in that the play is about a man looking back on his youth and the things that made him what he is. It's a humorous view. Jeffrey nominates Hamlet as the play that the fifth grade does, and that play's selected. He, of course, wants to star in, write, and direct the play, not to mention cutting it down to one hour (or 55 minutes of the classroom's alloted time) and winning the girl he's pining after in fifth grade. With the help of a Classics Illustrated Comics (Hamlet), his mother, his mother's typewriter, mimeo sheets, some of which he accomplishes, although the fickle finger of fate has some rewrites in mind that are not entirely to his liking. However, the play must go on, and we hear how a young tyrannical director ends up, if not with a Broadway performance, at least an encore performance in the gymnasium.
You will have to listen to a few lines of Shakespeare. There is a short quiz. If you don't know who Walter Cronkite and Eric Severeid are, you may have a quite brief moment of confusion. It is a one-man play, so you will not actually see Hamlet or a lot of dead bodies.
Performance Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 8:00PM and Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 7:00PM). Parking available for $5 in the Plymouth building ramp. The Sunday, July 28 performance has an ASL interpreter, Katie Johnson, and you can use code PWD for 50% off ASL tickets.
There are similarities between the play and Fellini's Amarcord in that the play is about a man looking back on his youth and the things that made him what he is. It's a humorous view. Jeffrey nominates Hamlet as the play that the fifth grade does, and that play's selected. He, of course, wants to star in, write, and direct the play, not to mention cutting it down to one hour (or 55 minutes of the classroom's alloted time) and winning the girl he's pining after in fifth grade. With the help of a Classics Illustrated Comics (Hamlet), his mother, his mother's typewriter, mimeo sheets, some of which he accomplishes, although the fickle finger of fate has some rewrites in mind that are not entirely to his liking. However, the play must go on, and we hear how a young tyrannical director ends up, if not with a Broadway performance, at least an encore performance in the gymnasium.
You will have to listen to a few lines of Shakespeare. There is a short quiz. If you don't know who Walter Cronkite and Eric Severeid are, you may have a quite brief moment of confusion. It is a one-man play, so you will not actually see Hamlet or a lot of dead bodies.
Performance Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 8:00PM and Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 7:00PM). Parking available for $5 in the Plymouth building ramp. The Sunday, July 28 performance has an ASL interpreter, Katie Johnson, and you can use code PWD for 50% off ASL tickets.
