Hamlet

this is a review I wrote for school, but i thought i might as well stick it in here too:

" Something is rotten in the state of Denmark " (Act 1, Scene 4) it did not take long for this suspicion to arise in most upper school students. But don’t worry, we are not referring to the modern constitutional monarchy, but are transferring ourselves back in time to the well known crime scene: the king dead, his wife remarried ere two months have passed and the grown child in a state of confusion and despair. Something is truly not right there…

Last Thursday, the 11th of November, the upper school had the privilege of having the Cambridge University European Theatre Group come to ISS to perform Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Instead of scribbling and answering questions, learning, pondering about the upcoming weekend or whatever the usual class routine is, we all assembled in the Aula to see the exclusive performance.
Hamlet is one of the most famous Shakespearean tragedies. The insanity of the Danish prince Hamlet, ending with the death of nearly all the characters is a well-known drama. Even if it often is reduced to the famous lines "To be, or not to be: that is the question" (Act 3, Scene 1), Hamlet is much more than that. We were able to witness and discover a story of love, death, friendship, betrayal, revenge, misunderstanding and unlucky coincidence.

The play, despite the unusual old language, was remarkably easy to follow, even for those that had not bothered glancing at a synopsis beforehand. Loud scenes, such as exciting sword fights, arguments or creative use of stage props grasped the audience’s attention. Most notable were the water tank scenes; a clear favourite. What happened?, The water tank was used in order to show Hamlet’s arousing madness and unwillingness to listen to Polonius. Hamlet read and fooled around in his see-through water filled tub, which was to be the later grave of Ophelia. At her death scene, a twelfth grader at the back actually wanted to jump up and save the poor drowning girl (the actress of course was not really drowning).

The quieter, thoughtful scenes triggered to empathize with the inner conflicts of the protagonist. The confused look in his eyes, full of ardour, whilst staring at the candle was priceless. Ophelia by contrast seemed rather two-dimensional. Her initial attitude could have been more lively and happy. Her change as a result of Hamlet’s degrading mental stability and Hamlet’s rejection of her love could have been depicted more finely. But here the different approaches to interpretation come to conflict. Has Ophelia been perhaps portrayed this way on purpose?

Like detectives ISS was guided through the maze of plots of assassination, inner conflict and more death, true to the motto: “All that lives must die“ (Act 1, Scene 2). The initial suspicion of something being wrong was proved to be correct in more than one aspect, but whether death is really the ultimate answer, that remains the question.