Swordplay and musical instruments graced the auditorium stage on February 1st, when students from a NYU Shakespearean company performed Hamlet.

As students got settled, the director of the play got everyone’s attention by asking the audience opening questions if anyone has seen Hamlet and comparing the storyline to that of The Lion King.
“Hamlet was hard to understand at first, but because of the acting, I was able to understand it better,” sophomore Ysabel Hernandez said.

The rendition of Hamlet had a small cast of nine people all dressed in modern clothes, and included drum beats between scenes as well as a climactic sword fighting scene with the tragic death of most of the characters.

“It was interesting. I’ve never seen a Shakespeare play before and I’ve never read Hamlet so it was insightful,” senior Ashley Urena said.

After the 45 minute play, the cast, director, and producer came down onto the stage to give the students the opportunity to ask questions about the play, company, or about studying drama in college.

This particular Shakespearean Company was the first Shakespeare play some of the cast have ever played in and the company has been together since auditions in September. Most of the cast do not actually want to be actors on the big stage, but rather teach drama in schools. They all started theatre in their own unique way, whether it’s a sixth grade play, or a hole in their college schedule that they had no choice but to fill with theatre.

“Throughout the play, I admired the actors a lot, especially that they seemed to be very close to my age and I really enjoyed getting to know them at the end,” senior Maria Apostolidis said.

Students took away an experience that they never had before, and although may have been challenging to follow, Hamlet was something to learn from.