A Director who is not only pantsed on stage, but also takes a pie to the face.
A belligerent audience member who dares to interrupt Hamlet’s soliloquy.
And zombies.
So.
Many.
Zombies.
I Hate Shakespeare started its weekend runtime to much anticipation, with opening night at 7:00 p.m. on November 15th in the Green Room Theatre, which was fittingly celebrating its 125th year anniversary with a smashing success of a production. Avoiding spoilers– an unspoken but altogether cardinal sin of the theater–the play starts out with Hamlet, played by Elyse Mielke (2024), clutching a skull and attempting to deliver his widely famous, and perhaps finally trite, soliloquy.
Attempting being the keyword.
Much to Hamlet’s growing annoyance, a bored yet brilliantly sassy audience member, played by Layla Beyer (2027), voices their complaints; fitting, as they’re listed as “Unhappy Audience Member.” However, the Unhappy Audience Member did pose some valid points.
(Apologies, Hamlet. Your soliloquy was lovely, but the skull is cliché at this point.)
Why should we care about Shakespeare? What’s the point of reading his plays when half the words are nonsensical, and the other half medievally sexual?
Is Shakespeare I-R-R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T?
Irrelevant?
Over a seventy-minute run-time, with a fifteen-minute intermission where audience members could purchase Shakespeare-themed sodas that promised to make them as poetically potent as the bard himself, I Hate Shakespeare sought to answer these questions by stressing the bard’s talents across numerous genres, characters, and plays.
This play also arose from the ashes, after the initial intended production of Clue was scrapped due to the rights being denied. However, these obstacles revealed the resilience, dedication, and love for the theater is evident. Both in Morgan Reese, the director who also made a cameo appearance and was gracefully pantsed and pied, as well as everyone else who contributed to bringing this play to Franklin & Marshall College.
Teagan Durkin is a junior and the Opinions editor. She can be reached at tdurkin@fandm.edu