A Taste Of Shakespeare: Hamlet

In reference to the world's most famous brooding Dane, one of the narrator/players in this hip, entertaining, and insightful introduction to Shakespeare's Hamlet remarks: "This young man was not the model for the Happy Face." Indeed. His father dead, his mother newlywed to his uncle, the young prince is neither a happy face, nor a happy camper, nor even a happy unit. When the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him in a dream and lets pass that his brother did him in, Hamlet's course seems fairly straightforward: revenge his father by hoisting his stepfather on the nearest available petard. Unfortunately, Hamlet is not the Sylvester Stallone type; he thinks about it, and the more he thinks, the more he broods, and the more he broods, the less he acts. Kudos are owed to the four Canadian actors who bring this simply staged (shot in a high school auditorium using the stage, stairs, and exit) production to life. The abbreviated format and skillful questioning (while pointing out that it's up to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions) will hopefully whet the appetites of high school and first-year college students for more than just a "taste" of the Bard. Highly recommended. [Note: a second title in the series A Taste of Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice is also available.] (R. Pitman)