On October 26th, the English advanced courses of the Q2 went to the theatre in Gütersloh to watch a performance of William Shakespeare’s tragedy „Hamlet“ whose soliloquy „To be or not to be, that is the question“ is one of the most famous soliloquys in the works of Shakespare – quite possibly the most famous soliloquy in literature.
Having dealt with „Macbeth“ in the Q1 for more than two months, were were very interested in watching a Shakespearean play being performed on stage by TNT Theatre Britain. So we met in front of the theatre at 7pm and went in together. The play started at half past 7 and ended at quarter past 9. Unfortunately, there was no break to enjoy a drink or have a chat with the other viewers (mostly students from neighbouring grammar schools).
Central topics of Shakespeare’s „Hamlet“ are revenge, appearance versus reality and life and death. The tragedy takes place in Denmark where prince Hamlet is upset about his father´s death. Now his uncle Claudius is the new king as he marries the widow, Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. A few days after the funeral Hamlet meets the ghost of his father who tells him to take revenge on Claudius because he is responsible for his death. From then on, Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death and seeks revenge. He tries to kill Claudius but he is hindered by various obstacles. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamelt. In the end, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius. However, due to other circumstances everybody else is dead too.
We were impressed by the actor´s performance and agreed that despite the use of the original language (verses in Early Modern English) it wasn’t too difficult to follow the action, thanks to the brilliant and lively acting.
All in all everybody enjoyed the evening.
Sophia Buschhorn and Sina Schmidt, Q2