To be or not to be –

that was not the question when almost 100 students of the BHAK Hallein went to see a performance of Hamlet in Stadttheater Hallein on 15 November. Instead the question was: would the Vienna’s English Theatre Group convince the viewers with their latest version of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy? The answer was YES!

What is the play Hamlet about? To put it in a nutshell, it is about a very difficult family. Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, is poisoned by his own brother, Claudius, who steals the crown and marries his former sister-in-law just a few weeks after the king’s funeral. Prince Hamlet learns about the murder from his father’s ghost. To find out if the ghastly rumour is true, Hamlet pretends to be mad in order to investigate the murder case and eventually take revenge. Well, like in any good tragedy, in the end almost everyone is dead, either drowned, poisoned, stabbed, or both poisoned and stabbed.

Although the company of actors consisted of only four people, they managed to fascinate the audience with their show full of songs, fights – and funny puppets!

Melanie Müller