‘Hamlet’ performance draws large, eager crowd

Students in line for 'Hamlet'
Students in line for 'Hamlet'
Photo by Melissa Longua
The line grew and grew as audience members waited for the doors to open to see the American Shakespeare Center’s free showing of Hamlet Thursday night.

BY SUZANNAH EVANS

There was a line flowing out the doors of the J.C. Williams Center consisting of students, faculty and members of the community eagerly waiting for the American Shakespeare Center’s free performance of Hamlet on Thursday night at Franciscan University.

Franciscan hosted the American Shakespeare Center three years ago and everyone enjoyed it so much that they were asked to return this year.

The assistant director, Sara Vasquez, explained how easy the Gentile Gallery is to use since it is a lot like their Black Friars Theatre in Staunton, Virginia. Black Friars is the only replica of Shakespeare’s original indoor theatre in the world.

“We really pride ourselves in making Shakespearean theatre relatable and understandable to the audience,” said Vasquez. “Shakespeare wrote his plays for everyone.”

Vasquez hopes that the play really speaks to everyone as Shakespeare wrote Hamlet with several layers.

“This is probably the funniest Hamlet you’ll ever see,” said Vasquez.

Though a tragedy, the troupe added comedic timing, and gave parts of their characters and line delivery a bit of a sarcastic and satirical flare.

The company operated and engaged their audience from the time the audience started trickling in. From the live music before the show, typical of Shakespearean theatres, to asking a member of the audience to decide between the Folio and First Quarto ending, the audience had a great time.

Speaking of the mood of the actors and actresses, Mary Piecsik said, “You can tell that they love (doing) this!”