Literary magazine

HAMLET Murder, madness and moral ambiguity; 10th Sep- tember 2015 had it all, as Year 11 students and their English teachers travelled up to the Barbican for the National Theatre’s production of Hamlet . (Thankfully no “truant dispositions” were in evidence). Cutting a more lithesome figure than Richard Burbage, for whom the role was reportedly written, the no less heavyweight Benedict Cumberbatch is the latest in a line of actors stretching back over 400 years to take on the part of the great Dane. As Shakespeare’s most performed play, Hamlet is often seen as the ultimate challenge for any actor and this, coupled with per- forming in front of an audience who included in their number 47 keen-brained Tiffinians, would have daunt- ed all but the hardiest of souls. The writer is glad to report that (pace T. S. Eliot) the play was an unmitigated success and students and teachers alike were left with the impression that they had been party to something special. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, summed up the ex- perience adroitly when he remarked, “It comes alive when you see it performed and I appreciate the language much more now I’ve heard it like that.” In many ways the theatrical aspect of a GCSE set text can be lost when it becomes a means to an end of a ‘good grade’ in the exam. And whilst I would not decry such an end, it is a privilege to be able to go beyond the classroom both literally and figuratively when exploring a work of art. For this I thank the generosity of the ‘theatrical gods’ who secured 51 tickets at a performance which was sold out months in advance and the parents who shelled out for the tickets and who continue to sup- port us in our endeavours. Much more could be said but for now, “..the rest is silence.” T HE Y EAR 11 T RIP T O

“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

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