The cast, clothed head-to-toe in Shakespearean garments, entered the stage. They took the audience through the dramatic journey of Hamlet, ending the first act in a rather somber state. At the start of the second act, a new cast emerged, transforming the mood into a parody of the scenes previously performed. Throughout the entire play, the cast worked backstage moving props on and off, controlling lighting and music to make the performance magically believable.
This year, the Revere Players took on Hamlet, a tragedy by Shakespeare. It took place on November 8th, 9th and 10th along with a senior citizen show on the 7th. The cast, however, did not perform the original two-hour version, but rather a condensed, “60-minute Shakespeare” translation. In addition to the time change, directors of fifteen years, Laurie Russell and Rena Baker, decided to use another script for the second act that came from a company that specializes in creating comedic plays. The script features an adaptation of Hamlet that is more of a spoof, making the title of the play Hamlet/Hamlette.

“The first act has a lot of dramatic tension between [the main characters] and was kept close to the actual words of the play. The second is just slapstick fun and more of a physical comedy,” Russell said.

Junior David Speer played the lead of Hamlet in Act I. Baker said that he did a “phenomenal job” memorizing lines.

“The quality of Act I [was] amazing, [Speer was] incredible and he really worked hard adding another layer to his performance each practice. The sword play in this act is so much fun,” Baker said.

Clarice Sigsworth portrayed Hamlette, who Baker described as the fearless, humorous female version of Hamlet who emerged in Act II. Excited and surprised to take on her first major role, the junior only had lines in one other play before this one. She explained how she achieved portraying her comedic character.

“I had to practice my physical actions in front of a mirror at home to get the timing down right,” Sigsworth said.

Since the play separated into two completely different acts, the two did not usually practice together. The directors held practices four days a week after school from 3:30 to 6:30. Russell explained that performers of both acts had many challenges to overcome while practicing, although those obstacles were quite different from one another due to the change of mood between the acts.

“With the first act, the kids really had to work on their Shakespearean lines and interpretations, while the second was all about timing. Comedy is hard, the timing has to be just right,” Russell said.

Sigsworth noted the work she and other performers put in to set high standards for the play.

“I know for the people in Hamlet, it was hard for them to memorize the Shakesperean lines. For the comedy [Hamlette], getting our timing down [was] hard. Developing stage chemistry was also a challenge,” Sigsworth said.

This year, the directors added new positions to help with various jobs for the Players. Emma Weihe and Abbey Ruggles acted as production managers, which the Players have never had before. Baker explained their jobs within the play.

“The production managers go to the practices every day and kind of act as a link of communication between [Russell], the actors, the crew and I,” Baker said.

RHS senior Jenny Smilan is the stage manager this year. Four year crew member, Smilan, mentioned the tasks she must accomplish to keep everything running smoothly backstage.

“I open and close the curtains, tell people exactly where to move, and basically just control everything that goes on backstage. I keep in touch with the techies and directors,” Smilan said.

In addition to all this, she and forty other crew members built and painted the sets and all props seen on stage from scratch. Smilan said the greater interest in crew this year made it easier to get work done. After the initial set-building process, about eleven of the crew members were selected to be part of the backstage crew, who helped with the behind-the-scenes jobs such as moving props on and off the stage during the play. depending on whoever had the most hours.

As the curtain closed, the cast took their bows, and the directors thanked all alumni and people that made the creative twist on Hamlet possible. That did not signal the end of the year for the Players, though, as they will produce their annual musical in the spring of 2014. The Players are planning to present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for the spring musical.