hamlet, kinda

So today I went with a friend to see a local university's production of Hamlet. It was pretty much the same in Korean, except with a little more Linkin Park, and Hamlet doesn't die at the end. Other than that, it was just as I remembered it.

We sat in the balcony, which would've been great if not for the huge unnecessary railing, which meant having to crane my neck to see the whole stage.


The fact that this Hamlet was going to be different was obvious from the get go. My memory of the first scene is guards on patrol seeing a ghost, but in Korea it is Hamlet center stage on his knees pointing a gun at his head. Then a bunch of people run at him, a Linkin Park song starts playing, and the thrash dancing begins. I wish I had a video of it.

From there, the story goes on pretty much as expected, except with interludes of Linkin Park. Even though it was in another language, I could usually tell what part it was. Hamlet mopes around, Ophelia is worried, Hamlet has his little play, Polonius dies, Ophelia dies, Laertes and Hamlet fight, and the end is a bloodbath. However, since we're dealing with guns and not swords, there is no poison tipped sword for Hamlet to be killed by. So, after he caps Claudius he sorta just stands there for a minute or two, then he takes a few steps and puts the gun to his head. The door that he's standing behind closes, and suddenly there's a little girl standing there 20 feet above the stage. The door opens again, Hamlet is still there, but this time sans gun. Lights dim. Rapturous applause- except from the two confused Americans in the audience.

Then everyone takes a bow.

Here's everyone bowing:

And clapping:All in all in was pretty crappy, but fun. If they put on any other Shakespeare plays I'll definitely go back to see them. I'm looking forward to a Romeo & Juliet in which they live and have 4 kids, or The Tempest which ends with Prospero massacring everyone.