Pre-Hamlet

In the introduction we were asked to watch, Kenneth Branagh tells of his love for the story Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. He tells that since he was young, he had a deep love for stories full of drama and especially written by Shakespeare. I find Shakespeare hard to read at times. I read "Romeo and Juliet" in my freshman year back at my old high school in Florida. I loved the play and understood it quite easily. In addition to reading it, we also saw the movie in class and had each small part explained to us. Then we were tested on it which I wasn't so fond of.Last year, we read "Macbeth." This piece of literature was very difficult for me to read and understand. Only after watching the film, and after multiple classes discussing the play, did I come to an understanding of the play.

"Hamlet" is known to be a very long play, and I, personally, am not very good with literature. I also know that it is difficult and confusing because my older sister studied it last year, and I remember watching her night after night studying. My father, who is a genius when it comes to history and literature, can tell us any story "in a nutshell," which helps incredibly when you are trying to find the main idea of the story, or in this case play. With reading "Hamlet" I hope that we watch a film. But I hope we watch it without interruptions, because otherwise it is very confusing and difficult to understand. I also hope that we have many discussions in class so that in case if while reading i did not understand, maybe someone else did and they can explain it to me.

In regards to performing the play, I am not sure whether we are going to be performing the whole play or if we will split the book into parts like we did with "Macbeth" and then each perform our small scenes. Being an experienced dancer, i know that we will need much rehearsal time, and in order to act your part well, you will need a good understanding of the whole plot, characters, and background. Overall, I am excited to begin this piece and to perform it with my classmates.