Hamlet: The 30-Minute Shakespeare
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Performing Arts
Hamlet: The 30-Minute Shakespeare Details
About the Author Nick Newlin has performed a juggling and variety act for international audiences for 23 years. Since 1996, he has conducted an annual Play Directing residency affiliated with the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Nick has a BA from Harvard University with Honors 1982 and an MA in Theater from The University of Maryland with an emphasis on Play Directing. Read more
Reviews
I write this, not as a school teacher; but as a lover of Shakespeare's plays ... only wishing I could see them more often. So a few years ago I bought a huge tome of the Bard's works. It is much harder to read the plays than to see them on the stage and the book gathers dust. Now comes Nick Newlin with his series of 30 Minute versions, written middle and high school students. I started with Hamlet, because I am less familiar with it than with King Lear and Macbeth. It took me perhaps 30 minutes to read and ponder. What a wonderful way to refresh my memory. But Newlin also gives us enough of the play to inspire deep thinking about what is troubling about humanity -- greed, lust for power, treachery, but also of the role of conscience and our willingness to act against injustice and evil -- the frightening struggle "to be." Great for students to have a chance to do so.Boiling down the great plays to 30 minutes undoubtedly takes a great deal of savvy, talent and wit. Newlin pulls it off.By making this play accessible to youngsters and oldsters alike, he has done us all a great service. I highly recommend the series, andI look forward to reading the rest.Henry S. Cole, Ph.D.
