The Fusion-Play Experience
Dora F, Thalia J and Konrad R.
This semester’s Senior School Drama Production: Hamlet, Please!
The play was a fusion between two plays. Check Please! was split into two halves of the show, 15 Minute Hamlet separated the two plays, being acted out by the waiters in this immersive dinner experience. The double-play had three showing dates, from the 13th to the 15th in November 2024-
The performance of “Hamlet, Please!” was a captivating fusion of Shakespearean tragedy and contemporary humor. Delivered by a talented cast of MIS students, these are the behind the scenes.
Here, the cast shared their experiences, highlighting obstacles and the pleasure of collaboration.
First, let us see what the 15-minute Hamlet cast thought about their play and performances.
Sadie Lynn S. Grade 10, who played Gertrude in Hamlet, comments, “It was a weird role, and I’m not really sure why she was there at all.”
That being said, Sadie Lynn also expresses how she absolutely loved the performances and how jam-packed the first two nights were.
“I wish we were still doing it because I miss it already, and going home tomorrow without going to rehearsals is gonna be really sad,” she said.
Another cast member, Josephine B, Grade 10 who plays a few characters in Hamlet (namely, Horatio, the Gravedigger, and the ghost), mentioned that she really enjoyed playing with variety with all her roles.
A member of Check Please!, Alani B, Grade 10 completely disagreed, saying that she wished she could change the whole ‘dinner theatre’ and how she wished she had only one solid role.
Josephine B also mentioned how she felt super unprepared until the last few rehearsals when it all came together. She goes on to talk about how she loved the show and performing it but hopes to do more recognizable plays in the future.
It seems not just the Hamlet cast shares those feelings; Jade J Grade 10 who was a part of Check, Please!, also said, “I think this was a cool experience, and I liked how it was interactive, but I do prefer……more traditional musicals and (plays) like Hamilton and Romeo (and Juliette).” Jade J went on to say, “It was just not natural.”
This was confirmed by others from the Check Please! cast.
Red B, Grade 10 who played three characters in the dinner play said that Dates felt “shallow” and “unreal”.
“Especially my scene with Pearl, it didn’t feel like a conversation. It just felt like people saying things at each other,” they described.
Beyond all the minor changes and opinions that the cast has, on a lighter note—here Is everything that went wrong during the performances.
In 15 Minutes Hamlet, two min thing went wrong, with Josephine B dropping one of her props, and Sarah O mentioned how she got stabbed by the dinner candles and how she kept accidentally hitting members of the audience with her sword.
Sadie Lynn S also mentioned how her crown kept slipping off and getting caught in her hair but the lovely costume designer, Franziska Z helped her fix it backstage.
While in Check Please!, when Red B had to throw water at someone’s face, they ended up missing their face entirely—while luckily no audience was caught in the crossfire, a curtain ended up very soaked. And Jade J touched on how she kept forgetting some of her stage directions during one of her scenes.
But otherwise, the fusion play of Hamlet, Please! was a success, having to gather extra chairs for the first two showing nights because of how many people showed up. Most of the cast agrees that it was a wonderful experience, and we hope you got to see it for yourselves.
