Lowell Performance of Hamlet

Just a few highlights from the Friday afternoon performance of Hamlet at Lowell. The kids did an AMAZING job! See for yourself!

Many thanks to all involved--parents, students, and especially our Lowell director, Kathleen Hamilton. Even though I will be graduating this year, I fully plan on returning to this program as a volunteer for the next performance. Your children are an inspiration and a joy to work with!

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

After 6 weeks of Hamlet practices, we have finally reached the dress rehearsal! They are truly the best actors in Boise!

"Why does the drum come hither?"

"Friends to this ground"

"His greatness weighed, his will is not his own. And if he says he loves you, then weigh what loss your honor may sustain."

"Mark me!"

"Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern! Something have you heard of Hamlet's transformation"

"'The Mouse-trap.' This play is the image of a murder done in vienna: but what if that? Your Majesty and we that have freesouls, it touches us not." 

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

"Give me leave. Here lies the water; good. Here stands the man; good. If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he nill he, he goes, mark you that. But it the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself."

"Sweets to the sweet, farewell!"

"And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story. The rest is silence."

"What is it you would see? If aught or woe or wonder, cease your search."

This year marks a big change in the costumes of Shake It Up After School. No more thrift store shopping, no more taking in and letting out of used dresses and pants. Each costume was measured and designed specifically with your child in mind. Everyone from Players to Hamlet has their own special costume to wear for the big day. We will in turn recycle these costumes for future use, but as for this show, each child is wearing a one-of-a-kind custom made costume, which should make them feel extra special. 

Also, each player wears a specific mask for the different scenes. There are Army masks, Dumb show masks, player masks, etc. Some of these were made with the child in mind, and most of them were designed by the kids. They add an extra special something to the carnival-esque theme, and enables the kids to really take on their own representation of their characters.    

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

ENTER: CREEPY TREES!

"Let us haste to here it, and call the noblest to the audience."

Run-throughs are going great. This was the last week without the set. We made sure to have our Lines, entrances, exits, and blocking down pact!

"I charge thee, speak!"

Before we left for our spring break rest and relaxation, we challeneged the kids to memorization with a little bribery! The deal is: if they were memorized before we left, and still memorized after break, we are throwing them a pizza party!


lets see what they can do...

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue."

As we headed into our second week the kids were eager to continue their acting journeys. This week was all about learning the play, so they could understand each scene individually. This also helps to give them a better overall understanding of how each scene and each character (from players to trees to soldiers) is important to Hamlet as a whole. We had fun discussing new vocabulary such as "Wormwood" and "dumb show" and interacting with the text. We learned how to become creepy trees and courtly gentlemen in a way that will without-a-doubt impress our audience. As we step into week three (only four weeks left!) we will begin "blocking" the scenes and memorization of lines. Now that we have a better understanding of Shakespeare's masterpiece we will begin to create a masterpiece of our own!

Hamlet: Week One Recap

"Shake It Up After School" returns again to Lowell Elementary. This time we have William Shakespeare's Hamlet on our minds. The first week was an exiting mixture of name games and auditioning. The kids did educational activities to get them familiar with the text of Hamlet and to get them into their acting modes. They worked on projection making sure to be loud, without yelling. They also read lines and made sure to act out what was being read. We had fun playing a mixed-up-story-telling game, called "Die" to get them to work on their improv skills and their exaggerated dying skills. Overall it was a fantastic week and each and every kid worked hard to make sure to learn and be creative. We have found some great actors for this play and we finalized our cast on Thursday. These kids really do have so much talent. William Shakespeare would be so proud!

The Tempest: Performance Day!

Performance day was finally here! The hallway became our hair and makeup station: And all the kids "transformed" fabulously! :

Tiara was busy keeping everyone in line ....

Well, almost everyone.... :)

Our Shakespeareans waited anxiously

as the crowds began to fill in:

One final check of the sound and lights.....

AND IT WAS SHOWTIME!!!

(you'll have to forgive that I didn't get as many pictures of the performance as I would have liked...I was busy running sound and music! I saw most of you with your cameras, but just in case--there will be more photos taken during our Whitney and Whitier Elementary performances!)

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"We split! We split!" ....

Caliban makes an entrance...

The goddesses pronouncing their marriage blessing....

Prospero ends the play....

Curtain call.....
Everyone takes a bow....
And here--in my opinion--is the finest cast of "The Tempest" ever assembled!....

Thank you so much again for letting us work with your children for the last six weeks. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we have all learned as much as we've taught....and had a lot of fun along the way!...

Now....we can't wait to put our show on the road! The traveling performance schedule is on the blog sidebar. These performances will occupy time during the normal school day.

*Lowell Students/ Parents: PLEASE keep helping your child practice their lines over the next few days. We want our show to be as good for the other schools as it was at Lowell!

*BSU students: I will be taking cast and group photos during our next shows. After I have them I will compile a photo CD of our practices and performances (including a lot of shots that aren't on the blog) for all those interested. Let me know if you want one!