The New York Times asked high school and college students to submit 15-second clips of themselves reciting lines from Hamlet via Instagram, and the response was overwhelming. Nearly 500 students submitted clips recorded with Smartphones in basements, dorm rooms, and hallways. Students’ individual takes varied widely, with some plainly reciting lines, and others really putting effort into setting the scene.
Choosing the Lines
Most students agreed that the toughest part of the whole project was choosing the lines that would be said during the fifteen seconds. Some infused the scene with dark comedy, such as two boys that chose the scene where Ophelia drowns. Using a swimming pool, the boys recited the lines with the “Titanic” theme song playing in the background and a cross-dressed boy “drowning” during the shoot.
Some students chose a cut-clip format, in which different takes melded lines together-not quite seamlessly. Others took an artistic perspective, using different lighting to add eeriness to the scene while reciting their lines. One student filmed in a crowded subway station, reciting lines while being filmed from the side to add a casual apathy to the take.
All of the submissions spoke of a personal response and reaction to the words of Shakespeare. In an interview with one of the participants, he revealed how the play spoke to him. Hamlet was forced to deal with situations in which he was made to face the challenges of manhood at a young age, while coping with a highly dysfunctional family. The boy said that his father had died when he was very young as well, and he was also forced to grow up quickly. The results of the project are amazing, students really brought a new take on ancient words.