By Eliza Peddi

Recently North Springs Theatre put on Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare. The play follows Hamlet, who seeks revenge after his uncle kills his father so that he could marry Hamlet’s mother and become king. The Hamlet cast started rehearsals in mid-August and they went on to have their first show on October 6th. 

As an actor in North Springs’ production of Hamlet, the production had many stressful moments, but also many moments of happiness. After a few rehearsals, the cast was notified that someone was having to leave the show and that two actors would be in their understudy roles. Those actors were Steven Patrick, going into the role of Rosencrantz, and myself, going into the role of Marcellus. I was extremely happy that they would have a role as a freshman but terrified at the same time. Lots of people were encouraging and helpful along the way which made the process a bit easier to go through. 

Not only did this casting change occur, but the flu also spread to multiple persons in the cast. Originally they were informed that only one of the cast members was going to be out. Then less than 48 hours before the cast went on for their second week of shows, they were notified that another cast member had gotten the flu. The cast had to very quickly figure out who was going to play the two characters and figure out how they were going to learn the material.  

With this being a theater production, some of the class is a bit superstitious. While in tech week there were a few cast members who thought it would be funny to say the forbidden word, the M word (Macbeth). This word is known for bringing a curse to productions where it is said and making the production go into disarray. Some people in the cast, they believe that due to those few saying the M-word during tech week, two of our cast members got the flu and other stressful events occurred. 

Generally, most of the cast agreed that that process had its up and downs, “There were stressful moments because we had certain things go down” – Lydia Kennedy (Ophelia), “We were all a little stressed trying to catch up and make it in time before performances started” – Joe Dean (Hamlet), “It was very tedious for me, showing up there every day” – Steven Patrick (Rosencrantz), “There’s always times where you’re like ‘well it’s not going so well right now’ but you know it all comes together in the end” – Solomon Morgan (King Claudius). 

However, in the end, there were so many memories that made the whole process worth it, “ Getting to know them (the cast) and having a good connection with them, I miss it” – Lydia Kennedy, “I miss the cast mostly… we were all under pressure, but we all stuck together” – Joe Dean, “Playing Rosencrantz is a lot of fun. The people are still here with me performing other stuff so I’m happy” – Steven Patrick, “Really the family that you build … I think just having that communal aspect of it, you know I miss that” – Solomon Morgan 

As a whole, the experience was so fun, and an overall amazing experience. Friends who care about the same things were made as well as memories that will last a lifetime. The Hamlet cast no matter how cliché, did actually become a family and that is truly the best thing that anyone could have asked for.