On January 19, a group of HHS students were granted a special opportunity to see a Shakespeare play live. AP Literature students participated in a field trip where they went to Princeton to see a live performance of Hamlet.

In the first marking period, AP Lit students read Hamlet as per their curriculum. They read it aloud in class and obtained a thorough understanding of the text. However, AP Lit teacher Shawn Layton made it possible to give his students an even deeper comprehension.

“Personally, I liked Hamlet when I read it in class, so I was so excited to actually see it live,” senior Daniel Kozimbo said.

Students travelled to Princeton after school where they were able to have dinner and walk around main street. Then, they went to McCarter Theatre where students were transported back to seventeenth century Denmark.

The show was performed by four actors from acclaimed theater company, Bedlam. The actors consisted of three men and one woman, who took on all of the roles in the play. The actors skillfully transformed into each and every character in such a seamless fashion it almost made you forget there were only four actors.

Some lucky students were even given the opportunity to get up close and personal with the performance as they were offered floor seats.

“It’s one thing to read a book or play in class, but it’s another to actually sit ten feet away from actors and actually watch it live,” senior Jordan Kang said.

These fortunate students were given an extremely rare opportunity to not only read a great piece of literature, but then go and actually experience it.

“I definitely hope this wasn’t my last time seeing Shakespeare performed live,” Kozimbo said. “But if it was, this rendition of Hamlet was definitely worth it!’