„Watch or Not to Watch? — There Was No Question!“

Our Year 7 and Year 8 students were in for a theatrical treat. This year’s Schooltours production offered a masterful, simplified version of Shakespeare’s world-famous tragedy, Hamlet.

The play transported us to Denmark in a time of crisis. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is in Wittenberg when he receives word of the sudden death of his father, the King. Before the Prince can even reach Elsinore, his uncle Claudius has already seized the crown and, shortly thereafter, married his brother’s widow.

With the country facing a threat from Norway, the new monarch requests that his nephew remain at court. The Prince agrees only reluctantly, unable to hide his revulsion toward his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle.

Experiencing a Shakespeare play in performance is something no textbook can replicate. Seeing the language come to life—hearing it spoken and watching it acted—transforms it from words on a page into something vivid, human, and urgent.

This production was thoroughly accessible, engaging, and genuinely exciting for our students. It was a reminder that even after 400 years, Hamlet’s story still has the power to keep an audience on the edge of their seats.