Barbecuing Hamlet

Details

Wouldn't it be great fun to direct William Shakespeare's Hamlet? That was what Margo Daley always thought until she is hired to do just that by the Peaceful Glen Memorial Players in their theatre, a renovated funeral home. They DO have a couple of conditions however. Margo has to make the play a melodrama, so the audience will know when to throw popcorn. And they can't be too loud because the lady who lives under the theatre bangs her cane on the stage. Oh, and Margo has to insert the sponsors' names into the play and, by the way, it has to take place in the Old West. "And make sure the actors talk real loud because of all the noise the audience makes sucking their fingers," states one of the council members, an occupational hazard brought about by them selling barbecue before the show. All kinds of eccentric characters come out of the woodwork in this riotous tribute to life on the community theatre stage. Even the pizza delivery boy is given a part - several since Margo only has four actors to portray the five-act tragedy. Fast lines and even faster exits punctuate this farce as Margo and her troupe of unwilling actors find out what it's like when they begin Barbecuing Hamlet.

Creatives/Company

Author: Pat Cook
Company: Stageworks Productions
Director: Kenneth Avery-Clark