The month of April saw an entirely free theatre festival for those aged 25 and under to experience ‘Hamlet’, arguably one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, for free. It was hosted by ‘Almedia Theatre’, in Islington. The play was adapted to a contemporary audience and so featured a modern setting within the plot.
Attendees got the opportunity to meet the actors on stage before the show on the 12th of April. The idea was to discuss with the creative team off stage, and engage in a Touch Tour which was made available before the performance, for those who were blind and also for the visually impaired. The performance was also captioned for those who were deaf or hard of hearing. Audio description was also available for those who were blind or visually impaired. Actors kept the attendees intrigued throughout the performance by constantly appearing in the audience and also leaving the audience full of suspense.
The performance was previewed on the third week of February, 2017 and a press night was held on Tuesday, the 28th of February. The theatre festival allowed young people the opportunity to get involved in acting, directing, spoken word and writing workshops with leading industry professionals.Young people were thereby encouraged to pursue their various ambitions.
A talkback show was held on Thursday, the 23rd of March giving attendees the chance to participate in post-show discussion with members of the cast and to view live speech-to-text transcription. Each show lasted for three hours and forty-five minutes including two intervals.
The production is set to continue touring London this year. ‘Hamlet’ will be performed in the West End, starting from ‘The Harold Pinter Theatre’ on the 9th of June, 2017 and ends on the 2nd of September, 2017. Tickets range from £10 - £95 for all ages, and, have already been sold out for the first two dates.
Rebecca Ogbonna – Ursuline Academy Ilford
