DRAMATIC WORK

by James Menges

 

Syn­op­sis: A digital ren­di­tion of Hamlet’s solil­o­quy “To be or not to be” per­formed as a con­tem­po­rary group text chat. 

 

Staging Notes:

This is an exper­i­men­tal play with a dance element. There is only one spoken line in the play, at the very end. All other lines, which appear to be deliv­ered by the actors on their cell phones, can be done off-stage by crew using a com­put­er to upload each dialog line as per the methods adopted for the pro­duc­tion. A dif­fer­ent colored balloon or back fill around each line of dialog as well as font selec­tion will dis­tin­guish the char­ac­ters from each other and add to their per­son­al­i­ty. The actors will be unen­cum­bered dancers holding cell phones. Chore­o­graphed move­ments and music will add to the performance.

 

Poten­tial Staging Options:

Pro­jec­tion – 

The lines will appear pro­ject­ed on a screen, prob­a­bly above the actors, 

 

On Mon­i­tors –

The lines will appear on large mon­i­tors posi­tioned ver­ti­cal­ly, like stand­ing cell phones, on each side of the stage so the audi­ence can clearly see them. 

 

Via Inter­net – 

In a change to usual theater pro­to­col, audi­ence members will not be asked to turn off their phones, but will be invited to log into a website so they can follow the action on their cell phones; or poten­tial­ly even dis­tract them­selves by linking to the hash­tags and adding comments. 

 

In addi­tion to the texting of dialog, at the top of the mon­i­tors and cell phones could be a live feed of a wide angle shot of the stage. A wire­less network should be set up in the theater. There are several plat­forms avail­able for stream­ing the production.

 

Char­ac­ters

HAMLET: Hamlet with his Act III Sc:1 soliloquy 

SIDEKICK: over­bear­ing friend that tries to inter­pret Hamlet 

BRANDY: non-Hero self-cen­tered influencer

SNARKY agi­ta­tor that argues against everyone 

KARMA: the influ­ence of Buddha Karma thought

AKRON: com­mu­ni­cates only in acronyms (defines acronym) 

 

Sug­gest­ed Font and Color

HAMLET: Old English, Red

SIDEKICK: Courier New, Pink 

BRANDY: Comic Sans, Yellow 

SNARKY Eras Bold, Green 

KARMA: Lucinda Hand­writ­ing, Purple

AKRON: Arial, Blue

 

Scene

A con­tem­po­rary social media group chat.

Time

Now.

 

Setting:  The wide-open space where social media phys­i­cal­ly takes  place. Three chairs sit in the middle of the stage.

At Rise HAMLET sits in the middle chair, SIDEKICK, BRANDY, SNARKY, KARMA and AKRON walk around the stage totally focused on their phones. They ignore each other’s pres­ence, nego­ti­at­ing around each other, in front of and behind HAMLET. The actors carry on like this through the entire play, using the chairs and phones as props for their dance. 

HAMLET : To be, or not to be:

BRANDY: To be what?

SNARKY: Is that your question?

HAMLET: That is the question. 

AKRON: ?  (I have a question)

SIDEKICK: THE ques­tion!

SNARKY: What to be? 

KARMA: Or what to be void of?

SIDEKICK: To EXIST.

BRANDY: I am my brand. #Iammy­brand #myawe­some­brand #brandme

HAMLET: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of out­ra­geous fortune,

BRANDY: Trolls are out­ra­geous. They crowd my space. #trollssuck #notrol­larea

SNARKY: Out­ra­geous fortune leads to suffering. 

KARMA: All life is suffering. 

AKRON: AAMOF LFU (As A Matter Of Fact; Life’s Fucked Up)

SIDEKICK: In one’s mind — a MORAL deci­sion — trials and attacks of DESTINY. A deci­sion TO BE made.

BRANDY: Don’t be so AGGRESSIVE. Give us some space. TXS. #chill­out­dude #giveme­space #back­of­f­jack

HAMLET:      or take arms against a sea of troubles, 

SIDEKICK: To fight against the forces of endless suffering.

BRANDY: All this talk of war makes me uncom­fort­able. #weare­one #chill­out­dude #bad­vibes

AKRON: IOW sux (In Other Words; sucks)

KARMA: A deci­sion to end such trou­bles; is only a new beginning. 

SNARKY: A mis­guid­ed deci­sion lost in priv­i­lege; or false expectations.

HAMLET: and by oppos­ing end them? (beat) To die; To sleep;

BRANDY: 2d4 (To Die For) Café Blue peach cobbler. #mycob­blersin #todiefor #dieton­hold

AKRON: RUS LOL DBD (Are You Serious; Laugh­ing Out Loud; Don’t be Dumb)

SIDEKICK: It’s a fight against the INNER DEMONS.

SNARKY: Or a fight side by the side with the devil.

KARMA: To act against oneself will not end the trouble. You must act with oneself. 

HAMLET: No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thou­sand natural shocks

SIDEKICK: To finish it all; to be no more. ESCAPE the heart-ache and PAIN of uncertainty.

SNARKY: Is this a viable solution?

AKRON: WFM (Works For Me)

BRANDY: I sleep when I am depressed. #deep­dark­sleep #dark­in­som­nia #sleep­itoff

KARMA: We do not know what is next, but we know it is influ­enced by now. Rebirth is hard to escape.

HAMLET: that flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation; 

SIDEKICK: Duty that goes along with being human.

KARMA: To die by one’s own hand? Not so.

SNARKY: An escape from one’s mind – fight against destiny.

BRANDY: My destiny is to be in the cloud. #brandinthe­clouds #cloudsin­my­head #cloudy­brand #cloud­des­tiny

HAMLET: devout­ly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;

SIDEKICK: To DIE and thus to SLEEP

SNARKY: Arrival at one’s death.

AKRON: SOL DOA SWAK (Shit Out of Luck; Dead On Arrival; Sealed With A Kiss)

BRANDY: Sleep like a rock. #benedryl­sleep #deep­dark­sleep #rock­mysleep

HAMLET: To sleep; per­chance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;

SNARKY: When you dream, you are alive.

KARMA: The con­scious mind lives.

SIDEKICK: But to see this AFTERLIFE brings unknown PROBLEMS.

AKRON: BFP (Big Fucking Problem)

HAMLET: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

SIDEKICK: For in death’s sleep, what WILL WE SEE?

SNARKY: Death is sleep – dreams are real.

KARMA: Rebirth will grow from your current intentions.

BRANDY: Is there an app for that?

AKRON: IDK WDYC (I Don’t Know; Why Do You Care)

HAMLET: When we have shuf­fled off this mortal coil,

KARMA: It’s how you do it; the con­nect­ed intentions.

SIDEKICK: Leave our mortal bodies of turmoil and CONFUSION.

SNARKY:      And head to an eter­ni­ty that might be worse.

AKRON: B3 meh (Blah, Blah, Blah; who cares, whatever)

HAMLET: must give us pause; there’s the respect that makes calami­ty of so long life;

SIDEKICK: That which makes our life so UNBEARABLE.

KARMA: Reasons, motives, (beat) INTENTIONS

SNARKY: Stop and consider.

HAMLET: For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

SIDEKICK: Who wants to suffer the wrongs of oppression?

KARMA: It’s not a choice. It’s Life.

AKRON: BMW LABATYD (Bitch Moan Whine; Life’s A Bitch And Then You Die)

BRANDY: It’s a Lifestyle. Click to choose. #click­yr­life #myphone­zom­bielifestyle #click­buy #phone­zom­bie

SNARKY: Threat­ened abuse against one’s self does not compare.

HAMLET: The pangs of dis­prized love, the law’s delay, the inso­lence of office and the spurns

SNARKY: A gripe against those who hold public office

BRANDY: Vote against them all. #voteth­e­mout #vote­con­flict #vetothem

AKRON: AFAIC DKDC (As Far As I’m Con­cerned; Don’t Know Don’t Care)

HAMLET: that patient merit of the unwor­thy takes, when he himself might his quietus make

SIDEKICK: The patience of the UNWORTHY SOUL when he might kill himself.

SNARKY: Bearing evil with calmness

KARMA: To settle a debt with another, to release one’s self from life

HAMLET: with a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life,

SIDEKICK: Who wants to suffer life when it is so easy to end one’s troubles.

KARMA: You would bare that burden at rebirth.

BRANDY: Like Karma. I ♥ (heart) karma. #kar­marocks #Ilovekar­ma #kar­ma­caus­esit

AKRON: CWOT IYKWIM (Com­plete Waste Of Time; If You Know What I Mean)

HAMLET: But that the dread of some­thing after death,

SIDEKICK: The fear of what becomes AFTER DEATH.

SNARKY: That fear of the unknown – to act or remain inactive?

KARMA: If you have good inten­tions in life, no need to fear the next life.

AKRON: KMN YOLO (Kill Me Now; You Only Live Once)

BRANDY: You’re so neg­a­tive. #help­menow #stop­neg­a­tive­vibes #punch­pos­i­tive #vibeboost­need­ed #good­kar­ma­need­ed

HAMLET: the undiscover’d country from whose bourn no trav­el­er returns, puzzles the will

SIDEKICK: To delve into death’s unknown, for which NO ONE ever RETURNS, 

SNARKY: Death is a one way journey.

KARMA: If you are so for­tu­nate. For most of us, there will be another opportunity.

AKRON: TCB (Trouble Came Back)

HAMLET: and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? thus con­science does make cowards of us all;

SIDEKICK: Con­scious­ness will make COWARDS of us all. Why do mis­er­able people con­tin­ue to live?

KARMA: We should be thankful.

SNARKY: Because the devil we know may be better than the one we do not?

KARMA: Because thoughts can deter action.

BRANDY: Thoughts cause action. Click to buy. #click­buy #click­forac­tion #click­to­buy #buymy­brand

AKRON: ACD BSOD (Alt Control Delete, Blue Screen Of Death)

HAMLET: and thus the native hue of res­o­lu­tion is sick­lied o’er with the pale cast of thought

SIDEKICK: A DETERMINATION caught off by an afflic­tion of thought.

SNARKY: Unwhole­some thought with natural resolve.

KARMA: Thought that con­se­quences derailed.

HAMLET: and enter­pris­es of great pith and moment with this regard their cur­rents turn awry,

SIDEKICK: ACTIONS of great con­se­quences dis­rupt­ed by the focus put on them

AKRON: BTW NGH (By The Way; Not Gonna Happen)

SNARKY: Lost in the contemplation.

HAMLET: and lose the name of action.

(HAMLET sits back down in a chair in the center of the stage.)

SIDEKICK: Too much thought of impor­tant ACTIONS can PARALYZE us.

AKRON: ITA TMI (I Totally Agree; Too Much Information)

SNARKY: Too much phone without any thought is par­a­lyz­ing us.

KARMA: Thought without proper inten­tions con­demns us.

BRANDY: My thought is in my hand. #myphoneis­mylife #phonepri­or­i­ty #brain­in­my­hand #phone­zom­bies­live

(HAMLET, who has been sitting, stands up, holds his cell phone out to his side, arms-length, and drops the cell phone like a singer drop­ping the mic. All other actors stop and fall to the ground when the phone hits the floor. A sole spot­light illu­mi­nates HAMLET. For the first time in the play, HAMLET speaks out loud.)

HAMLET: To be, or not to be: that is the question.

(Lights out)

END OF PLAY 

This story orig­i­nal­ly appeared in Stonecoast Review Issue 17.

Photo by Jack Sharp.