Caden Green, Harper Lile, 8th Grade Editors-In-Chief
Recently, the 8 Rockets performed their first fall production, a modern spin on Hamlet.
This play marked the drama teacher, Ms. Joiner’s, (JJ) last fall show, as she is retiring this year.
Sophia Colston and Camryn Menefee, the student directors of the play, had a lot to say about the performance.
“I thought it was a really great play to do, considering the cast gets along extremely well and we all had a great time. As a cast, we did a great job with our vocal expression and I am very proud of our first performance this year,” said Colston.
Ms. JJ mentioned that because they now have three years of drama experience, considering they are eighth graders, the production was for the most part, all student-led.
Everyone in the 8 Rockets drama class had a role in the production, big or small.
However, Xavier Mohr, AKA Hamlet, made his first debut as the main character, and really blew the crowd away.
“It was a big step up in my acting career, since I shy away from big leading parts, and it was a big learning experience for our class,” explained Mohr.
Overall Mohr thought they did a great job performing and dealt with things on stage and off stage quickly.
“As a cast we had some nerves, but I think we did good at shaking it off and fighting back, using improv to sell the show,” Mohr stated.
The cast overall enjoyed this production, “It was really fun putting it all together and watching the show come together with the props and the costumes,” explained Bella O’Dell, who acted as Lariteese in the production.
The cast learned about Shakespeare through performing and rehearsing Hamlet.
“We got some background knowledge about him (Shakespeare) and who he was and his great productions and we read some of his other plays,” stated O’Dell.
The audience also learned all about Shakespeare and his works through this play, as well as the different elements that went into producing this play.
The play included a sword fighting scene between Hamlet, Xavier Mohr, and his uncle, Josue Conde Machado, which took a lot of skill and practice. The entire class took a sword fighting class, however, Xavier and Josue really stood out.
The audience was gasping and loved this scene, the cast really sold it.
The play also included many comedic jokes that had the audience laughing in unison.
Ms. JJ sure did go out with a bang this year, with her 8th grade class really going above and beyond with their production of Hamlet.
