Seventh Graders Perform "Simplified" Version of "Hamlet"

Our seventh grade class performed our own version of Hamlet in our classroom. After only two weeks to prepare, we created a simplified, rudimentary production to share with our viewers. We had a lot of fun writing, directing, producing, and acting! Click on the link below to view our video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX_TCKkLYFI

Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Resources

Try using these helpful resources as you review the play.

Please post a comment about how you are reviewing the play, and what resources you have found helpful. Post additional useful resources in your comments as you find them.

Sparknotes: "No Fear Shakespeare" resources for "Hamlet":
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/

Quizlet: Use existing flashcards to review, or make your own:
https://quizlet.com/subject/Hamlet/

Watch this short, funny video to review the play's plot events:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sejE19qL_SM

Full movie production of "Hamlet" courtesy of "The Paramount Vault" by Paramount pictures. Used with permission. Length: 2:14:27. The character "Hamlet" is played by Mel Gibson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAmMq3i3Hc

Seventh Graders Perform "Invasion from Mars"

Check out our live audio recording of "Invasion from Mars!" Our selected excerpt from Orson Welles' original 1938 radio play was recorded live in our classroom. Leave a comment about what you think of Welles' play. Would you have panicked if you had heard this play on the radio?

Click this link to listen to our recording!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEybIF2M8CU&feature=youtu.be

Watch an old movie! "Invasion from Mars" from 1958.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyDITlXCU3Y&feature=youtu.be#t=29.841

War of the Worlds

Now that you have read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, it is time to explore his other classic story, War of the Worlds. This story is about an alien invasion from Mars. It was rewritten and adapted as a radio play in 1938, and presented by Orson Welles.

The play was infamous for the controversy it sparked. At the time, very few people listened to the program in its entirety--they missed the introduction describing it as a fictional play. Some listeners thought it was a real news broadcast describing a Martian invasion, causing them to panic. At the time, newspapers printed front page articles describing mass hysteria, suicides, and panic caused by the irresponsible radio network that ran the program, even though relatively few listeners had actually heard the program, compared to its competitor on another station (Edgar Bergen). Since newspapers were in direct competition with radio for advertising, they exaggerated the hysteria to discredit radio. So, although it's true that a few listeners panicked, most media analysts today believe that, like the play itself, the mass hysteria of people fleeing their homes and jumping from buildings, was fictional and exaggerated media hype.

Post comments about the following:

Read at least part of the novel War of the Worlds. Next, Listen to the audio version of the radio play as you follow along with the written version. What comparisons can you make between the two?

What would happen if such a broadcast occurred today? Would listeners panic?

Here is the script of the original radio play:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/mars/wow.htm

Enjoy listening to the original Orson Welles production of War of the Worlds here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPG7a2vZRV0 


This is a summary of information found in many articles; see:
Pooley, Jefferson, and Michael J. Socolow. "The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic." Slate. The Slate Group, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.html>.