Sunday 13th September 1998
Directed by Members of the Company
When Bench Theatre moved from its old premises (The Old Magistrates' Court in West Street) to the newly created Havant Arts Centre, East Street in 1977, its members were instrumental in the setting up of the new centre. The Old Town Hall Building in East Street was converted to a bespoke Arts Centre and celebrated it's opening in 1978. 20 years later, Bench Theatre were invited to contribute to the 20th Anniversary celebrations including a collaborative fund-raising performance, which included other local groups:
Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia, Dynamo Youth Theatre, Havant Light Opera and Ginger Dance Theatre.
'15-Minute Hamlet' is a comedic abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', written in 1979. The play condenses the original 'Hamlet', including all the best-known scenes, into approximately 13 minutes of on-stage action. This is followed by another even more drastically reduced performance of the play from beginning to end, lasting 2 minutes, bringing the total running time up to 15 minutes. The idea of such an abridgment was taken further by the Reduced Shakepeare Comapny to their highly successful productions of the 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' in 90 minutes in the 1990s.
This one-act play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, Bench Theatre's home since 1977 as part of the centre's 20th Anniversary celebration fund-raising production.
Members of Bench Theatre Company | Andrew Caple Alice Corrigan Tom Kenyon David Penrose Ruth Prior Mark Wakeman |
Directed by | Members of the Company |