“Brevity is the soul of wit,†declares Polonius in William Shakespeare's “Hamlet.†And perhaps short videos of lines from one of the Bard's most-loved plays will expose the souls of their performers, too. So The New York Times invites student actors and actresses to submit their performances of lines from “Hamlet†using Instagram.
The Times's critics have been cataloging the recent bounty of professional performances of Shakespeare's plays. And with several stagings of “Hamlet†opening soon, we'd like to see how high school and college students interpret key lines from the play using the cameras and apps on the smartphones they might be carrying.
To prove that you can fit plenty of Shakespearean pathos into 15 seconds - the maximum length of an Instagram video - we invited a professional actor, Michael Urie, to The New York Times to perform a few lines from the play:
If you are a high school or college student, use Instagram to record one short video of your performance of lines from “Hamlet.†(“To be or not to be†is only an example.) Then fill out the form and submit the link to the video below. You can also add the hashtag “#MaximumShakespeare†on your Instagram post.
The deadline to submit a video link is Dec. 1, 2103. The best videos will be featured on nytimes.com later in December. If you cannot see the form below, it is also available at this website.
By submitting to us, you are promising that the content is original, doesn't plagiarize from anyone or infringe a copyright or trademark, doesn't violate anybody's rights and isn't libelous or otherwise unlawful or misleading. You are agreeing that we can use your submission in all manner and media of The New York Times and that we shall have the right to authorize third parties to do so. And you agree to the rules of our Member Agreement, found online at our website.
