{"id":2465,"date":"2015-07-02T14:10:25","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T17:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465"},"modified":"2023-07-07T20:20:12","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T23:20:12","slug":"hamlet-a-puppet-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465","title":{"rendered":"Hamlet… A Puppet Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zip_and_shakes\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

zip & shakes<\/p>\n

There IS something awesome in the state of Denmark and that is Shakey Shake and Friends\u2019<\/a> Hamlet… A Puppet Epic, <\/i>which plays at the George Ignatieff Theatre through July 8th, 2015 as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival<\/a> and Fringe Kids. This is Shakey Shake and Friends\u2019 fifth anniversary of presenting hilarious and child-friendly puppet shows based on William Shakespeare\u2019s plays. <\/span><\/p>\n

We are first introduced to Len, the Sesame Street<\/em> equivalent of Avenue Q<\/em>\u2019s Princeton and his girlfriend Lucy, the Sesame Street<\/em> equivalent to Avenue Q<\/em>\u2019s Kate, who are supposed to be going to see Hamlet<\/em> at the Stratford Festival, but Len gets sidetracked by wanting to play Super Mario, so Lucy decides the best way to prove to Len that Hamlet<\/em> is even more awesome than video games is to give him the chance to play the part. They are joined by a Guy Smiley- type Christopher Marlowe, who plays the evil Claudius, Shakes himself plays Polonius, child-friendly Trekkie Monster types play Rosencrantz and Laertes and we are introduced to the brilliant Guildentrunk, who is a muppet made from a trunk. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tom McGee\u2019s adaptation remains true to the plot of Hamlet<\/i>, and uses short snippets of Shakespeare\u2019s most famous, and beloved, lines, but largely the story is told in contemporary language, for the benefit of a young audience\u2019s comprehension. While the children delight in the physical antics of the puppets, a running gag regarding ghost sheets and mermaids and curtains, a pie pun, and silly songs, most of the jokes in McGee\u2019s adaptation are aimed at adults, especially those with a close affiliation with Hamlet<\/i>. It explores Gertrude\u2019s refusal to confront the truth about her marriage, even when the truth is staring her straight in the face. It highlights the absurdity of Polonius\u2019 need to meddle in his daughter\u2019s love life. It turns Claudius into a Super Villain and pokes fun at Hamlet, who is \u201csad about stuff\u201d and Ophelia, who is trying to be a feminist about things but still ends up at the bottom of the lake. The play is narrated, largely by a Scooter-type character named Zip, who plays the sweetest Horatio you will ever see, and it is through Zip\u2019s eyes that the children are being taught how to see, understand and think about Shakespeare, while being thoroughly entertained, which is much more than can be said about most other attempts to introduce young people to these plays. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you are five years old or a hundred and five years old, whether you consider yourself a Shakespeare connoisseur, a Muppet connoisseur or a Sesame Street<\/em> connoisseur, as long as you\u2019re not Sam Eagle, I think you will love this play.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

TWISI FRINGE RATING: \"5_Star_Rating_System_4_and_a_half_stars\"<\/a>Hamlet… A Puppet Epic<\/em> plays at the George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place) at the following times:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

show times<\/strong>
\nJuly 05 at 10:00 AM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong>
\nJuly 07 at 10:00 AM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong>
\nJuly 08 at 03:15 PM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong>
\nJuly 09 at 10:00 AM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong>
\nJuly 10 at 10:00 AM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong>
\nJuly 12 at 11:00 AM \u00a0buy tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

zip & shakes There IS something awesome in the state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4671],"tags":[4834,4838,4857,4859,3747,4858],"class_list":["post-2465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-fringe-kids","tag-george-ignatieff-theatre","tag-shakey-shake-and-friends","tag-tom-mcgee","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-friends"],"yoast_head":"\nHamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"zip & shakes There IS something awesome in the state\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/twisihalifax\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Campbell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Campbell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Campbell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2acdb91c67a7c73bbe572ed62f39cf80\"},\"headline\":\"Hamlet… A Puppet Epic\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\"},\"wordCount\":513,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"fringe kids\",\"george ignatieff theatre\",\"shakey shake and friends\",\"tom mcgee\",\"toronto\",\"toronto friends\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\",\"name\":\"Hamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hamlet… A Puppet Epic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Way I See It Theatre\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/cropped-twisi-header-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/cropped-twisi-header-1.png\",\"width\":4831,\"height\":1568,\"caption\":\"The Way I See It Theatre\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/twisihalifax\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/twisiblog\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2acdb91c67a7c73bbe572ed62f39cf80\",\"name\":\"Amanda Campbell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Campbell\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog","og_description":"zip & shakes There IS something awesome in the state","og_url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465","og_site_name":"The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/twisihalifax","article_published_time":"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Amanda Campbell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amanda Campbell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465"},"author":{"name":"Amanda Campbell","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2acdb91c67a7c73bbe572ed62f39cf80"},"headline":"Hamlet… A Puppet Epic","datePublished":"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465"},"wordCount":513,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg","keywords":["fringe kids","george ignatieff theatre","shakey shake and friends","tom mcgee","toronto","toronto friends"],"articleSection":["Review"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465","url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465","name":"Hamlet... A Puppet Epic - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-02T17:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-07T23:20:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/zip_and_shakes.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=2465#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hamlet… A Puppet Epic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/","name":"The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#organization","name":"The Way I See It Theatre","url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/cropped-twisi-header-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/cropped-twisi-header-1.png","width":4831,"height":1568,"caption":"The Way I See It Theatre"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/twisihalifax","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/twisiblog\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2acdb91c67a7c73bbe572ed62f39cf80","name":"Amanda Campbell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0e1a35d85359766c1e9bf58b3b4e4d926456f42e1b829f3cb745235d605f4e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amanda Campbell"},"url":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}