BSHS drama department present play this weekend

The Berkeley Springs High School drama department will present “The Hamlet Thrill-Ma-Geddon” by Don Zolidas this weekend. This is Shakespeare as you have never seen it. After their budget is slashed, a fictional drama club turns to Shakespeare's greatest tragedy to raise cash.

But it's not tickets that are going to fund this year's show: It's sweet, sweet corporate sponsorship and mid-play commercial advertising. The sponsors demand changes in the stodgy old script, but who cares if Shakespeare never wrote musical numbers with back-up dancers or post-apocalyptic zombie battles? He's dead and he can't complain. Or sue. A lightning-quick, hilarious perversion of the greatest play in the English language.

The play is directed by Brice Williams and features a cast of over 30 young actors. This production is the West Virginia premiere and features original music by Walker Williams, a 2011 graduate studying composition at Shepherd University. The show is appropriate for all ages. Show times are Friday, March 16 and Saturday, March 17 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the door.