So cool! Sudbury students to stage 'Hamlet' in castle where play is set

To say second-year Thorneloe University theatre student Ben Dippel is excited to be playing the role of Hamlet in Kronborg Castle is an understatement.

Kronborg Castle is located in Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark, and is the real-life castle where Shakespeare set his famous tragedy, “Hamlet.”

Dippel is heading to Denmark later this month to take part in Shakespeare: The Next 400, a conference marking the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death on April 23, 1616.

He'll be accompanied by seven other Thorneloe students and three faculty members. Dippel stars in a 20-minute adaptation of Hamlet as seen through the eyes of Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest.

The Thorneloe students will also present All (swellthatend) Swell, a 20-minute adaptation of the (kind of) comedy, "All's Well That Ends Well."

“Honestly, it's such an incredible honour and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to play Hamlet as Shakespeare imagined him in Kronborg Castle in Elsinore,” Dippel said. “I just hope I do the performance justice and that all these people that have come to honour the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death at this conference enjoy it too. It's pretty nerve-wracking.”

Sudburians also have a chance to see what the students will be presenting in Denmark. The students will be performing both adaptations at the Laughing Buddha this weekend, at 2 p.m. April 10, to be precise. Admission is free.

Thorneloe theatre professor Jenny Hazelton said she's pretty darn excited about the trip, too.

“When I was approached to be a part of the project, we essentially got free reign about which pieces we could choose,” she said.

“My mind immediately went to "Hamlet." I was like that's so cliché, doing "Hamlet" in Hamlet's castle. How many times has that been done?

“But I was thinking about the students, to be able to have been a student performing "Hamlet" in Hamlet's castle. What a story, that is. I couldn't say no to doing that piece.”

Besides the conference, the students will take in some of the local sights, and of course, some theatre. Some of the students have never been out of Ontario, Hazelton said.

“I think it's a pretty incredible thing for them to experience,” she said.