"TO BE OR NOT TO BE..."

To be, or not to be is the opening phrase of a soliloquy spoken by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, a compelling tragedy of the inundated young prince of Denmark. Theater troupe of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) staged the Bengali version of this play yesterday evening at National Theater Hall of BSA.

Originally written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has been translated and adapted by late writer Syed Shamsul Haq and directed by eminent director Ataur Rahman. In the Shakespeare's Hamlet, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago.

The story proceeds with the ghost walking on a dark winter night in the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king's widow, Queen Gertrude.

When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father's spirit, and that he was murdered by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost disappears with the dawn.

Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father's death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness.

However in the adaptation of Syed Shamsul Haq's Hamlet, the play only focuses on revenge. The part of Fortinbras after Hamlet's death does not appear in the scene. The adaptation uses some poems of Rabindranath Tagore and Jibananda Das with a song of Tagore. These poems and songs create a new dimension of Hamlet.

Hamlet is basically a revenge story and the tragic aftermaths that results from getting mad by such thirst for vengeance.

As the king of medieval Denmark is killed his brother Claudius takes up the throne marrying the queen, his brother's bride. This irks the young prince Hamlet into believing that the present king and queen are behind his father's murder.