I Played the King and Died!
Play is the art of learning something new by creating an experience. Children play to learn, practice, and grow in the skills they will need later on as an adult. Adults slowly lose the art of play as they eventually feel like the “know” everything that is necessary for life.
Every year, we go stop be Ren-Fest for a day of adventure. It’s fun to go back in time and play in the medieval period. We stopped at the children’s storytime theater and got invited to play. My son was chosen for the lead role of Hamlet. Being his father, I had the role of his father, the dead king.
I was not expecting to be a thespian first thing in the morning, but I went with it. At first, I was grumpy. I wanted to sit, enjoy the first adult beverage of the day and relax. Once I got on stage and I saw how excited Nathan was, I decided to change my emotional state. Instead of feeling embarrassed, silly, or put off for being chosen, I decided to make Nathan a star by being the best supporting actor possible!
As the Joker said in Tim Burton’s Batman, “If you gotta go, go with a smile!”
The experience taught me:
- Live in the moment. This is never going to happen again.
- Be vulnerable and surrender to the opportunity to have fun.
- Don’t hold back. I poured myself into the role as much as possible.
I also had to improvise a few other support characters.
Count the number of times I died in the 13 min production!
Matthew and Nathan Play “Everyone Dies in Hamlet” at Ren-fest.
The next time your kids ask you to spend time with them, see how deeply you can throw yourself into the scene and into the moment with them. Everyone dies, not just in Hamlet and all that will matter in the end is how many moments like these you will have experienced and remembered throughout your life.
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