Michael Roston and Erik Piepenburg:

Let it not be said that Shakespeare means nothing to young people.
“The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” may have first been performed 500 years ago. But when The New York Times asked high school and college students to use Instagram to record short videos of lines from William Shakespeare’s tale of royal intrigue and revenge, nearly 500 students seized the opportunity. Scholars differ on whether or not Hamlet was the most vengeful teenager in Danish royal history. But the young people who made these many short videos demonstrated the many ways they were able to connect the world they dwell in with Prince Hamlet’s tragedy.
From basements and bedrooms to classrooms and cloistered locations, hundreds of students hit the “record” button on a smartphone and delivered up novel interpretations of Shakespeare’s words. We feature some of our favorite short Hamlet videos below, along with explanations from several students about what inspired their performances.