As much as any figure in literature, Hamlet defines character. In essence, he invented you.
He fights with his mom. His many dads plague him as voices he hears in his head. He names action. He immortalizes rest.
Most famously, he asks “To be or not to be,” a question which, however immortal it may make the play, comes with an obvious answer. If your friend Hamlet were asking you whether or not “to be,” whether or not he should kill himself, you would know what to say: To be or not to be? Dear friend: Be.
The group supports new ways of thinking about life and work. It supports eloquence and the idea we can put beauty at the center of things. It supports using art to challenge our view of the world and
our performance in it.
You do not need to know the play, nor even read it to join. But it is probably of some use if you can watch it once.
If you know Shakespeare and the play well, great. But parading expertise is strictly forbidden and we will always put “is this idea useful to you” far above “is that what Shakespeare meant.”
We meet five times and center our discussion around a single line.
i.
Who’s there?
The play starts with the question “Who’s there?” We start there too: Who’s there in your business? Who’s there in your head? Who’s there when it is time to be free of the past and in charge of the future?
In what way does being anywhere put you on guard? Allow you to reflect others?
ii.
I was the more deceived:
One lover says this to another. Where does love deceive you? Do you love being the deceiver? What is your role in the drama of recognition?
iii.
Buzz-buzz
The most important thing Hamlet ever says. He would dismantle gossip. And yet, can any of us do that? What is the Buzz-Buzz in your life? In your organization? How do you get beyond it? Play with it? Master it?iv.
Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
The custom in question is digging graves and the gravedigger being discussed looks to be easy with his work indeed. What will make an ease of being for you in your work?v.
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing.
What does that mean? And is this the way out of tragedy or the cause of it?Questions explained agreeable preferred strangers too him beautiful her son.