13-year-old directing Shakespeare's Hamlet across P.E.I.

A 13-year-old director has set down Disney and picked up the dagger.

Milo Simkulet, 13, is directing, and acting in,15-Minute Hamlet across the province this summer with the Spotlight School of Arts.

The play is acomedic, abridgedversion of the Shakespeare tragedy.

"I wanted to do it because I've never actually directed before. I thought it would be a good, short thing for me to get in the directing field," he said.

He wanted to shake things up a bit by introducing Shakespeare to Spotlight.

"A lot of the things we do in spotlight are a lot of Disney things. I was thinking it would be interesting to also do some Shakespeare as well," Simkulet said.

Performing across P.E.I.

The Spotlight troupe has performed15-Minute Hamletin venues, parks and places across the province.

They've performed in Summerside,Rochford Square and Founder's Hall in Charlottetown, as well as the Indian River Festival and more.

"Anywhere there is space in a park or a stage," Simkulet said, "That's kind of the beauty of 15-Minute Hamlet. It can be done however and wherever."

The abridged play is the creation of Czech-born playwright Tom Stoppard, who took the best lines and bits fromHamlet, Simkulet said,and put them together in 10 scenes in 15 minutes.

'It's really inspiring'

One of the most inspiring parts of directing the play, Simkulet said, is seeing the reaction from audiences.

"What's interesting is when people hear Shakespeareor Hamlet they don't expect that they're suppose to laugh," he said.

"It's also really nice, on stage, when you're suppose to do something funny and people laugh at it, it gives you an extra push this is actually working it's really inspiring."

He hopes to direct another 15-minute Shakespeare, hinting that the next time around it could beJulius Caesar.

Audiences can follow the Spotlight School of Artsto find out when they'll take the stage next.

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