Comparing an extract from Assassins by Stephen Sondheim with an extract from Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

written which was in 1990, society was democratic & governed by a President. Themes In our scripted piece the theme was set around a grave to which the two actors spoke. We called it the gravedigger scene. We were trying to work out whether or not Hamlet was mad or whether it was an act. But Assassins also deals with death and some degree of madness you could argue. When comparing this to our scripted piece it does differ in many different aspects. One being the story line, the genre etc. But they both deal with death and madness. Just in slightly different contexts. The other difference is the style of the pieces. Style Hamlet was written in the style of an Elizabethan verse drama, which is a bit like the old English, whereas Assassins was a musical this was different in a huge way as the audience would enjoy Assassins a lot more in a different way, because people love music. Hamlet though, was more of a show which needed more concentration and there would be no clapping hands or singing in the audience. Plus Assassins would have been performed inside in a theatre but Hamlet was performed in the open air. Staging Staging for our play was done indoors with minimal props, just enough to work out the location we were trying to show. We used a few powerful white lights to create a dark feeling around the set. Assassins would have been set in a barn using natural light and all the props needed instead of improvising them.