The Hamlet Project

Most phrases in the play are so heightened
So out of the realm of the ordinary
That it would take a sort of arch pretension
To get away with saying it in daily life.
This one, however –
This one –
With the right provocation,
This could fall very easily out of my mouth.
When my back’s against the wall and I’m compelled
To take a horrifying job
Or sew up a rag of a garment
Because I can’t afford to buy a new one
Or beg a friend for assistance
Or swallow my ethics or values to survive.
I’ve heard it from friends when they have to hide
From their landlords
Dodge the bill collectors on the phone
or work for an eighth of what they should be paid for their labor.
A work of no imagination, with no artistic merit
Raises $5 million for its presentation to the public
While artists who make heart-expanding, relevant, innovative, brilliant work
Have to push aside their symphonies or sculptures
To work for $10 an hour in a garbage dump.
That it should come to this!
Justice, if it will come, has been stretched so thin
It may snap like a breaking rubber band.