Actors from the Portland Stage Company perform “Hamlet” at Scarborough High School last week. From left are Jared Mongeau, Savannah Irish, Julianne Shea, Daniel Cuff, Sarabell Wrigley and Sadie Goldstein. Contributed / Dakota Doyle

The Portland Stage Co. visited and performed an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” for the Scarborough High School junior class on March 4 and 5.

The performance was organized by the English department and led by teacher Richard Westley. The production company also hosted an interactive workshop for the students following the play.

According to Portland Stage, the interactive workshop aims to put the words of Shakespeare into the students’ hands in order to allow them to act and direct the plays so they can interpret and create meanings in the text. One student, Mazie Keener, said that the lesson “allowed the play to really come to life because we got to learn the scenes and interact.”

Yearly, in February and March, the Portland Stage Co. offers an adaptation of a Shakespeare play, giving students a chance throughout Maine to see the plays that they are taught in class, which they otherwise might not have the opportunity to see. The abridged versions of the plays last under an hour; this version of “Hamlet” was directed and adapted by Michael Dix Thomas, who is the current education director at Portland Stage.

Actress Sadie Goldstein, who played the role of Laertes, said her favorite part of performing for students is “seeing everyone’s reactions to scenes, specifically the ending fight scene.”

English teacher Richard Westley, who organized the visit from Portland Stage Co., said that the show “is a rare opportunity to see a live Shakespeare production, which many have not experienced,” and that it makes “all the difference in the world” in terms of teaching Shakespeare in class.

In Scarborough High School English curriculum juniors at all levels read Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” which lines up with the yearly abridged production of Shakespeare. “The production allows students to see the play as Shakespeare intended,” Westley said.

Dakota Doyle is a student at Scarborough High School. This article was submitted as part of the school’s Extended Learning Opportunity program.