#harlee

Gwil quickly opens his mouth to answer, but he stops himself. “Uh, well…hmm. Rami?”

Rami glances towards the stage, and then shrugs. “I don’t… Hamlet isn’t my strong suit.”

“Like, is he Gary Oldman or Tim Roth?” Joe asks.

“Who are they?” Gwil asks.

“And who plays who?” Rami asks.

“Okay, I don’t know that either,” Joe says. “But better question— does it actually matter? I think all their scenes are together.”

“Of course it matters,” Gwil says. “We should know.”

“Okay, so who’s who?” Joe asks.

“I don’t know,” Gwil says. The lights start to dim, and the audience quiets down, getting ready for the curtains to open. “But we’ll find out,” he finishes quickly, settling back down in his seat.

The curtains open and the play begins, and they have to wait until Act II, Scene II for Ben to come on stage. Rami, Joe, and Gwil all immediately grin and sit up straight, keeping their eyes on him.

“He looks good,” Rami whispers, and Gwil nods eagerly. Though it shouldn’t really be a surprise that Ben looks so handsome in a doublet. He’s a pretty handsome guy.

King Claudius and Queen Gertrude thank Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but they still leave the stage without them knowing which one is which. They show up a few more times, and Rami, Joe, and Gwil can’t keep their eyes off Ben, so happy that after years of him talking about Shakespeare, about the idea of maybe doing a play, he finally signed up for the Perth Drama Club.

And, of course, they’re still trying to figure out who the heck exactly Ben is playing.

It takes until Act IV, Scene III, when the other guy says “ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord,” and Ben walks on stage with Hamlet.

“Oh,” Joe says, nodding slowly. “Okay.”

“There we go,” Gwil murmurs.

When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are killed off-stage, they’re about to give up and leave in protest (not really, but even the drama club’s abridged version of Hamlet is too long). But they stick it out, and eagerly jump to their feet when the cast comes back out to bow.

“Whoo!” Joe hollers, and Rami and Gwil clap loudly.

The audience makes their way outside, and Rami takes out his mobile to check in with the babysitter, and Joe takes out his to see if Ben was playing Gary Oldman or Tim Roth.

Gwil quickly runs to the car and grabs some flowers he’d left in there, and the three of them wait outside for Ben.

“Well?” Rami asks.

“Tim Roth,” Joe says.

“I still don’t know who that is,” Gwil says.

“Neither do I,” Rami says, “I’m humouring him.”

After a few minutes, Ben comes out, changed out of his doublet into an old t-shirt, still sweaty from the costume and the stage lights, and he waves happily at them as he hurries over.

“You were so good!” Joe exclaims.

“You were brilliant,” Rami says, pulling Ben in for a quick hug. “It was so fun.”

“Thank you,” Ben says. “I can’t believe I’ve done it!” He wipes his forehead, and lets out a heavy breath. “God, I really can’t believe I’ve done it.”

“These are you for, love,” Gwil says, handing over his bouquet of flowers.

“Thank you,” Ben says, and he holds them up to his nose, taking a deep breath. “Those are lovely.”

“Do you have to go party with them now?” Rami asks. “The rest of the cast?”

“We decided against it,” Ben says, “since literally everyone said they needed a shower and— god, Hamlet is really long, isn’t it?”

“I wasn’t gonna say anything,” Joe says quietly.

“So, no,” Ben says. “We’re going home to relax tonight. We’re doing dinner on Sunday instead. How long’ve you got the sitter for?”

“We’ve got to pick them up now,” Rami says, and Joe groans loudly. “Stop it,” Rami says, smiling, playfully swatting Joe on the arm. “And then probably put them to bed.”

“It is late,” Ben says.

“But you were brilliant,” Rami says. “I want to celebrate it too, alright?”

“Tomorrow,” Ben says. “Promise.”

“You’re so cool,” Joe says, slinging his arm around Ben. “Did you know you were Guildenstern?”

Ben narrows his eyes at him. “Yes…”

“Just checking,” Joe says.

“Come on, love,” Gwil says. “We have to get you cleaned up.”

“Thank you both for coming,” Ben says. “It means a lot.”

“It was our pleasure,” Rami says.

“Of course we came,” Joe says. “Where else would we be?”

“Still,” Ben says. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Joe says. “Have a good night.”

“Say hi to the kids for us,” Ben says. He waves and grabs onto Gwil’s hand, tugging him in. “What did you think?” he asks. “Not bad?”

“I loved it, and I’m proud of you,” Gwil says.

“Yeah?”

Gwil nods eagerly. “Of course.”

“I know,” Ben says. “I still like to hear it.”