“Hamlet and Buddha: ‘Words, Words, Words’ and Silence” Mike Sperber

BUDDHA and HAMLET in BEDLAM: SYNOPSIS

The play is set at McLean Hospital where Hamlet is admitted, misdiagnosed “psychotic with homicidal hallucinations,” and prescribed Haldol, an antipsychotic medication.

Hamlet requests a second opinion and Dr. Frank Faith diagnoses “parasomnia,” discontinues Haldol, and cures Hamlet through holistic psychiatry: body (fencing), mind (playwriting), and spirit (meditation).

In Hamlet’s BUDDHA and HAMLET in BEDLAM, unlike in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet recovers, marries Ophelia, finds a vocation, and none die.

Dr. Michael Sperber is a psychiatric consultant at McLean Hospital; Medical Director of Comprehensive Health Services; the author of three books, and many articles.

“Buddha and Hamlet in Bedlam,” the final chapter of his forthcoming POSTTRAUMATIC TRANSFORMATION, and second play, follows Emily Dickinson’s Bees, Butterflies, Breeze and Blindness.