TO be or not to be?

That is the question for these actors trying to put together a production of Hamlet in a week.

Eight students from Oxford are working against the clock to produce a show to perform in front of friends and family.

Albert McIntosh, 14, right, playing Hamlet’s evil uncle Claudius, said: “I think they thought I had some evil they could exploit! It’s coming together brilliantly.”

The Play’s The Things is the first in series of week-long summer workshops organised by the Oxford Playhouse .

Co-director and choreographer Hannah Moore, front, said: “We’re very aware we have only five days of six hours, so we have taken the key ideas of Hamlet’s madness and the romantic relationship with Ophelia to produce a 45-minute version of the play.”

The summer sessions for over-eights run until August 17.

For more information visit www.oxfordplayhouse.com