UK Theatre Network

Kill the King and vengeance will be mine!

First introduced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001, Hamlet The Musical has since been workshopped and developed by a number of different casts. The current ensemble, lead by a vibrant Jack Shalloo as Hamlet, is ingenious and irreverent. We all know how the story goes: The young Danish prince Hamlet is to avenge the death of his father but cannot bring himself to do the deed. His uncle Claudius marries his mother Gertrude to become king. Ophelia is in love with Hamlet but he rejects her and kills her father Polonius by accident which drives Ophelia mad. Hamlet has seen many adaptations but none is as hilarious as Alex Silverman’s, Timothy Knapman’s and Ed Jaspers’ version.

There is literally one joke a minute and one does not need to be a Shakespeare expert to enjoy the show although it helps to get some of the nuances such as the writing of the tombstone for “A.P. Yorick.” The comic timing is perfect and the show is packed with catching tunes such as It Is Rough To Be A Psychopath (Claudius).When Hamlet finally starts his most famous monologue To Be Or Not To Be is turned into a rock anthem making Hamlet an instant star. His revenge plot completely forgotten, he now concentrates on his music career. The Ghost is not pleased. Another highlight is the play within a play called Der Fledermaustrap - an opera medley covering everything from Verdi to Wagner and clearly inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The set seems to have been cut right out of a fairy tale book (design by Diego Pitarch) and costumes are a great spoof of the musical genre (design by Mia Flodquist).

Mark Inscoe's  Claudius  would steal the show if the rest of the ensemble were not so outstanding. Virge Gilchrist is superb as Gertrude, the former “Queen of Hearts” who is drowning her sorrow over her loss in popularity in whatever poison she can find. Jess Robinson is wonderful as the Disney princess Ophelia in her pink dress and petticoat, frolicking about with the cute animals in the forest. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are puppets looking like American college students. Gabriel Vick is brilliant as Laertes who starts out as a passionate and jealous Spaniard in an open red silk shirt only to return as a Frenchman clobbering Hamlet with baguettes. Polonius resembles a Mafia godfather and is played by the charismatic actor David Burt who also portrays the Grave Digger and Fortinbras – a true Viking complete with skulls fastened to his costume who appears whenever the words “we need a real hero” are mentioned.

See this show, it is a great evening out!

The show runs until 28 May 2011 at the Richmond Theatre.

The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ

Booking:

·         Online - AmbassadorTickets.com

·         AmbassadorTickets - 0844 871 7615

·         Box Office - 0844 871 7651

·         Groups - 0844 871 7696 or Click here

·         Access bookings - 0844 871 7677

·         Typetalk - 18001 0871 297 5477 (textphone)