Hamlet (an experience), The Fringe, Review:

***** (5 stars)

“Completely Immersive”

What an experience!  I can’t quite believe that this is my fourth five-star performance of the four Fringe shows I’ve seen so far this year…

Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is grieving the death of his father and inconsolable because his mother, Gertrude, has married the king’s brother Claudius a mere month after she wept bitterly at her husband’s funeral.  Hamlet’s father’s ghost appears to him, telling him that he was murdered by his brother.  Hamlet devises a way to confirm the ghost’s accusation: he will arrange for some actors to act out the king’s death, and see whether Claudius and Gertrude’s reactions show their guilt or their innocence.  Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes: crazed with grief, the prince rejects Ophelia, who goes mad.  By the end of the play, the only person left standing is Hamlet’s friend Horatio, who remains to tell the sad story of the Prince of Denmark.

This Hamlet takes place in the George Mackay Brown library upstairs in the Storytelling Centre.  We enter the lovely intimate setting and find our seats in the ring of chairs round the edges of the room.  There’s a skull on one chair – do I sit beside it, or keep a respectful distance?  In the middle of the floor a black hooded figure sits silently, head bowed…

The figure rises to their feet and invites us to take part in the performance.  People are invited to take a named role and given their script; and everyone does so very willingly [though I feel sure there would be no compulsion if one really didn’t want to].  The rules for the session are made clear: all weapons are imaginary and will cause no harm and the casting is gender-blind.  Almost all lines and stage directions are on the script, though there will be a place for some improvisation of action and maybe even dialogue.  Script still in hand means that the character is still alive.  Some characters are asked to keep their final directions hidden from the rest of the cast.  We are all invited to join in any singing that might happen.  There is a brief rehearsal of a stage fight, cleverly adapted to the left-handedness of the willing performer who cheerfully declares their complete ignorance of sword-fighting of any kind.

And so begins a completely immersive and interactive performance that has us gripped from the opening lines, where Hamlet directs his newly-cast fellow-players in the delivery of their lines – speak the speech trippingly, I pray you – and goes on to describe graphically the many appalling ways in which actors can mangle, distort, and otherwise ruin the playwright’s words.

Hamlet is a very long play.  This version is cunningly edited to include all the essential bits while leaving out quite a lot. It’s instantly clear what’s happening in each scene, and what the context is – at least, it is to me: but then I’ve been watching performances of the play for quite a number of decades now…. [I miss Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – but don’t particularly miss the comic gravedigger…]. The ghost scene is particularly impressive, as Hamlet plays both himself and his dead father: from behind a skull mask he delivers his father’s lines at an incredible speed and without drawing breath – an impressive display of breath control.

Emily Carding is outstanding in this gripping performance which I can guarantee you will be quite unlike any other Hamlet you’ve ever seen.   One of the enormous joys of their performance is hearing so many incredibly well-known lines as if they are just coming to Hamlet’s mind as he is speaking them.  Lightning-swift changes of volume, tone, attitude and behaviour reflect the tortuous tumult of the prince’s emotions – all the time delivered with intense feeling and compelling eye contact: we are all witnesses to, and partakers of his torment.

All the volunteer performers give laudable and believable performances, but the shoutout must go to the Ophelia, whose wordless mad scene was truly memorable.  At the end, only Horatio is left standing, surrounded by corpses: Hamlet disappears from the acting area, leaving us to laud ‘his’ performance with prolonged and heartfelt applause.

Kolbrun Bjort Sigfusdottir directs a wonderful, vibrant performance by Emily Carding – don’t miss this extraordinary experience at this year’s Fringe!

Hamlet (an experience), Scottish Storytelling Centre, Venue 30, runs until 17^th August for more information and tickets go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/hamlet-an-experience