The act­or play­ing Ham­let is suf­fer­ing a crisis of con­fid­ence.  Is the play as he remem­bers? Macbeth drops in to chivvy him along. Then Oth­ello and King Lear give it a go as well.

This solo show sees Michael Hurst dis­play his skill at deliv­er­ing Shakespeare along with hil­ari­ously phys­ic­al stage com­bat moves. (Some of them looked a bit dan­ger­ous – tum­bling around the stage, knock­ing over the props.) Although the char­ac­ter Ham­let is ostens­ibly the focus, it’s Macbeth who steals the show. Wee cocky Macbeth all bluster and charm. Part of it is the accent, most of it is Hurst hav­ing fun.

A great round yel­low rug neatly defines the room on stage (design­er John Verryt). Com­bined with an old arm­chair and a couple of tiny tables it cap­tures the depress­ing atmo­sphere of a lonely flat. It con­trasts nicely with the cos­tume the act­or wears – an elab­or­ately dec­or­ated doublet, puffy breeches, tights, and lovely shoes with rib­bon ties. (Cos­tume design­er Les­ley Burkes-Hard­ing.)

People who know their Shakespeare will like this (as long as they don’t mind Shakespeare being messed with). The rest of us will enjoy it, but we’ll have the sneak­ing sus­pi­cion that we’re not quite in on the joke.