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Edinburgh Fringe 2015

Hamlet

Handlebards

Genre: Classical and Shakespeare

Venue: Royal Botanic Garden

Festival:


Low Down

This is not a production to see if you’re looking for a serious version of Hamlet. They don’t explore every bit of meaning and nuance in the text and give it the reverential treatment usually afforded to the play. Many large chunks of text are cut to keep the show to a reasonable length, both for a Fringe and an outdoor show, leaving it feeling rather choppy and slightly awkward at points. But for pure fun and silliness, and a very different, original take on this tragedy, be sure to see the Handlebards.

Review

It seems that after seeing the Handlebards once, it is difficult to resist going back for more. After watching their performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on a relatively rain-free night, I returned the next evening for their take on Hamlet. The group seem to approach every play, comedy or tragedy, with the same farcical style, squeezing out every laugh they can possibly get. This approach makes perfect sense for the comedies, but when applied to this most famous of Shakespeare’s tragedies results in a very unusual production of Hamlet.

As in Dream, the actors play many different parts; although, understandably, Hamlet does not double. Claudius and Ophelia are played by the same actor (who also gives us a wonderfully camp Marcellus); Laertes doubles as a Gertrude with a serious drinking problem; and a very noble Horatio also plays the bent-backed, highly moustachioed Polonius. As is typical with this company, a lot of comedy is brought out simply through this doubling, as actors have to twirl out of a Velcro-ed skirt to say one line before spinning back into a blazer and hat to reply as another character.

The simple (generally bike-related) sets and props are also used very well. Hamlet’s state of mind is immediately established as he first enters with a literal cloud hanging over him, dangling from a hook above his head. One of the most iconic moments of the play is turned upside down as Horatio and the grave digger realise that “Yorick”’s skull is in fact Geoff’s, and desperately try to prevent Hamlet from finding out that he’s philosophising over a stranger’s skull. The “To be or not to be” speech almost disappears amongst the ridiculous antics of the other actors. Ophelia is given a copy of 50 Shades of Grey to read by Polonius, and sits on the bike that spins around the backdrops as she does so; her excitement over the contents of the book eventually result in the entire set being pulled down and three actors manically attempting to put it back together before Hamlet’s speech is finished.

This is not a production to see if you’re looking for a serious version of Hamlet. They don’t explore every bit of meaning and nuance in the text and give it the reverential treatment usually afforded to the play. Many large chunks of text are cut to keep the show to a reasonable length, both for a Fringe and an outdoor show, leaving it feeling rather choppy and slightly awkward at points. There are many other productions of Hamlet available readily, where one can debate every decision made by the actors and director. But for pure fun and silliness, and a very different, original take on this tragedy, be sure to see the Handlebards.

Published