Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Hamlet: Prince of Sweden
Nike Redding and Tom Corradini
Genre: Clown, European Theatre, Physical Theatre
Venue: Teatro Fisico
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Two actors spent months preparing a sumptuous premiere of Hamlet, but an accident has side-lined the rest of the cast on opening night. Refusing to cancel the play, the pair hurl themselves into the lion’s den, attempting to perform Shakespeare’s most complex tragedy using nothing but their bodies and sheer desperation. What follows is a high-octane, physical theatre nightmare – a chaotic deconstruction that transforms the world’s greatest tragedy into a comedy that feels dangerously, thrillingly alive.
Review
An old-fashioned black telephone, one stretching clown diligently doing his warm up vocals, another furtive behind him and pulling silly faces. Welcome to Hamlet: Prince of Sweden where Lecoq clowning takes on Shakespeare tragedy, where jokes about Scandinavian countries will be made, where the fourth wall will be drawn out for you in perfect detail and then comprehensively broken.
It is all made up. In sixty minutes, Hamlet: Prince of Sweden destroys all it builds, in a variety of ways. But the show must go on. The two are in a rehearsal room, their Boss on the other end of the telephone with bad news and the instruction to continue. Nike Redding and Tom Corradini are a lovely double act. Redding springy and positive, Corradini more uncertain, by turns surly and innocent. In the roles of lead actor and understudy they play off each other splendidly- with endless energy to give, their sense of what is human ever present. And there is Shakespeare verse. Not content to be bringing out some of the more famous parts of Hamlet, the Tempest, Measure for Measure, and Romeo and Juliet (‘a much happier story’) also get a mention.
In a comment on the myriad of ways Shakespeare is performed, the show runs through genres and performance styles (now comes the supernatural, would the next scene be best in the manner of Mel Gibson or Stanislavsky?). Twists, turns, and complications intersperse between Shakespeare soliloquies in recognition of the mammoth content within the play. It also uses as an underpinning theme the long history of actors suffering for their art performing Hamlet. In between To Be’s and What a Piece of Work is a Man, it is very funny. Corradini announces they must think laterally whilst shuffling sideways the length of a stage like a crab. The pair decide a Viking warrior-style Hamlet is what’s needed now their old plan is moot and immediately enact it, Redding ponders the lack of skull prop and arrives, eventually, at the only conclusion.
I would quibble that you cannot wonder what is in a bag and then not show the audience inside, and declaring themselves without props undercuts the strength of an otherwise lovely bit of puppetry. This is a showcase for what clowning can do, what two actors bouncing from a famous text, each other, and a world of their own making, can do. The deconstruction (and destruction) eventually leaves what is there hanging tenuously but stops short of destroying it all, I would like it to throw its weight more decisively one way or another. I would also love a take on women that sends up the male bitterness of Hamlet rather than stop at demonstrating it. At times I see invention give way to tradition. It holds you to the end, however, there is always one more fresh idea in this play.
Corradini’s Teatro Fisico is dedicated exclusively to physical theatre in the Lecoq tradition and a debut venue this year within the lovely Fruitmarket Gallery – a year round exhibition space, cafe, and bookshop. This hidden gem is a wee bit too hidden! A larger poster with showtimes and arrows to point punters on their way once inside the building would help a lot. Currently, you could be eating, drinking, or browsing metres away from the studio and have no idea it was there. More people should get to see this show. It is energetic, refreshing, and joyful. And there’s good Shakespeare in it too.
