Cringeworthy Shakespeare "Then all afire with me: the king’s son, Ferdinand,With hair up-staring, then like reeds, not hair,Was the first man that leaped; cried,‘Hell is empty And all the devils…
If you have ever seen Shit Faced Shakespeare where an unknown member of the cast will drink real alcohol while the rest remain sober, you would see a contemporary version of Shakespeare as a comedy designed to make you laugh. In this version of Hamlet at the beautifully recreated Shakespearean theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the idea is to show Hamlet as a psychopathic, woman hating, selfish aristocrat who tells Fortinbras to fuck off and can handle a can of spray paint.
The star of this play for me was Nadine Higgin's Sir Toby Belch. She has magnificent stage presence. I do wonder whether we are meant to like Sir Toby as much as we did? But I loved every moment she was onstage and her interaction with Maria (NadiKemp-Sayfi) was brilliant.