Review: ADELAIDE FRINGE 2016: HALF HOUR HAMLET Is An Hilarious Retelling Of A Tragedy

Reviewed by Christine Pyman, Tuesday 1st March 2016

This shorthand Shakespeare on speed is a delight from the beginning, " My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen", to the breathless end. Half Hour Hamlet, developed by the writer, Jeff McLane, is an early evening performance at the Producers Hotel, in the Producers Garden, and is also suitable for children.

Actor extraordinaire, Patrick Hercamp, takes his audience on a whirlwind exposé of the tragedy of Hamlet, utilising essential audience participation in the style of the Globe Theatre so that we experience the story in a manner with which audiences of the time would have been familiar. This approach still works four hundred years later, with sly references to popular culture and catcalling de rigour.

Hercamp uses his brilliant body language to the maximum and, together with rapid voice and facial expression changes, takes us on an emotional roller coaster for this frantically funny half-hour.

If you wish to experience an updated understanding of Shakespeare, with laughter throughout, don't miss this sensational show.

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