Review: A TWO WOMAN HAMLET, Greenside @Nicolson Square

At its full script length, Hamlet runs for four hours or so on stage. Most productions choose to have some of Shakespeare's epithets and metaphors hit the cutting room floor to make it around three. However... this is the Edinburgh Fringe; home to the gorgeous, gorgeous one-hour performance. Enter Hannah Sweet and Nicola Collett and their A Two Woman Hamlet, an adaptation that is one part Hamlet, three parts cutting room floor.

As a show, it's very 'Fringe', and two talented women playing devil-may-care with our old Shakey-P is right up this reviewer's street. The performers deliver an impossibly-pacy performance, beginning at the speed of light and keeping their foot on the pedal until the hour is over. Characters are denoted using a single prop (Ophelia, a blue scarf; Hamlet, a very fetching waistcoat). Sweet and Collett embody each character distinctively and often with hilarity. Sweet's Gravedigger is a highlight, as is Collett's fight with herself as both Hamlet and Laertes at once. Wonderful.

The concept is strong, but some might find the speediness a little disorientating. Some of Hamlet's greatest hits (to be or not to be...) suffer a little without some gentler handling despite Collett's fiercely emotional and complex portrayal.

However, whether you're a bard fan or not, A Two Woman Hamlet is an exhilarating hour of theatre.

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