EDINBURGH 2010: BWW Reviews: HAMLET! THE MUSICAL (Pleasance Courtyard)

Nine years after its original Edinburgh run, this less-than-serious take on Shakespearean tragedy returns to the Pleasance Courtyard and is just as funny as ever.

Hamlet! The Musical has probably the strongest cast of any musical in Edinburgh - all six members (Phil Cole, Virge Gilchrist, Mark Inscoe, Stephen Webb, Jess Robinson and Jack Shalloo) have impressive pedigree and their backgrounds are evident throughout this slick and classy show, backed by a large live band.

One can only hope that in years to come, GCSE students all over the UK will be revising with the aid of this show and claiming in their exam that Laertes fancied himself as a matador, that the King was an Elvis impersonator, and everyone died thanks to poisoned fish.

To see or not to see? See it, obviously.