Hamlet House of Horror

Hamlet House of Horror, Chris Barton's re-envisioning of the Danish drama, fuses Shakespeare's first quarto of the play with a mishmash of toe-tapping music hall numbers, vaudeville-cum-Adams Family costuming and unexpected 21st-century twists aplenty.

The show's real strength is in Barton's ingenuity. The “get thee to a nunnery” confrontation between Hamlet and Ofelia [sic] is imaginatively reinvented as a frantic back-and-forth SMS conversation. A single electric torch and a heavily-hazed stage create a low-tech lightshow through which the ghost's bestowing of Hamlet's destiny is lent a genuinely haunting eeriness. Both are brilliantly inspired and well-executed set pieces. The most outstanding performer is the ghost of Hamlet's dead father, played by Max Barton: the ever-present spectre rather steals the show as both a vibrant, sinister character and the multi-talented leader of the Horror House Band, turning his hand to multiple instruments and bringing effortless musical coherence to the show.

Despite the ingeniously creative direction and many talented performances, the show doesn't always hit the mark. Some individuals in the cast underwhelm–thanks to a lack of focus in chorus numbers, a few weak singing voices and some slightly wooden acting. The young company are not entirely polished–and neither is the entire show itself. Some scenes, like Hamlet's final fight scene with Laertes, seem relatively uninspired and fall a tad flat. Still, any lovers of the Bard that are willing to forgive these shortcomings will find Hamlet House of Horrors an unholy treat.