Brisbane Reviews

With a very appropriately ‘court-themed’ background stands what can only be described as ‘the ringmaster’, donned in sparkles and armed with “tools of inebriation”.

The ‘fourth’ wall is not just broken, but obliterated with crowd participation from the get-go, and some rules of play with what is set to be an absolutely ridiculous re-telling of Hamlet (but we already know this due to it’s very apt name)!

If you (somehow foolishly) came under the pretense of watching a tragedy, you are going to be very confused. Furthermore – if you sat front-of-stage, then you are certainly at risk of the horrors of the front row: at any moment you may become part of the performance. To be (in the front row) or not to be? That is the question…

Costumes are ‘on pointe’ and with a solemn start, you could almost be tricked into thinking you were about to actually watch Hamlet. Soon you will be met with the sheer hilarity of what you now know is a band of very capable actors, poised and ready, and one of them who is chosen to be ‘tonight’s drunkard’.

Yes, they are ready and willing to recite one of history’s greatest plays – and then some! This is not your dear old Grandmother’s Hamlet, it is your drunk Uncle’s, who remembers every Monty Python episode by heart. Silly subtext and contemporary jokes doused alight in ‘Shakespearish’ themes, whisking you away to what is a very loose telling of Hamlet, after a dozen pints and a few rounds of tequila.

The true mastery here is the consistently impressive improv these actors have managed, as they desperately clutch to a dozen lines of old text as they foolishly try to stay linear. Ripping raucous giggles from audience and stage alike as the Queen of Denmark hurls an empty can across the stage, you just know the next hour is going to tickle one’s funny bone well into yonder.  

At the behest from the poor front row and the Ringmaster to “have another drink!”, the actor is topped up with ‘refreshment’ at intervals throughout the show and by the end you really can be impressed at the sheer tenacity to stay on task, or even stand upright by the end of the act.

There will be no interval, no break and no chance to catch your breath as you giggle your way through this short but punchy little comedy piece. Get thee to a Nunnery, or at least to Brisbane Powerhouse if you are truly wanting a silly giggle to keep yourself amused as we shuffle along this mortal coil.