Scandi noir!

Hamlet The nod to ‘Scandi noir’ dramas in the patterned Fair Isle jumpers and Edvard Munch in the surreal faceless fencing masks are both playful and disturbing.  Jonathan Slinger’s Hamlet is unmanned by his indecision before unleashing a terrifying anger that left the audience gasping. Jonathan Slinger plays the Dane with an amazing intensity and power.  Pippa Nixon’s Ophelia is full of pathos and nuance. Her father, played by Robin Soans, is a both pedantic and dominating figure but Soans evinces sympathy for Polonius as he expresses concern and tenderness for his children, making his murder all the more horrific.   Charlotte Cornwell as Gertrude and Greg Hicks as Claudius are convincingly brittle and febrile as they try to shore up a corrupted monarchy and marriage.