One of the funniest – and shortest – shows at this year’s Adelaide Fringe, this Peter-Goers-directed comedy is great, goofy fun, and could even have made gloomy old Bill The Shake smile.
Goers (in a satin dressing-gown) is the Narrator who keeps getting the introduction wrong (no, this isn’t Rocky Horror!), while a six-person cast play multiple roles, and obviously enjoy them all hugely.
Christopher Cordeaux is initially a serious and brooding Hamlet, but later he camps it up wonderfully, and Ariel Dzino joyously flings herself about as Ophelia (and others). Also on hand are Brian Wellington as a pompously amusing Claudius, and Lyn Wilson matching him as Gertrude (“I am poison-ned!”), while actor/critic David O’Brien is a Ghost who has trouble folding his sheet, and Kym Mackenzie (also in the Fringe’s Kym’s Overall Extravaganza Showcase – Volume 2) is Polonius, giggling as he ‘hides’ behind the ‘arras’.
It’s semi-improvised silliness, but still very funny, and there’s a final, quick encore where audience members are grabbed to contribute hammy death scenes. So watch out!
And, despite the title, it’s really more Hamlet In 19 Or 20 Minutes, but no matter, because the play’s the thing!
Hamlet in 15 minutes
until Sunday March 17
Holden Street Theatres
