“To See or Not To See. That is no question.”

‘Waiting for Hamlet.’ Tabard Theatre, Bath Road, London W4

🍷🍷🍷🍷 🍷 – 5 out of 5 glasses of mead, (Watch out for the pearl in the cup!)

‘Waiting for Hamlet’ is a comedy about a tragedy, and a love letter to arguably the greatest play ever written.

It tells the backstory to Hamlet – a prequel to Shakespeare’s play that imagines the Old King arriving in the afterlife, where he meets his old court jester, Yorick, who has already been there (“Where?” “Nowhere. We are nowhere!”) for over twenty years. But the King is not happy. He’s been poisoned. Murder most foul. He needs to go back and exact revenge.

Now only Yorick can stop dead King Hamlet destroying everything and everyone he loves. So what follows is a battle of wits between two fools – and only one of them knows he’s a fool.

Written by David Visick, Waiting for Hamlet is a very clever play and the winner of the Kenneth Branagh New Drama Writing Award 2018. It manages to encompass universal themes like the nature of power and privilege – “We can’t have Fools running the country,” quotes the King – hierarchy and of how states are governed, not to mention existence itself. It is also simultaneously commenting on the specifics of Shakespeare’s play: about Claudius and Gertrude and their probable ongoing sexual relationship that led up to Old Hamlet’s murder. There are shades of Becket here and Visick’s alliteration is great fun too!

The chief delight though, are the performances. In Tim Marriott (always remembered for his role of Gavin in British sit com ‘The Brittas Empire’) and Nicholas Collett (a former RSC performer) we have two brilliant actors at the top of their game. The comedy of the opening scene with masque work and Hamlet’s death are a joy to behold! And it is obvious that having worked with this play for a while, both actors are having a ball too… which is also a joy to behold!

And don’t worry if you don’t know the original Hamlet. Although there a quite a few ‘Hamlet’ in jokes, the play stands on it’s own. And at just over 70 minutes, there’s plenty of time to talk about it all in the bar afterwards.

So get to the Tabard if you can. (Also check out the new carpet in the auditorium. Well done, Pat. Another work of art!)

The play’s the thing!