Review from: Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh Festival Fringe; 2nd August 2025
What comes out when the English classic of classics is performed by American New York Circus Project? It seems New York Circus Project’s Hamlet is a bag of mixed candy with acting, acrobatics, dance, contortion, aerials, hand-to-hand, music and verbal comedy. It makes a refreshing replay of Hamlet which is accessible for even a Hamlet newbie.
I do need to admit that I only remember the skull and the to-bes of the famous play. Luckily I’m not alone with that. Confessions are made in the audience before the show starts:
“So what is it about?”
“Hamlet dies and it’s a big tragedy. It’s all I know.”
And that is well enough.
The performing group is collected with the same pick’n’mix candy bag idea. There are circus performers with a background in Cirque du Soleil, actors with experience in film and Broadway, and sports acrobats who have been competing in world championships level. So, a very talented candy bag. It’s also a fine decision to bring professionals from different areas of performing arts work together so they can do what they are best at.
A little about the story: Hamlet’s father is dead, and it’s soon clear he is murdered. The ghost of him is driving Hamlet into madness. Hamlet and Ophelia are lovers but the odds are not on their side. The story is told with Shakespeare’s words and the bodies of the performers.
The ghost of Hamlet’s father seems to enjoy that he doesn’t have bodily restrictions anymore while he twists himself for ethereal flow in a pyramid-shaped trapeze. The innovative prism trapeze is unique, designed by the artist himself, Arthur Morel Van Hyfte, and the movements are hence very fresh.
Ophelia (Maleah Rendon) and her brother Laertes’ (Eduardo Grillo) acrobatic fight over a letter is funny and it could’ve continued even a bit longer. When Ophelia then reads the letter, it lifts her literally to the air with a help of an aerial hoop, twisting her to knots. Later, her contortion act in water in a glass aquarium shows her painful agony well.
The ghost doesn’t leave Hamlet (Maddox Morfit Tighe) alone. It makes him literally jump on walls and be all over the place. These kind of wordplays represented through circus movements are satisfying to recognise, also giving a nod of appreciation to Shakespeare’s own love of wordplay.
The impressive hand-to-hand of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Caroline Bertorello and Kaisha Dessalines Wright) is rewarding to watch, and so is the banter the ladies have – with the required amount of swearing.
There’s also one Benny Hill type of chase through the audience, which is a well used trick to keep the audience alert but unfortunately feels a bit lazy here.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play and would take around four hours to perform in total. One can’t squeeze much of the original text into a one hour show, but the chosen parts take the story smoothly forward. Some of the quotes show that we haven’t gone too far from Shakespearean times either, with the portentious line “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go“.
The show is a interesting combination of different ways of story telling. It also leaves me wondering, how would a Hamlet be if acted only through circus arts and no words? Though the performers and the acts are well polished, the overall feeling that the show leaves is a bit clinical. I’m missing the thoughts and feelings to carry home with me. Maybe they are playing it too safe, and taking more risks would change it. Or maybe it’s Fringe fatique after three days of watching circus.
CREDITS
Cast
Maddox Morfit Tighe – Hamlet
Maleah Rendon – Ophelia
Hilary Dennis – Gertrude
Stephen Elrod – Claudius
Dylan Ingwersen – Polonius / Gravedigger
Eduardo Grillo – Laertes
Arthur Morel Van Hyfte – Ghost / Player
Guillaume Paquin – Horatio
Caroline Bertorello – Rosencrantz / Player
Kaisha Desallines Wright – Guildenstern / Player / Fortinbras
Creative Team
Sam Landa – Director, Co-choreographer
Carolyn Friedman – Theatrical Director / Dramaturg
Emma Owens – Co-producer
Nate Files – Production Design
Allie Emmerich – Stage Manager
Danielle Diniz – Co-choreographer
Angela Zhang – General Manager
Kristian Woerner – Set Designer
