Reviewed! Hamlet Heads or Tails …

No doubt you’ve chanced upon quite a few Hamlets in your time. There was the Mel version, with a face dramatically etched in pain by the surrounds of a craggy Scottish castle; there was the blondie Kenneth version, daggers-a-ready in the sumptuous palatial surrounds of Blenheim; and we’ve even seen Doctor Who himself give the vengeful prince a stab in the dark.

Luckily, Loud Mouth Theatre isn’t about to let you go to sleep, perchance to dream, in this here stage version. The arrant knaves themselves open the show by flipping a coin, with expressions on their faces so mad and passionate they look like they’re determining a matter of life or death.

They shout out the familiar names – Ophelia, Horatio, Claudius, Guildenstern – as they flip heads or tails. They waste no time – after all, brevity is the soul of wit – in taking on their new persona for the next two and a half hours.

It seems like madness, but there’s a method in it: each actor learns two roles and flips a coin each night to determine who they’ll play. With 12 actors, that means there are 64 potential combinations. It’s a spicy way of ensuring each performance is fresh and off-the-cuff.

Loud Mouth itself is younger than one year-old, pretty remarkable when you consider Hamlet is now approaching his 415th birthday. So it makes sense they’ll be wanting to give the old bloke a more modern look.

The stage can be described as nothing other than young and funky, with a smashed-up sedan, graffiti walls and kingly propaganda posters stuck up that beseech thou to seriously question this “incestuous” Claudius chap. It makes for a marvellous atmosphere when Hamlet’s Ghost dad comes a-wandering.

With the cast delivering strong performances, particularly from Maeve Mhairi Macgregor, who flips between Hamlet and Laertes, it’s enough to keep you intrigued until the bloody finale and you take your leave.

And that brings us to the topic of the theatre itself. Things that pop-up are cool. The element of surprise and whimsy is unbeatable with the supremely fashionable jack-in-a-box pop-up movement at the moment. Trendy boutiques and avant-garde bars are that much funkier when they take over an empty and unused space and live there for only a few days, weeks or months.

Pop-Up Theatre No. 1 is perfectly utilised for Hamlet Heads or Tails. As you walk into the foyer, you are treated to angry red spray-paint shouting “to be or not to be” off the walls, a shabby chic bar area complete with sumptuous red lounges, Persian rugs and chandeliers, and a floor lamp with discarded parking tickets used as a lampshade.
A sumptuous three-piece jazz trio fronted by a young Ella Fitzgerald type croon into the night, while whisky tastings get everyone into the mood.

The signage around the joint is brilliant. VIP seats are cordoned off with: “if you’re not very important, please don’t sit here” and the bathrooms are flagged with a: “your instincts are correct” sign. It’s a marvellous location for a pre-theatre drink or five. But be quick if you want to check it out – after Hamlet is done, so too is the pop-up, never to be seen again.

Hamlet Heads or Tails is showing at Pop-Up Theatre No.1 until Saturday, September 20. All performances at 7.30pm. Tickets $20/$25. Buy online at www.festivaltickets.net.au or at Centertainment.
Amber Wilson. Pub: Sept 13