Elsinore is a secure psychiatric institution (a prison of buzzers and clanging metal doors, entered via convoluted corridors) where Sally Dexter’s nervy, clingy Gertrude fusses round the man in charge (James Clyde’s sharp-suited Claudius) as he slips her her medication.
Vinette Robinson’s touching Ophelia dispenses pills, not herbs, as she, too, loses track of reality and, although not all the directorial innovations pay off, Sheen’s volatile Hamlet is mesmerizing in his madness.
Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ
Tube: Southwark / Waterloo
Until January 21
£10 – £29.50
youngvic.org
