Wittenberg
With more than a nod to Tom Stoppard, American David Davalos’s knowingly entertaining comedy takes us back to Germany in 1517 where, as an already indecisive student, Hamlet (quoting freely from Shakespeare’s text) comes
under the conflicting influences of Sean Campion’s charismatic, hedonistic Dr. Faustus, lecturer in philosophy, and his unlikely friend, academic colleague and ideological sparring partner, the ascetic (and constipated) theologian Martin Luther (Andrew Frame).
Davalos’s wittily playful rearrangement of fact, fiction, literature and history is bloated with allusions and references, but its sheer inventiveness – and Christopher Haydon’s lively direction – keep the cleverness buoyantly afloat.
– Louise Kingsley
Gate Theatre, Pembridge Road W11 3HQ
020 7229 0706
Tube: Notting Hill Gate
gatetheatre.co.uk
Until October 1
£20, matinees £10
