Let me preface this by saying that I've both performed in and have directed several Shakespearean shows. Several of which were for Siege, prior to the pandemic.

I don't pull my punches when it comes to critique and have no intention of doing so now, Hamlet is a show that I have no intention of directing. It's a full on trauma dump from the bard, having been written post plague (Something I think we have a near unique appreciation for) after his son, Hamnet, passed from said plague (something I hope no-one reading this can empathize with). It's an unforgiving cathartic, emotional offload that is fairly overrated and uses tropes that the bard had already made good use of. Female character that acts as a moral compass to the lead? Let's have her go mad and kill her off stage. Worked for Macbeth. Antagonistic queen? Let's have her drink poison and die before the lead. Worked in Titus.

Despite being one of his more popular plays, his longest, and containing some truly superb moments of writing; it is not his best piece. I say this as a true fan of his work.

With this in mind, I attended the performance purely out of support for the company and some friends that were in it.

With this rant about my dislike of the play out of the way, I am so pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Siege's interpretation of the play.

Having cut it down to roughly two hours, it ran very smoothly. Die hard fans may not agree, but the cuts didn't detract from the overall story and left me wanting more. Like watching the theatrical cut of Lord of the Rings, knowing there was an extended edition.

Craig Finlay is a staple of Oxford's am-dram circuit and witnessing him in this role, it's clear why. gone is the whiny teenage angst that's too often played in the role. Here is a man deserving of the crown by birthright, yet denied due to reasons very plainly played on by these players. Hamlet seems entirely unhinged. At times it seemed as though he was the true antagonist. Not due to his vengeful machinations, but rather due to the fear he strikes in those closest to him due to his clear mental illness. Finlay played this in such a way that I spent most of the play fearing for the characters that I should have perceived as the clear, and deserving, villains.

When discussing local anchors within the theatrical community, it's impossible to neglect the contributions of Collin Burnie. You would struggle to find an actor within Oxford's am dram circle that hasn't worked with this living legend. His natural gravitas added support to all those who had the honour of sharing the stage with him.

I could honestly rave about the entire cast. as there wasn't a single weak link. Even the smaller roles performed in such a way that you could tell they put in the same amount of work as the leads. Special shout out to Rebecca Velickovic, who not only played a very sympathetic Ophelia, but also seamlessly multi rolled into several other characters. And who could forget Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who perfectly added humour to the proceedings, even in the moments where they had no dialogue, without detracting from the leads. An act that is far from simple.

My only critique was Horatio wearing sunglasses at night, which is just me being especially pernickety.

I'll be seeing the show again this week and I cannot recommend it enough to those of you that have read this far.

For my final remark, I must give dues to the show's director and cast member Beth Burns, who has done an exemplary job of converting me to a fan of what I had considered the bard's most overrated piece of work.