Hamlet at National Theatre

Last Updated on October 3, 2025

A charming production of Hamlet surprisingly lacking in tragedy

3.0 out of 5.0 stars

Hamlet can be fun. But can it be tragic at the same time? While this latest production at the National Theatre proves the former, it fails to prove the latter. There are laughs throughout and the audience is charmed by the actors’ frequent engagement with it, but the cost – deaths that lack impact, deeper meaning harder to find – might be too great.

Hiran Abeysekera (The Father and the Assassin, War Horse) plays a cheeky and mischievous Hamlet, in cahoots with the audience as he plans his obligatory revenge. He is a modern prince – rotating between Nike shoes and high heeled boots, carrying Louis Vuitton bags, and wearing painted nails, a hooped earring and a beanie. He oscillates between stroppy teenager and cunning rogue, immature but seductive.

Abeysekera is a funny and relatable Hamlet, and he brings a fresh energy to the role. He has spoken about how he sees Hamlet as something of a stand-up comedian, and he uses this interpretation to his advantage. He has a relationship with the audience that allows him to deliver lines with a satisfying, metaphorical wink. His soliloquies feel like he is speaking directly to us.

The flip side is that his performance regularly feels tongue-in-cheek, the priority falling on the comic side of his character’s childishness rather than on the side of his genuine grief and existentialist angst. Abeysekera’s Hamlet is the most Gen Z of nihilists: faced with devastating circumstances, he chooses to take none of it particularly seriously.

Prioritising comedy over tragedy is a choice that defines the rest of the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are played entirely for laughs, Polonius almost entirely. The players are a comedic caricature of an amateur dramatics society, although Siobhán Redmond’s star turn in the small role of First Player is one of the most memorable of the whole production. Those who play it straight – Alistair Petrie (Time and the Conways, Henry IV Parts I and II) as Claudius and Tom Glenister (Dear Octopus, Dear England) as Laertes, in particular – feel oddly out of place.

Robert Hastie’s (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Chariots of Fire) direction is creative in how it plays with the form of the soliloquy – using dramatic music and lighting to remove a character from the rest of the action, or having cast members temporarily freeze while a speech is delivered – but again it risks undermining the tragedy. In a scene that takes directly from Fleabag’s playing with the fourth wall, Polonius makes asides to the audience as he assesses Hamlet’s madness, Hamlet growing increasingly baffled as to whom he is talking. It is a funny and unique choice, but Fleabag manages to balance comedy and pathos with more skill.

The stand out performance is Francesca Mills (All of Us, A Pacifist’s Guide) as Ophelia, so much so that she carries almost the entire emotional weight of the play on her shoulders. One is genuinely distraught when she is announced dead, partly because of the sympathy her acting inspires and partly because it means that she won’t be seen again on stage. She is endlessly energetic, stealing every scene in which she appears. She embodies what this production could have been – a fine balance between levity and existential dread.

Hamlet at the National Theatre is new, exciting, and fun. But in being so, it sacrifices some of the philosophy and tragedy of Shakespeare’s most popular play.

Hamlet at the National Theatre runs from 2nd October until 22nd November.

National Theatre

Upper Ground,
South Bank,
London SE1 9PX

Looking for something different? We also recommend The Lady from the Sea, showing at The Bridge Theatre