★★★
Adelaide Fring. NJNG Productions. Ayers House State Dining Room. 12 Mar 2026
This much touted play by David Visick won the Kenneth Branagh Award for new drama writing at the Windsor Fringe in 2018, It was his first play, and it really is a cracker. While you don’t need to be completely au fait with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you will miss a few of the jokes if you don’t have at least a passing familiarity. If you’re acquainted with Waiting for Godot, Rosencratz and Guildenstern and the various Fool references, then you’re well on the way. And there’s a fart joke (or two) thrown in for good measure.
The two-hander is simply set and rightly so, it’s all about the text. On a sparse stage, American duo Christopher Gibbs and Mark Liebert play Hamlet the Elder (newly deceased) and Yorick, (who passed some 23 years prior) respectively. Hamlet is alarmed at finding himself in what appears to be some sort of limbo; he has not gone through to Heaven or Hell, but is not able to find his way back to the world he knows.
Yorick is a little more sanguine, and tries to explain to Hamlet the situation they find themselves in. It’s all a little difficult for Hamlet to accept, especially as it comes from a fool he has always considered to be his inferior.
It’s a canny plot line, as Visick explores class, the nature and value of democracy and the exercise of power, with the king claiming that he who wears the crown (uneasy as it may be) invariably wins the battle – it’s about the millinery, not the military, you see.
Threads are pulled from across the bard’s canon, coming together in a most colourful yarn. Gibbs and Liebert play off each other well, but the overall vibe is a little flat. There’s not really the punch or timing one would expect from a script that relies so much on wordplay, puns and repartee, and a number of the jokes just didn’t land. While it’s not to be expected that the literary references will all be recognised, it’s unusual for instance, for the central fart joke to be met with the lightest of chuckles.
The State Dining Room has been used for a number of shows this Fringe and having sat through many of them, this writer unreservedly awards the seating as the most uncomfortable to be experienced this year. It’s a good space, but please, change the chairs!
Arna Eyers-White
When: 12 to 14 Mar
Where: Ayers House State Dining Room
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
