SPACE HAMLET
Cockpit Theatre
★★★★★
“very funny and silly, yet it is emotionally captivating”
The Danish court settled on yet another new planet, but the family dramas migrated with them. King Ham (Shem Jacobs) has been murdered. His brother Claudius has taken his widow and the throne. With a family like this, who wouldn’t have an identity crisis?
This is space opera in the literal sense. Dan Sturman’s glam rock score, with a strong nod to Bowie, carries the story, and every song moves the plot forward. Sturman and R.C. Staab share the lyrics and the book, keeping Shakespeare’s structure and changing almost everything else. Polonius is a puppet. Guildenstern is a robot. The script is heavy with Viking references. The score is heavy with musical theatre history. For example, when Hamlet travels back to the old planet, the cheerful, scruffy ensemble are reminiscent of the innkeeper Thénardier and his customers in Les Misérables: too busy scraping a living to be interested in the tragedy playing out among their rulers.
The eight actor-musicians play, sing and puppeteer a dizzying array of parts. They are all very talented. Nic Gordon plays Hamlet, opposite Lucas Fox as Claudius and Lauren Bryant as Gertrude, with Elle Overvoorde as Laertes, Lewis Aves as Fortinbras and Amy Beven as Horatio and others. Ruby Bardwell-Dix’s Ophelia is no drifting flower girl: this one ends up impaling Gertrude.
The creative team blend acting, puppetry and multi-media into a brilliant, seamless whole. The charming, loopy and technically skilful puppetry is directed by April Nash (who also directs the show) and Lottie Johnson. Nash and Carole Beatty’s choreography is sparse but effective. Fight direction by Alex Green is super: axe versus sword in complicated duels that are central to the story. Music direction by Christopher Davidson and orchestrations by Acer Smith work excellently. The evening is packed full of music with clever lyrics enunciated clearly to bring the audience along for the crazy ride. Lighting and sound by Matt Cross make the whole shebang cohesive. Costumes by Jo Myers and Dan Smith are inventive, playful and one surprise after another. Sturman has a list of credits that requires its own postcode, if not an entirely new planet. As well as writing and composing the show, he co-produced. He designed and built the set, which is a cut above the sets used in most independent theatre productions. He made puppets and provided graphic designs. What an inventive mind!
There is real promise here, and it will almost certainly hit the West End at some stage. Hamlet junkies will be delighted by each nuanced reference. Newbies may be inspired to dip their toes in the original.
Space Hamlet is very funny and silly, yet it is emotionally captivating. By the end, the audience is strangely moved. This is Hamlet for the ADHD generation. Shakespeare would have loved it.
SPACE HAMLET
Cockpit Theatre
Reviewed on 23rd October 2026
by Elizabeth Botsford
Photography by Lidia Crisafulli
