“To be or not to be. That is the question.” Arguably one of the most quoted lines in all of Shakespeare, Hamlet may be the playwright’s most notorious tragedy. Mention his name and we picture the young prince holding poor Yorick’s skull, or the play-within-a-play that haunts GCSE flashbacks. Yet, as beloved and famous as it may be, many now see it as outdated– even misogynistic. A Two Woman Hamlet clearly recognises these problems and tackles them head-on, with two performers sharing the weight of this mammoth play and injecting it with fresh energy.
A Two Woman Hamlet is fun, fast-paced, and fearlessly cut down, using Shakespeare’s original text but stripping away hours of runtime. Directed by Nora J. Williams and written by Mara Sherman in 2018, the piece digs for new nuances in the characters and relationships, especially giving Ophelia an agency and sense of personhood which is often erased in traditional productions– and in the text itself. Where the original sprawls across thirty-two characters and two to four hours (or four-and-a-half if you’re a true masochist), here Sharmila Peake (Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras, Gertrude, Ophelia, etc.) and Lolly Taylor (Horatio, Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Gertrude, etc.) take on every role between them with surprising success.
The performers tackle the character overload with wit and precision. The speed with which they switch characters works well: each character has a signature costume piece tossed over plain white tops and black trousers, instantly signalling the change. These items become characters in their own right– if a prop is held beside an actor, that character is “present” in the scene, even if no one’s wearing it. Quick swaps keep the pace snappy, and clever solutions– like having the king’s ghost possess Horatio or Gertrude to avoid a costume change– keep things flowing. One of the funniest touches is the “Exeunt box,” a graveyard for dead or otherwise discarded characters; watching Polonius’s cane get unceremoniously dumped there was hilarious.
The best thing about the show is how it fleshes out the characters orbiting Hamlet. Ophelia’s relationships with Laertes and Hamlet, in particular, are endearing and grounded in humanity. By “playing against the text” at times, the pair create dynamics that feel fresh– a Hamlet and Ophelia who banter, conspire to trick Polonius and Claudius, flirt, and genuinely seem to adore each other. But this freshness comes at a cost. It undercuts Hamlet’s descent into madness and his unraveling; I never truly believed he was contemplating suicide, nor that he was the brooding, contemplative figure we usually see. Peake’s Hamlet is manic, larger-than-life, and quick to pivot from flashes of obsession to playful flirtation, making the meditations on death and revenge feel somewhat hollow. This choice retains the new Ophelia dynamic, but it inevitably sacrifices some of the play’s psychological depth.
The other drawback is the lack of tension. Granted, this isn’t trying to be a classic tragedy. It’s self-aware, a little ridiculous, and carried entirely by two performers. With constant role-switching, a bunny Guildenstern, and Peake sword-fighting herself as both Laertes and Hamlet, emotional gravitas was never the goal. Still, the absence of tension lowers the stakes, leaving you unable to fully lose yourself in the story. Instead, it feels like watching two women perform Hamlet rather than experiencing Hamlet itself. The focus is on the performance, not the tale.
Overall, A Two Woman Hamlet is an inventive, enjoyable distillation of the original. The performances are sharp, the character-switching is handled with style, and it’s an impressive feat to tell the whole tale in just 75 minutes. Not a definitive Hamlet—but certainly a good night out.
A Two Woman Hamlet is playing at the Old Red Lion Theatre and Bar until August 14th at 6:30 pm. It is part of the Camden Fringe. Get tickets here.