Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet
★★★★☆ Unpretentious
The Queen’s Hall: Fri 19 Sept 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Suzy Eddie Izzard brings her solo version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to The Queen’s Hall for one night only on the UK leg of its world tour.
This is Shakespeare for the people, not the elites says Izzard, introducing the show. It will be without the “highfalutin” trappings and attitudes that often come attached to Shakespeare’s words. And she is good to her word as she performs, with great understanding, the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, who suspects his uncle, now stepfather, of fratricide.
Eddie Izzard performing Hamlet at the Riverside Studios in 2024. Pic: Amanda Searle.
The adaptation by Mark Izzard, directed by Selina Cadell, seeks to retain the essence of Shakespeare’s play and language (with a few small changes). It boils the story down to a couple hours and a form that is sensible whether an audience is familiar with the plot of Hamlet or not.
Izzard as arguably best known for her stand-up comedy, though she’s also had a strong acting career, and points this out: she began as a street performer in popular entertainment, as many actors in Shakespeare’s time would have, and never went to drama school.
Izzard launches into the show proper with a classic drama school move: turning upstage to prepare.
When she turns, however, it is with an immediate transformation into the world of the play: silence, but for the tension of her breathing, the physical tautness of Barnardo the sentinel, strung out until at last she cries “Who’s there!” and the narrative begins.
a strong opening
It’s a strong opening, establishing the focus on breath, physical work, and mime that will continue throughout the play. Izzard remains alone on stage throughout, with neither props nor other actors to work against, only her imagination and the onlooking crowd, left visible under house lights.
From the outset Izzard establishes simple conventions for flitting from character to character: slightly different voices, distinct movement choices (with movement direction by Didi Hopkins), turning back and forth to face each invisible character as she carries on conversations with herself.
For the most part, Izzard’s character work is excellent, and she draws out the humour inherent in the script without hitting the audience over the head with it. Even when Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear as hand puppets, the hilarity of this choice does not feel bolted-on.
In fact, once the convention is established, Izzard’s interactions with the pair become some of the most fascinating of the show; even though these moments utilise three parts of one person, it is easy to believe that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have trotted on and then trot away at the end of the conversation as Izzard’s hands dismiss them.
understated and rapid
There are places where the one-person embodiment of the show wears a bit thin, and the characterisations become a little muddled. The death of the courtier Polonius, and the following scene with Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, are understated and rapid, not as fully fleshed as most of the rest of the play. The impact the latter scene requires is lacking.
The climactic duel between Hamlet and Polonius’s son, Laertes, is beautifully acted. However, Izzard’s fight work (choreographed by the redoubtable J. Allen Suddeth) is somewhat sloppy. She allows the tension to drop as she muddles through the fight against her invisible selves, with too much silence and pause.
While there are some weaknesses in the production, Izzard’s understanding of Hamlet saturates her performance. She deals with Shakespeare’s verse entirely naturally, with faith to the metre and its subtleties: suiting, as Hamlet exhorts the travelling players before their play-within-the-play, the action to the word and the word to the action.
radically traditional
With no set, minimal and unchanging lighting, and the audience in view, Izzard succeeds in revitalising Hamlet through a radically traditional and transformative approach.
Unquestionably a dramatic masterpiece, full of ethical dilemma and psychological torment, Hamlet tends to attract pretension. Izzard’s version flies in the face of the very concept, bringing Shakespeare back, as she hopes, to the people.
Running time: Two hours and twenty minutes with one interval
The Queen’s Hall, 85-89 Clerk St. EH8 9JG
Friday 19 September 2025
One performance: 8pm
Details of the full tour are here: www.eddieizzardhamlet.com
ENDS
The Queen’s Hall, Review, Rebecca Mahar, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Hamlet, Mark Izzard, Selina Cadell, Didi Hopkins, J. Allen Suddeth, Shakespeare, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Izzard’ Hamlet, Theatre,
