Hamlet (an experience)
★★★★☆ Transportative
Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30): Fri 7 – Mon 17 Aug 2026.
Review by Bri Boehm
Hamlet (an experience), returns this Fringe to the Scottish Storytelling Centre, in Brite Theatre’s one-of-a-kind rendition of the Bard’s beloved tragedy that will redefine your relationship to the text.
In this experimental approach to a well-loved and well-known text, directed by Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir, audience members define the boundaries of Elsinore, embodying the roles of the players and are led through the play by Emily Carding as a curious and warm Hamlet.
Emily Carding and an audience member of Hamlet (an experience). Pic: Brite Theatre.
These players are provided with cue scripts—the style of script Shakespeare used: scripts in which each performer is only provided their own scenes and lines, as well as with the lines or actions to cue them in. Using these scripts as a touchstone, audience members take on duties of improvisation, song, and stage combat to fill out the performance.
Hamlet is the perfect choice of for such an approach: a play that blurs performance and reality, that incites questions and debate. And as the audience becomes both witness and vessel, the room swells with the spirit of the show.
This is, perhaps, the closest to a phenomenologically authentic Shakespearean performance one may experience outside of the Globe. The audience involvement levels the playing field, dissipating the modern notion of a fourth wall and resetting the power dynamics.
With agency placed into the hands of the audience, the bounds of theatre etiquette are replaced with a sense of a shared space, much like in early modern theatre, where folks could sit on the stage or shout out during performance. And the use of cue scripts, a tool so underutilized in modern theatre that most would consider them an early modern relic, opens the audience up to experiencing Shakespeare’s play in what might be a similar manner to his own players.
authentic surprise and emotion
This structure additionally begets an investment in performance, regardless of the acting skill of the people embodying the roles. The removal of pre-existing qualitative expectations opens up opportunities for moments of authentic surprise and emotion, allowing a true experience of a work many people will already know and otherwise might find predictable. And out of this arises a sense of camaraderie and collective that is rarely reached in theatre. A true feat of theatre magic.
Emily Carding is brilliant, steering the ship with such contagious confidence. Their embodiment of Hamlet is always firmly present and grounded, and their gentle, simple approach makes them equally a strong scene partner for amateur performers and a nuanced engaging performer in solo moments. It is easy, as a spectator or character, to pour oneself into their hands and trust their guiding force.
The only moment of uncertainty arises at the end of the show, which contains some retrospective storytelling to build context and narrative, though it reads slightly out of left field, potentially bursting the bubble of emotional engagement that the performance slowly builds up until that point, though not enough to undermine the beauty of the journey.
Without a doubt, Hamlet (an experience) is a must-see for fans of immersive theatre or Fringe-goers who are looking for something different to talk about for years to come.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Scottish Storytelling Centre (George Mackay Brown Library), 43-45 High St, EH1 1SR (Venue 30).
Friday 7 – Monday 17 August 2026.
Daily: 4.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Brite Theatre Instagram: @britetheater
ENDS
