Hamstrung
★★★★☆ Method in’t
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33): Wed 31 Jul – Mon 26 Aug 2024
Review by Rebecca Mahar
“A fellow of infinite jest,” is how Shakespeare introduced deceased court jester Yorick; but the Yorick of George Rennie’s Hamstrung is a being as existential as the appearance of his skull at a pivotal moment in Hamlet’s crisis deserves.
Summoned to the stage by an audience member opening an envelope to read Hamlet’s opening line “Who’s there?”, Rennie appears in a burst of inspiration— literally, he takes in a dramatic breath that brings him to tip-toe as Yorick arrives, not entirely sure where he is or what he’s supposed to do, but ready to entertain.
George Rennie in Hamstrung. Pic: Rennie
It quickly becomes clear that Yorick does not realise he is dead, and those familiar with Hamstrung’s source text become the bearers of that dramatic irony.
Rennie pops in and out of the venue’s entrance for various reasons throughout the show, each time accompanied with a sound effect and when Yorick return, it is to relate what he saw while outside. Much more time has always passed for him than for the audience, and it transpires that he is spying on glimpses of the events of Hamlet. While we know that Yorick is a ghost, it doesn’t fully dawn on him until he is inevitably confronted with his own bones.
all humanity
As a character that appears only once in Hamlet, and dead, there isn’t a lot of Yorick to work with. But Rennie, as performer and writer, under the direction of Lisa Millar, creates a full picture of the jester, who he might have been behind the gibes and gambols, and how he might have come to the old king’s court to carry young Hamlet on his back.
Part comedy, part tragedy, all humanity, Hamstrung meditates on the nature of immortality, of love, of the cyclical nature of man’s hubris, and how there are always those whose true stories will never be told.
Though the story cannot be said to end on an uplifting note, it does give the audience hope that as he wanders the afterlife, Yorick will once again find “the flame held warm within the song— the joy in the make-believe.”
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Pleasance Courtyard (Baby Grand), 60 Pleasance EH8 9TJ (Venue 33)
Wednesday 31 July – Monday 26 August 2024
Daily (not 14): 11.30 am
Details and tickets at: Book here
Website: www.georgemrennie.co.uk
Facebook: @XXX
Instagram: @hamstrung_play
X: @Hamstrung_Play
ENDS
