Hamlet is, for me at least, Shakespeare’s best play. It oozes emotion, and toys with some of life’s big questions. Capturing the text on the stage is quite a challenge, but it’s a challenge this production meets admirably.

Director Niall Wilson told the Cambridge News this week that he cast a woman in the lead role to see “how the dynamics of the piece will change”. Having a Princess of Denmark takes nothing away from the play, but nor does it add anything particularly revolutionary. What it definitely does add to the play is Sarah Livingstone’s performance, which is consistently strong throughout the frequent changes in the character. Her “To be, or not to be” is not especially interesting, though the physical aspect of the portrayal is good. She’s complemented well by Ellen Robertson’s Ophelia, whose madness is in some ways more moving, and whose entrance is cleverly inventive.

Attempts to bring out the comic aspects of the tragedy produce mixed results. Livingstone’s very good “quintessence of dust” speech is slightly spoiled by an implied joke about lesbianism at the end, while Ed Eustace’s Claudius is a little too much like a comic villain, which at times clashes with the atmosphere of the play. It is not clear whether or not the ghost of Hamlet’s father is meant to be funny, but his thrashing about like a madman is too silly to allow the moment to be as emotional as it ought to be, and the moaning voice makes it difficult to understand what he’s explaining to his daughter- the idea is good, but making it melodramatic spoils it. At the same time, where the text itself is supposed to be funny it works well, with the gravedigger scene being a particular highlight.

The stage itself is used effectively throughout, with the trapdoor in particular being employed for a range of purposes. At times, the sound interferes with the performance- in a few scenes, the soundtrack makes it almost impossible to hear what is being said. ‘Blue Monday’ at Ophelia’s funeral doesn’t seem to fit, but dancing to ‘Guilty’ by Al Bowlly after the bedroom scene does. Clever use of lighting throughout reaches its peak in the play-within-a-play, which is simply beautiful. Look forward, too, to an exciting and perfectly choreographed finale.

Certain adjustments could be made which would vastly improve the tone of the whole thing. The acting is good, though a finer balance needs to be struck between the comedic and the tragic, a tricky challenge for any production. Though it doesn’t quite fit together at times, its faults are more than made up for; taken as a whole, this is a brilliant attempt at portraying a very difficult play.