There is an element of raw elegance incorporated into the set of Lyndsey Turner’s masterful directorship of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, Hamlet, shown in cinemas nationwide and internationally throughout October and reaching audiences as far as Sydney, Australia.

The visual metaphor created in Turner’s mind, and then translated onto the stage, is undeniably exhilarating and beautiful. By the tale’s dramatic close, the cavernous theatrical space at the Barbican Theatre, London, is filled with symbolic shards of paper ash in heaped mountains, engulfing the once open and palatial set-space of Hamlet’s childhood home. Clearly a visual metaphor for the innumerable deaths in the play, as well as the disintegration of the socially revered throughout the unfolding of the plot, Turner executes this feat of sheer brilliance as the action culminates in a darkened stage, indisputably reminiscent of Hamlet’s own fragmented state of mind immediately prior to his untimely demise.

The set created by the production team at the Barbican is in itself a carefully constructed character, adding as much to the narrative, albeit silently, as any of the voiced cast members. Over the course of the three-hour epic, the stage transforms from a courtly and palatial suite into a ghostly skeleton of its former glory, windswept and blackened, covered in dust and whispers of death. In doing so, there is a clever, yet subtle, parallel with Shakespeare’s plot, as Hamlet disintegrates further into madness before finally losing his battle with life, and dying centre-stage at the end.

The staging was also reflective and intensely emotional in relation to the narrative structure. Whether it was the haunting image of the ash-filled piano at the close, which had once been host to Ophelia’s moments of mesmerising harmony but was now discarded and broken, or the large double doors at the back of the stage, which had once led into what one imagined as a magnificent hallway, but which now led up and over a heap of dust toward a faintly glimmering sliver of staged moonlight. There was no sense of lack in the set creation, emphasising the beauty and tragedy encompassed in the play, as if to suggest that Hamlet’s childhood home was also a living, breathing character alongside its inhabitants.

Most strikingly, the house space entertained the depiction of Hamlet and Horatio in the graveyard, comically toying with notions of mortality whilst holding the skull of Yorick, a former jester of Hamlet’s childhood. In one scene, the light hovered only over the gravediggers as it transpired that they were digging a grave for Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover, who had apparently committed suicide. This pivotal point was highlighted compellingly through the set space, not only demonstrating Hamlet’s self-diagnosed isolation and madness, but also alluding to the harsh reality of the loneliness and vicissitude of death.

In short, Turner’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic was nothing short of outstanding. From the well-crafted visual set, to the choice of actors within the company, there is little wonder that the production was the fastest-selling in London’s theatre history, and that the demand to see it grows and continues to be kept alive through reviews and recommendations, each word spoken being as congratulatory and taken aback as the last.

Benedict Cumberbatch does a superb job in the titular role, fulfilling not only an emotionally and mentally demanding characterisation, dealing with the turbulence projected onto the character by Shakespeare, but also finely sustaining the intense physical demands that playing such a role asks for. As the play moves forward, Cumberbatch only seems to snatch brief moments of restorative action amidst the running, jumping, general busy-bodying and highly-charged depictions of passionate feeling or upset.

There is no doubt in my mind that anyone who has experienced a night watching Cumberbatch in Hamlet will not cease to remember the unmitigated euphoria of having contemplated such a feat of theatrical glory. From those dynamic opening moments to the heart-wrenching close, Turner directs a masterpiece of epic proportions, and one that still sends shivers down my spine, even as I write about it a week later.

Hamlet is playing at cinemas nationwide.