Hamlet’s appeal endures and it’s still common to see versions of the play at arts festivals, but it’s rare to see a version as compelling as this. Obviously truncated to fit into a one-hour fringe slot, it’s fascinating to see a script that doesn’t suffer one whit from the necessary deep cuts. The play is still the thing, but Sam Blythe’s version offers an alternative view: what if Hamlet’s demise into madness isn’t a ruse, a device to expose the new king who’s replaced his murdered father on the throne and in his mother’s bed? Blythe’s slow burn turns an unflinching spotlight on a mania that seems just a little bit too convincing, at least from where we’re sitting.

Blythe doesn’t put a foot wrong. A clown-inspired opening sequence is beguiling, his mastery of pace and language is complete, his very fingertips dance and move to shape the characters he conjures. Wisely, most of the script is built around Hamlet’s monologues; relatively few other characters appear, so you don’t see an actor awkwardly resorting to hats and wigs to denote changes of character. Instead, there’s a red nose (that classic symbol of clowning, that also seems designed to misdirect our assessment of the Dane’s mental state), a few accents and Blythe’s enthralling physicality to show changes in pace, mood and people. The real miracle though? This play’s over four hundred years old; in Blythe’s hands it fees raw, relevant and freshly made. In other words, a triumph. 

Sam Blythe: Method In My Madness (A One-Man Hamlet), The Courtyard Of Curiosities At The Migration Museum, until Sunday 2 March, 6.50pm.