The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan @ The Festival Theatre

It's fascinating to experience such a well known story as Hamlet though such a completely different set of theatrical conventions. Rather than the acting emphasising psychological interpretation, or music trying to follow each subtlety of mood, Prince Zi Dan creates the musical accompaniment by using set tune families, and the performances are based on the four expressive means of Chinese Opera: singing, speaking, acting and fighting; each with their own non-Western performance conventions.

The results can be unexpected: with quite jolly tunes for serious subjects, slapstick comedy during the ghost and murder scenes, and athletic posing and formal dancing at times of the greatest tension. It makes you realise how strange the Western conventions of opera and musical must look to an outsider.

The strangeness isn't a bar to following the story however; the interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet is coherently told, concentrating on Hamlet's sexual obsessions and clearly delineating the story events. The performances throughout are bold and energetic. The acrobatic ability of Zhu Heji (playing the equivalent of Polonius) is astounding and received extra audience applause.

It's great to see the Festival consistently expanding the boundaries of the 'International' part of their remit. But why have I given three stars? It's not a reflection on the production or the performers, but as a reality check. I don't see how the average Westerner (even if having researched the traditions) can have had enough contact with the form to have a five-star aesthetic experience. Though, after this energetic Prince Zi Dan, there may be several who are inspired to start on the path to such wisdom.