Hamlet

The Helix, DCU, Dublin

Until Apr 8 18-25 01-7007000 thehelix.ie

To stage, or not to stage, that is the question. In sloppier iambs, it is the issue faced by Second Age when it comes to Hamlet, which it already produced last year. Taking its repertoire straight from the Leaving Certificate syllabus, the company has never been troubled

by over-familiarity. Nonetheless, the direly unimaginative repetition of this programming decision seems geared towards rote learning and an attendance as obligatory as a roll call.

There are some saving graces. This is a brand new production of a play that remains, to some extent, an unsolved riddle. A new director (the impressive and imaginative Aoife Spillane Hinks) is also working with a new design and a new cast on a play where there’s always something new to find.

This year's Prince is Conor Madden (left), for instance, who became the first person ever to be democratically elected to the Danish throne in Pan Pan's brilliant The Rehearsal: Playing the Danelast year, swept to procrastinating power by an audience vote.

An astonishing physical performer with tremendous heart, Madden may not have been allowed to inhabit the Wittenberg graduate fully beneath Pan Pan’s layers of concept and comment. Now, here’s his chance. But is Second Age’s most reliable audience looking for inspiration or simple illustration? That’s another question.

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