Review | Hamlet at The Minerva, Chichester: 'Some fine, fine performances'

It’s always a big risk taking on what is possibly The Bard’s most well-known play; Joe Public has his ideas about How It Should Be Done and doesn’t take too kindly to interfering, busy-body directors imposing alien views on a classic text.

Joe can, however, rest easy. Mr Audibert has taken no major liberties and those he has taken sit comfortably with the text.

The thing that remains with you as you leave a performance of Hamlet is the contribution Mr S made to the English language; he didn’t just use it, he created phrases we still use, every day, in 2025. Gotta love that man.

There are some fine, fine performances here, too.

I’ve always thought Gertrude a fairly thankless part. Here, Sara Powell takes it and runs with it. She’s controlled, she’s aware and she’s eminently watchable. Her voice is rich, like syrup, and her performance admirable.

Eve Ponsonby’s Ophelia starts off as your average Ophelia, but her scenes as Ophelia reacts to her father’s death are wild and heart-wrenching and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s measured and bonkers in equal measures and a very good watch.

Sam Swann’s Horatio is nicely underplayed and his grief, at the end, tangible.

Keir Charles practically demands the play be renamed Polonius. His portrayal of Ophelia’s father is comedic joy; underplayed, for real and not for laughs, which makes it – of course! – all the funnier.

Mention must also be given to Beatie Edney whose gravedigger lifts the scene where Hamlet waxes lyrical about Yorick.

And as Hamlet himself, Giles Terera does something very interesting. I’ve always felt that Hamlet is, in many ways, a baddie. He states, quite clearly, that he will pretend to be mad, to “feign an antic disposition”, to achieve his revenge on Claudius, and this pretence leads to deaths galore. What I liked was Terera’s control in the scenes where he’s not having to demonstrate Hamlet’s insanity; I could believe Hamlet was feigning insanity to get his own ends – and I liked it. A lot.

Some of the cast could take note of Hamlet’s advice to the Players – there was an awful lot of meaningless air-sawing from some of the company – and, perhaps, some consideration should be given to a sawing of the text – at three-and-a-half hours, the running-time was a little excessive.

Until October 4.