A gigantic box swirls around and around, covered in majestic patterns and pictures, glowing red. The room darkens and a battlement appears, almost touching the ceiling. So starts Shakespeare's Hamlet, except that as performed by members of the Setagaya public Theatre and Hori Pro Inc it is not quite your run of the mill Hamlet. There are the momentous speeches, and an all male cast of wondrous talent, indeed everything you would expect from a top Shakespearian production. The one difference is that is performed entirely in Japanese. And it works very well. 
      All the players deserve praise, but special mention must go to Shinobu Nakamura who plays Ophelia. Renowned as the most promising onnagata (female impersonator) in Japan today, his performance is brilliant. The magic of his evocation of the feminine apart, his portrayal of the dependent daughter and sister, the rejected lover, and the madwoman, is magnificent. 
      Mansai Nomura's youthful vigour adds unpredictability to the Hamlet he portrays, and because he hurls himself into the persona of a grief ridden half- mad prince from the start, there is little room left for development either in his madness of his method. 
      Kohtaro Yoshida also deserves special mention as Claudius. He manages be the evil king while yet keeping an ounce of humanity, which adds to the believability of his role. 
      The subtitles, there to help, sometimes hinder, given the difficulty of reading and watching simultaneously. The fight choreography and stage design are breathtaking, and be themselves make the performance a must-see.
Elizabeth Shenton