Tarell Alvin McCraney, previously a recipient of the Evening Standard most promising playwright award, has created (with co-editor Bijan Sheibani) a 70-minute version of Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company to be performed in schools.
It presents the themes of thwarted love, bereavement and duplicity in a commendably straightforward manner.
Most of the well-known speeches survive but McCraney has deleted much of the play's "madness" scenes and its irritating comedy, including the Gravediggers.
He has, however, turned Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into a music-hall double act, played to great effect by Dyfan Dwyfor and Gruffudd Glyn.
Goodies and baddies are nicely delineated (although Polonius is unnecessarily buffoonish), there's an inventive use of a few props - coloured ribbons denote blood or water, while umbrellas also serve as rifles and axes - and he has a pirate scene, complete with a chorus of "What shall we do with a drunken sailor?" Shakespeare may not recognise it but it's huge fun.
The cast of nine mostly play more than one role and deliver their lines in beautifully clear tones. They are led by Dharmesh Patel as Hamlet, full of boyish energy and angst.
Great pleasure came from watching Claremont's rapt Year 7 in the assembly hall (with just the odd too-cool-for-school student feigning indifference) but the enthusiasm with which they participated in the workshop afterwards suggested that this Hamlet was a palpable hit.
Touring until 29 January, then at Stratford-upon-Avon from 1 May (www.rsc.org.uk, 0844 800 1110).
RSC schools project: Hamlet
Claremont High School, Harrow
