It's Hamlet...but not as you know it!

"This is the Hamlet I have been waiting for my entire life." - Lakeside Theatre audience

"Fun, fast-paced and fearlessly cut-down." - A Young(ish) Perspective

"Energetic and inventive...a joy to watch." - Keep Colchester Cool

"Refreshing and audacious...mesmerising." - Colchester Gazette

A TWO WOMAN HAMLET takes Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy and asks: what happens if you try to do this with a cast of two women in just 60 minutes? This is an unpretentious adaptation, with joys in it for those familiar with Hamlet and those new to the story.

With a rotating cast of three actors who mix and match across the two tracks, it's truly a different show every night!

Directed by Dr. Nora Williams

Starring: Sharmila Peake, Deanna Strasse, Lolly Taylor

Mara Sherman, who directed the original production in 2018, describes her motivation as not just giving women an opportunity to play great roles such as Hamlet and Claudius, but giving these characters the opportunity to be played by women. Following the critical success of past productions at the Capitol Fringe (Washington, DC, 2018) and Edinburgh Fringe (2022), we developed a fresh take on this fun, fast-paced, and irreverent adaptation for a sold-out run at Colchester's Lakeside Theatre in March 2025 before taking it to Camden Fringe (2025), Colchester Fringe (2025), and then to the University of Bristol (2025).

We recommend that this show appropriate for ages 14+

Please be aware that, like its source text, A Two Woman Hamlet contains some difficult themes, including:

Death
Domestic violence/intimate partner violence
Femicide
Mental illness
Parental loss
Sexual violence
Suicide
General violence
Misogynist language