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The
Times 
David Stenhouse, The Times, 12th August
2002
Hamlet takes on Arafat and Sharon in one of the festival's many
political plays
Despite complaints that the fringe has lost its edge and turned into
a bloated money-making machine, it is arguably the biggest festival
of political theatre in Britain. It may be the looming recession, it
may be the threat of military conflict, but there are more political
plays on here than at any time since the Falklands conflict or the miners’
strike.
Donkey-jacketed students with “Coal not Dole” badges are in
short supply, but for radical theatre about September 11, the Israeli-Arab
conflict and the effects of globalism, Edinburgh is the place to be.
The Middle East is the kind of arena where some of Shakespeare’s
bloodiest characters would have had a field day. But it’s not butcher
Titus Andronicus or malignant Iago that the Zaoum Theatre Company has
turned to in order to create the most daring
piece of political theatre on the fringe this week. Instead,
the student prince has the chance to solve the challenge of the Middle
East, as he takes on Arafat and Sharon.
The Al-Hamlet Summit takes the characters in Shakespeare’s play
to a Middle East peace conference. Complete with interpreters and live
music, it’s a fascinating mix of
subtlety and bombast.
