Linda Marlowe plays a washed-up actress-turned cleaner who preferred treading the boards to scrubbing them. But fantasy transports her to a Shakespearean world populated by the cast of Hamlet (the silently impeccable Theatre Tblisi puppet company) and she becomes not only the Danish prince but every single voice in the tale.
A clear Stephen Berkoff muse, Marlowe interacts beautifully with her stuffed felt players, at turns morphing from saliva spitting court elders to the demure and pleading Ophelia with nothing but the jut-of a jaw or a shift in octave.
A chameleon of every hue, she literally becomes the bones of the performance with all the power and hysteria a Diva can deliver – even her body transposes into the set with puppet creatures wandering up and down her human terrain.
The show is fast and furiously crammed into an hour and fifteen minutes, exhausting and exhilarating. At times Marlowe comes across as a possessed ventriloquist but only when you reckon on the speed at which it takes her to switch roles can you really comprehend her true dexterity.
All in all a very gratifying experience from this multiple Fringe First winner.
Show times
17-19, 23, 25-26 Aug, 5.10pm
Tickets
£11 (£10)