Just as Americans disappeared into hidden spaces to get the good stuff during Prohibition, Melburnians can descend into a basement to experience an almost unheralded production that’s one of the year’s best theatre experiences.

After an excellent, minimalist Julius Caesar at fortyfive downstairs in 2023, Melbourne Shakespeare Company returns with an even more stripped back, even more powerful Hamlet. With a deep respect for and understanding of Shakespeare’s text, it offers naturalistic performances in a nominally contemporary setting.

Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet. Photo © Ben Andrews

The talent on offer is surprisingly rich for a small company in a very “off-Broadway” space with limited funds to play yet alone pay with. Indeed, as director Iain Sinclair notes in the program, “they are doing it for you for essentially nothing (a 25 way profit share in an indie venue) on a budget that is visibly less.”

Evidence that this production is a matter of passion over profit is the luxurious cast of 16, with almost no multiple roles. Sinclair, whose credits include a strikingly spartan A View from the Bridge for MTC in 2019, is perhaps the flame that’s drawn many old...