Leo Mujić’s Hamlet looks wonderful, no doubt about it. The court of Denmark occupies a coolly elegant, minimalist space in which glamorous couples leap and turn in homage to royalty. Many and varied bits of business are conducted within its tall gliding panels.

The ballet moves at a cracking pace, driven forward by meaty selections from music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns in concert-hall mode. Mujić responds with highly athletic, classically based choreography laden with fizzing pirouettes, circles, leaps and huge sweeps of arms and torsos. On opening night Queensland Ballet’s dancers reponded right back with engaging vigour.

Edison Manuel (Hamlet) and Joseph Moss (Claudius) in Queensland Ballet’s Hamlet. Photo © David Kelly

As indicated by the two-page scenario in the program there’s a lot of plot to get through and Mujić doesn’t hang about. Hamlet, Shakespeare’s longest play, is despatched in less than two hours of stage time.

And there’s the rub, or at least one of them. In trying to cover so much ground in such a short time Mujić leaves scarcely any time for consideration or reflection. There is no respite. This handsome production rushes from scene to scene, scattering in its wake only one or two shards of psychological insight.

Hamlet, our sensitive, troubled, put-upon central character mostly gets lost in the melée. There’s oodles of style but often puzzling substance. Stefano Katunar designed the set, Manuela Paladin Šabanović the terrific costumes and Aleksandar Čavlek the marvellously atmospheric lighting.

Josh Ostermann as Old Hamlet’s Ghost in Queensland Ballet’s Hamlet. Photo © David Kelly

Speed is partly to blame but not entirely. There’s also an over-reliance on pre-existing knowledge and on what is in the program. The synopsis offers a wealth of detail and motivation that appear in the ballet either lightly sketched or nowhere. The confusion shows up on stage.

It’s instructive to go to Balanchine’s Law (self-named by the choreographer). It says this: There are no mothers-in-law in ballet.

By this Balanchine meant it was impossible to show via dance a close but indirect connection of this kind. A good example would be, say, how you indicate that Claudius, about to marry Hamlet’s mother, is Hamlet’s father’s brother.

Mujić doesn’t – can’t – find a way to do this (it’s a vital plot point) and the problem seeps into other parts of the drama.

Tellingly, when it comes to a major piece of action in the second half a booming voiceover intrudes to explain it. Without that, only Shakespeare aficionados and those who have earlier boned up via the cheat-sheet would be any the wiser.

This makes it difficult to care greatly for the Danish prince’s fate, even though on opening night soloist Edison Manuel gave heart and soul to the weapons-grade emoting asked of him.

Edison Manuel in Queensland Ballet’s Hamlet. Photo © David Kelly

Ultimately Ophelia’s death by drowning is what’s remembered (first-cast Libby-Rose Niederer was lovely in the role). That at least didn’t need to be explained in words: the translation of play to movement was done in its own entirely understandable language.

A dark-clad group that sometimes shadows Hamlet was crucial in this scene and suggested that a more surreal and potentially more penetrating interpretation of the play was within Mujić’s grasp. Another hint comes with the depictions of Horatio and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father. They seemed to have escaped from a different ballet altogether but oddly stay in the memory.

The Talbot Theatre at QB’s Thomas Dixon Centre headquarters gives all audience members a close-up view because it has fewer than 300 seats. That’s nice for patrons but it’s why there are 18 performances of Hamlet scheduled. It’s a big ask for the dancers.

Another drawback associated with the theatre’s size is the absence of an orchestra pit. Hamlet was danced to recorded music, a circumstance to be regretted. These are not easy times for performing arts organisations.

Hamlet is at the Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, Brisbane until July 18.