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...