Abi wants a baby. She really really wants a baby. Hamlet for Girls spans about three years in the lives of four friends, as Abi (Lizzie Conrad) and her husband David (Dewi Hughes) move through IVF treatment, hurdling auditions, promotions and arriving finally at a difficult realisation. Heather (Elena Popovici) must choose between love and poetry, and marriage to a drunkard. Hamlet for Girls asks how late is too late? The endless trials and conversations are carried out on a tight stage setting and the pace is kept slick throughout as scenes overlap neatly or play out simultaneously, cutting between a nineties bar, dingy cafe and indeterminate home spaces. Considering how close all the actors are, there are a bit too many phone scenes, the ring tones can get a little annoying and some actors dont quite manage to convince that there is someone else on the other end. Elena Popovici does not fall into this hole; convincing throughout, she is constantly engaging to watch, and though I wouldnt go as far as saying she has a Mona Lisa smile, she does have a real subtlety of expression, capturing changing emotion beautifully. There is clear chemistry between her and Jean-Paul (Timothy Randall), and their scenes are tight, escaping some of the cliches and soppiness of the other couples exchanges. Although Abi and Davids struggle is a moving one, their characters are hard to empathise with as the I want a baby element tends to dominate, and were not shown a more interesting side to their personalities other than occasional hints at past abortions and absent fathers. At the beginning it feels very much like the actors are reading from a script, but as the play progresses everything becomes much more natural; as the cast get more involved, so do the audience. The music is a little distracting and badly chosen for some of the scenes, but this never undermines the acting or emotion of the scenes. Apart from occasional Shakespeare references, Hamlet for Girls doesnt really have much to do with Hamlet, and its women issues surrounding marriage, career and babies feel a little dated. It is nevertheless a well-performed and engaging production.
