Horatio in Thy Heart, by Merlin Stevens, The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 | until 18 July 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

Photo credit: Jennifer Kehl

Horatio in Thy Heart

by Merlin Stevens

The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 | until 18 July 2026

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

“Brush up your Shakespeare.”

Sometimes it is the people on the fringes of a play who are well worth investigating and Hamlet is full of people who surround the gloomy Dane seeking revenge for his father's murder, not all of whom quite know what is actually going on, and not all of whom believe in ghosts. Merlin Stevens plays Horatio, who finds himself in distinctly dodgy circumstances when he follows Hamlet to Elsinore for Christmas. He is probably the only one to live to rue the day they had anything to do with him – everyone else ends up dead. The result is a moving investigation of how loving the wrong person can affect someone's life for ever and does question whether Hamlet was really worthy of being a love object. Stevens creates a wholly believable Horatio and voices off are here from some of the others also affected by knowing this dangerous man. It will send you back to Shakespeare's play. Some people may be an object of love who are dangerous to know and arguably not deserving of that love. It is also an occasion to brush up your Shakespeare.

Cast

Merlin Stevens – Horatio

Voiceover cast

Saso Swinson – Ophelia; Shannon Stuart – Mother; Alexander Lewarne – Father; Joe Lewis – Guildenstern; Rosie May Cook – Rpsencrantz; Trey Augustus – Hamlet. Sue Brooke Miller – King Hamlet

Creatives

Director – Arden Fitzroy

Lighting  –  Sound Designer – Hector Laszlo Cosmetatos