Macbeth ★★★★★ |Hamlet by New York Circus Project ★★★★ | Hamlet: Wakefulness ★★★ | Cheese and Guava or Romeo and Juliet ★★

Shakespeare may have died more than 400 years ago, but he’s overwhelmingly the most produced playwright in the world and, of course, at the Edinburgh Fringe, where his sturdy public-domain, royalty-free works prove irresistible to many a theatre company. And why not? If his plays have survived and thrived this long, they can handle being revisited and reconsidered every which way. At this year’s festival, four companies from four different continents have tackled three of Shakespeare’s most famous and familiar tragedies to varying degrees of success.

Banquo Has a Banjo

Most triumphant is the company that’s come the furthest to be here. The Barden Party hails from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and their bluegrass-inspired Macbeth is an absolute delight. The show’s cheeky vibe is set right away as cast member Criss Grueber (Banquo, Hecaté) is introduced: “Criss uses a wheelchair. Don’t worry about it.”

Worry we shan’t. The adaptation, by company founder Laura Irish, who also directs and plays Macbeth (whew!), is superb. The language is clear, the storytelling propulsive. The seven- strong cast engages constantly with the audience as silly jokes are found within the text, at least until Duncan is murdered, at which point the tone must necessarily shift. Right before that shift occurs, however, hilarious Tara McEntee almost walks away with the show playing, of all characters, the Porter. The Porter! Unexpected moments like hers keep the doings from ever getting dull or predictable, even from a text well-known as this one.

Interspersed in this energised production are some mighty fine bluegrass songs; all are performed splendidly, giving familiar tunes (such as Dolly Parton’s beloved Little Sparrow) a new context for audiences to chew on. Everyone in the ensemble gets multiple opportunities to shine, and each succeeds valiantly, so kudos to the aforementioned performers, as well as Ollie Howlett (Lady Macbeth), Kit Berry (Malcolm), Caleb Jones (Macduff) and Wiremu Tuhiwai (Ross), the latter two also making hay as believable redneck witches the Weird Brothers.

It’s borderline cruel to schedule a production of Macbeth before noon, but this wonderful theatre company makes you forget all but what’s happening in front of you even if your coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. What a sterling Edinburgh debut. Bravo.

Celestial and Soaked

Hamlet by New York Circus Project struggles when it takes its source material so seriously. The verse, abridged as it is (this Hamlet has been chiseled down to one hour from its normal four; brevity-loving Polonius would approve), is still beyond the reach of most of this cast, and the dead air that reigns each time the circus fun ends and the tragedy acting reboots does the show no favors. (Did no one think to at least play music in those transitions?)

Ay, there’s the rub.

Fortunately, this genre-bending circus take on the dark Dane more than compensates with what it does best. Hamlet’s father (Arthur Morel Van Hyfte) movingly floats above his son in an act of stunning aerial work, leaving his son to grieve and seethe on the ground. And unlike the original, this Ophelia (Maleah Rendon, a standout) doesn’t die offstage and instead gets exquisite death choreography before actually plunging into water; drowning has never looked so beautiful.

Caroline Berterello and Kaisha Desallines Wright successfully play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for laughs and acrobatic thrills. Their act thus sits best in the circus environment and adds much needed levity to the proceedings; little wonder their eventual murders are omitted here.

As for the melancholic prince, the lean and lithe Maddox Morfit-Tighe, who recently made a terrific impression in Caryl Churchill’s Glass.Kill.What If If Only. Imp. at the Public Theater in New York, is utterly believable as the doomed Hamlet, one whose rage manifests itself physically as much internally. Remember his name for, to paraphrase Uncle Claudius, “the great ones must not unwatched go.”

Flights of Angels, Singing

Song of the Goat Theatre also tackles Hamlet, or rather, its origins, in Hamlet — Wakefulness. Taking that title to heart, this gothic show from Poland is set entirely at the wake of Hamlet’s father and is primarily sung, with dialogue sneaking in at given moments. And make no mistake: this cast of ten (four women, six men) can sing. The polyphonic explosion that fills the Main Hall of Summerhall is a wonder to receive.

If only the storytelling were at the same level.

Though the physicality of the black-clad cast is as amazing as the vocals, in terms of overall theatricality the production is dramatically inert and, at times, confusing. It’s clear who’s playing Gertrude, but exactly how many Ophelias are wandering about? Moreover, what is this show trying to say about death? Difficult to tell. Best to just bathe in the glorious music.

Snack Attack

In the last third of Cheese and Guava or Romeo and Juliet, a taste of the titular snack is provided to audience members, and it’s delicious, an interesting duo of flavors unknown to most palates outside of Brazil. One wishes that the production this sweet, spirited company is giving were as tasty. Instead it’s a discombobulated mishmash of languages, songs and storylines resulting in a show that is less than the sum of its parts. It feels as if this troupe were fed a diet of Edinburgh Fringe shows for several years and then asked to spit out their own version, when what is wanted and needed is something more authentic, something more them than us.