A very long time ago there was a Japanese festival in the City of London, which included a kabuki version of Hamlet. Turns out the traditional Japanese translation of the play takes a few liberties with Shakespeare's actual plot.
The visual spectacle was amazing - exaggerated kimonos a-go-go, musicians giving it their all, black-clad stage managers flitting around, adjusting sleeves and trains, passing fans and being generally "invisible" (the REAL ninjas)... all male cast, featuring a very versatile actor playing Hamlet, doubling Laertes, trebling Ophelia.
(This works, because in feudal samurai Japanese thinking, a mere girl wouldn't give lip to her royal boyfriend OR brother, so they never shared any scenes)
Gertrude (a sturdy bloke, could go a few rounds with Brian Blessed any time), matt white face makeup and more mascara than a love-sick panda, threw me into total confusion near the end by uttering a speech of many lines, many, MANY lines (nothing like it in Shakespeare where the queen is a bint of modest utterance). Turns out in the classical Japanese translation they were using, Gertrude done the murder and was confessing at length. (No respectable samurai prince would dream of poisoning his brother when lopping bits off with serious cutlery is the preferred option.)
The friend I went with and I gave ourselves over to hearty kebabs and Strong Drink till late at night to recover from all this.
Feudal Japan has a lot to answer for.
