Josuah Patriarco’s concept of Hamlet as Batman is both brilliant and obvious. Hamlet: The Clown Prince is very good. Although it has always be speculated that Batman, the revenge seeking orphan of murdered parents was based on Hamlet, the reality of the characters seems to supply little doubt. Both heroes live for revenge, both long and short-term. The only surprising thing is that the adaptation has not been done before.

Patriarco’s is a wonderful if rather old-fashioned Hamlet. The angst and confusion he embraces is a reflection of Shakespeare’s work. The balance of the cast is not as skilled but has no problem with the language. Each character is comfortable being both a Batman villain and their Shakespearean equivalent. The two- and three-quarter-hour performance is not too long.

The adaptation, however, is not as wonderful as it should be. Patriarco seems to have taken his subtitle, The Clown Prince, too literally and that led to unfortunate errors. He begins his play with Hamlet becoming the Joker, rather than Batman, after meeting his father’s Batman ghost. Batman and his actions can be as comically irrational as Joker and Patriarco should know that. He seems too wed to the late 16^th to late 20^th century misconception that Hamlet is tragedy and fails to recognize the overwhelming comedy of all of Shakespeare’s work. If he did recognize the comedy his Hamlet would have embraced the Batman persona from the second scene, and the extremes of behavior would have been funny more than tragic. It also would have given him the opportunity to make Claudius the Joker, instead of the Penguin and provided his villain with a much more manic performance.

Hamlet: The Clown Prince is a good time in the theater, but it has the bones to be great. It would be wonderful if Patriarco goes back to his keyboard and makes this into an exceptional piece of theater that will make his adaptation a must see.