A second radio drama reimaging the basic plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and setting it in a modern context. Tamsin Oglesby's play is set in the House of Commons, with a #metoo based story. Harriett, a rising political star, discovers her sister, Rachel, a communications lead has been raped by the Minister for whom she works. Sidelined with jumped up charges of expenses fraud, Rachel has disappeared. Gus (the Minister) is now having an affair with Rachel's replacement, Trudy. Harriett seeks to expose him, and in doing so, inadvertently causes the death of her on-off boyfriend Ofydd, the son of Paul, a whip. Paul, hiding behind a curtain trying to eavesdrop a conversation, dies from a heart attack after Harriett hits him over the head with a mirror! The focus is a conference, at which a pop star singer is engaged to entertain the delegates - Harriett gets the star to sing new words to her hit song, exposing Gus. Rachel appears backing up the story of rape, and the Minister resigns. Whew! So Gus is Claudius, Rachel is Old Hamlet the Ghost, Harriett is Hamlet, Paul is Polonius, Trudy is Gertrude, and Ofydd is Ophelia. The pop star's performance is the "play with a play". To expose him, or not to expose him, that is the question....

I enjoyed it very much. Getting the characters to slip between modern speech and Shakespearian language, lifted straight from Hamlet, was inspired. The recast of the story also worked, although ensuring that many of the key scenes of the play were included got a bit convoluted. Harriett discussing the shape of clouds with Paul was a bit odd for example! Written by Tamsin Oglesby. Cast included Jeany Spark, Jasper Britton, Natasha Little, Richard Elfyn, Mathew Gravelle, Steffan Cennydd, Nadia Williams, Katy Sobey, and Maia Watkins. Directed by Emma Harding for BBC Audio Wales. First broadcast November 2023.