Hamlet, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. Runs until November 30

YOU would have to be mad to make your debut as a Shakespearean stage actor in two of the most demanding roles ever penned.

To make a convincing Hamlet or Ophelia it is probably a plus to be slightly barmy, and that is exactly the situation that Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake are cast as the insane Prince of Denmark and his tragic wench in a new production of the Bard's greatest work. which runs at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds until November 30. Neither Little Hulton-born Eccleston nor Peake, from Horwich, have performed Shakespeare on the boards before, but their success is highlighted by the packed audiences that are flocking to see them every night.

The play revolves around the Prince's desire to avenge his father's death at the hands of his Uncle Claudius who has recently become the new king of Denmark after marrying Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.

Eccleston, known for his performances in TV shows Cracker and Our Friends in the North as well as films such as Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later, is a gritty Hamlet.

This Hamlet is not a loner -- he has mates -- and his soliloquies are aggressively delivered to the audience.

As he feigns madness to avoid suspicion at court, Eccleston also adds an element of camp to the proceedings, often bringing the house down as he delivers the Bard's iambic pentameter like a 17th century Bet Lynch. But he is an action hero too, Eccleston is hyper-active throughout, covering every inch of the eerily bare stage even before he takes part in a dramatic sword fight with Laertes (Chook Sibtain) in the closing act. Peake, who has appeared in BBC's Dinner Ladies and Dalziel and Pascoe, is side-lined for much of the play due to the court of Elsinore being so male dominated, but she is convincing as the subservient wench, and is more than a little disturbing as she descends into madness. Initially she appears sensible and chaste in a conservative magenta dress, but following the death of her father and Hamlet's poor treatment of her she transforms into a leather-clad potential bunny boiler.

Although there is an excellent cast which includes Brigit Forsyth, the real success of the play owes to the interaction between characters, such as Hamlet himself and the hilarious Polonius, and the audience, something obviously absent from films based upon Shakespeare's works.

Richard Mulligan