Wittenberg

With more than a nod to Tom Stoppard, American David Davalos’s knowingly entertaining comedy takes us back to Germany in 1517 where, as an already indecisive student, Hamlet (quoting freely from Shakespeare’s text) comes under the conflicting influences of Sean Campion’s charismatic, hedonistic Dr. Faustus, lecturer in philosophy, and his unlikely friend, academic colleague and ideological sparring partner, the ascetic (and constipated) theologian Martin Luther (Andrew Frame).

Davalos’s wittily playful rearrangement of fact, fiction, literature and history is bloated with allusions and references, but its sheer inventiveness – and Christopher Haydon’s lively direction – keep the cleverness buoyantly afloat.

Gate Theatre, Pembridge Road W11 3HQ (020 7229 0706) Tube: Notting Hill Gate gatetheatre.co.uk Until October 1 (£20, matinees £10)