Haar & Halo × Grey Firth Theatre present

To be, or not to be. But faster, and with better sword work.

On tour · October – November 2026 · 90 minutes, no interval

Tour datesWatch the trailer
★★★★★
“Ninety minutes with its hand around your throat.”
The Fringe Gazette
★★★★★
“Four actors, one crown, no mercy.”
Auld Reekie Review
★★★★
“The sand gets everywhere. Good.”
The Salt Circular
The show

The play, stripped
to its nerve.

Dane strips the play to its nerve: a son, a ghost, a court that would rather not talk about it. Four actors share every role while the sand keeps pouring — a running clock nobody on stage can stop.

Four actors share every role, swapping crowns mid-line. Above them, a skip of sand pours from the rig for the full ninety minutes — when it runs out, so does the play. Nobody on stage can stop it, and nobody in the audience can look away from it.

A co-production with Grey Firth Theatre. Designed to tour.
WhatCo-production
Touringfrom Oct 2026
Running time90 min, no interval
Cast4 actors
A skull in warm low light, surrounded by out-of-focus lamps
Alas, poor Yorick — allotted ninety seconds of the ninety minutes, and he does not waste them.
Trailer

The clock is sand.

Filmed at the Grey Firth Theatre technical rehearsal, September 2026.

Cast & creative

Four actors.
Every role.

Nobody owns a part in Dane. The crown moves mid-line, and whoever wears it is Hamlet — or Claudius, or Gertrude, or the ghost — until it moves again.

  • The companyCalum Ross
  • The companyEffie Drummond
  • The companyPriya Auld
  • The companyMagnus Skene
  • Directed byTorvald Hess
  • Design & sandBryde McAllister
  • Fight directionJo Cargill
  • Produced byHaar & Halo × Grey Firth
Tour

Fits any stage bigger
than a living room.

  • Grey Firth TheatreGreenock8 – 10 Oct 2026Book now
  • The WeighhouseDundee13 – 14 Oct 2026Book now
  • Saltmarket RoomsGlasgow16 – 17 Oct 2026Book now
  • Anchor WorksAberdeen21 – 22 Oct 2026On sale soon
  • The Old Kirk HallMelrose24 Oct 2026On sale soon
  • The RoperyYork4 – 5 Nov 2026On sale soon
  • Lantern YardManchester7 – 8 Nov 2026On sale soon
  • Fenwick HallLondon12 – 14 Nov 2026On sale soon
  • Someone's living roomPeebles21 Nov 2026Sold out
Education

Shakespeare, without
the four hours.

Schools performances

Daytime shows throughout the tour

The full production at schools-friendly times, followed by a Q&A with the company — including the one question every audience asks, which is about hoovering the sand.

Workshops & education pack

KS3 upwards

Practical workshops on shared-role storytelling and stage combat, plus a free education pack mapping Dane scene-by-scene against the original text.

Tickets

When the sand runs out,
so does the play.

Touring October – November 2026 · 90 minutes, no interval · age guidance 11+ · tickets from £10 at each venue’s box office.

Find your venueContact the company

Booking links and the mailing list are decorative — this is a demonstration site.