Of high-profile recent Hamlets this latest production, starring Rory Kinnear as the Prince and directed by Nicholas Hytner, may not be as gripping as Jude Law's or as emotional as David Tennant's, but it is certainly the most interesting.
The scream of fighter jets heralds a modern setting. This is an Elsinore where secret-service men stalk corridors, and where Clare Higgins's Gertrude is a lush, which makes new sense of her drinking from a poison cup.
There is also the revelatory suggestion that Ophelia, whom Ruth Negga portrays as more sardonic than insane, is murdered. So rife with suspicion and paranoia is Claudius's regime, for a moment I even thought Ophelia's brother, Laertes, was in on her death.
Though he speaks Shakespeare's words beautifully, there is nothing here that changes my view that Kinnear's abundant talent lies more in comedy than tragedy.
But Hytner makes you question every assumption you bring to the play. For this reason alone, it is a remarkable Hamlet. (Tel: 020 7452 3000)