Some talk of David Tennant and some of Jude Law. But everyone who is wondering which of these great names is going to make the best Hamlet next year should take a look at Andrew Clark, who is turning in a performance in Glasgow that those others will do well to better.

Clark’s Hamlet is less the hesitant, introspective adolescent, more the man of action, once he has decided which way the future lies. In this he is aided by one major textual revision from the director, Guy Hollands, who makes “To be or not to be” the opening speech of the whole play. Several other court scenes, including Claudius and Gertrude’s “wedding”, follow, before Horatio and Marcellus come to tell Hamlet about the apparition on the battlements.

This has the effect of making Hamlet’s anxieties relate not so much to where his responsibilities lie; he is clear about that. It is more that, though his every instinct is screaming that there is indeed something rotten in his father’s death and his mother’s hasty remarriage, he cannot quite put his finger on what it is.

The revelation from the ghost of Hamlet’s father when he does appear, arising from what looks like the very pit of Hell in one of the production’s many impressive set pieces, is even worse than Hamlet expected. He needs no further reflection, becoming a skilled orchestrator of events, baiting his enemies and setting his traps with relish.

The way in which the text has been cut leaves more of the political machinations of Norway than usual which in turn make Claudius look greedy but politically naive. Hamlet’s cruelty to Ophelia is presented as tough love, an attempt to get her away from what is clearly going to be a bloody endgame at court which Hamlet obviously cannot fully explain to her. Her consequent death is more like collateral damage than tragedy.

Any production of Hamlet is going to raise as many questions as it answers and this is no exception. But Hollands has a clear idea of how to make the play work, and he has both persuaded his first-class cast to buy into it and ensured that they understand what they are saying. That the staging also looks and sounds terrific – a giant copper spearhead, with shell and bullet holes through it, dominates the curvilinear, black two-tier set – and that it has one of the most convincing swordfights in the final scene that I can remember, are all welcome bonuses.

Box office: 0141-429 0022. Until October 13

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