Fort St. Catherine made for a wonderfully atmospheric Elsinore Castle when the ballet troupe Croatia performed Hamlet under the stars on Friday.

The fort's ramparts were put to good use to create a multi-level space for the dancers to tell the story of the despairing prince and his lover.

I cannot profess to have enough knowledge of ballet to enable me to offer any competent criticism of the performance itself. Indeed, this was the first time I had ever been to see a ballet – having been intrigued by the idea of the outdoor performance in one of Bermuda's most beautiful settings. Suffice to say that Shakespeare's play explores the powerful themes of madness, treachery, revenge and moral corruption. All incredibly difficult things to portray through dance, I would imagine, but the skill of the troupe meant that I was held in thrall.

The decision to keep the lighting and costumes the latter mainly in tones of black and red relatively simple, allowed the focus to be entirely on the movement and drama. The sword-fighting scene was particularly impressive. However, I did find a couple of things a little distracting. Internationally acclaimed artist Svebor Secak, who choreographed the performance, was just a little too mature and burly to convincingly play the anguished young prince.

Acoustics for Tchaikovsky's score also proved to be a challenge in the open setting. It would have helped, however, if a couple of latecomers at the back had not engaged in an ill-mannered – and very loud – conversation throughout many of the most dramatic moments.

However, these were just minor issues. Overall it was a wonderful evening and congratulations are due to the Bermuda Civic Ballet, which presented the performance. I left hoping that the fort is put to more frequent use for such cultural events in future.