Hamlet is to be, finally, as Broadsides tackle theatre's great Dane

It was early March and I was on tour at the Stephen Joseph Theatre with a little known artist called Lenny Henry, in a little known play called Othello, co-produced by our friends at The West Yorkshire Playhouse. All was well. I was thrilled, both by the prospect of directing one of the greatest plays in the English language, and by the fact that I had been able to arrange a meeting with puppet master, Lee Threadgold, at one of Yorkshire's hidden treasures Alonzi's Harbour Bar Ice Cream Parlour in Scarborough.

With chill winds blowing in from the North Sea, instead of my usual knickerbocker glory, I plumped for a piping hot full-fat milky coffee and we began to talk about The Danish Play.

It's now January 2011 and, in two weeks' time rehearsals are finally about to begin for the show. Let me assure you the past two years have not been lost to the pleasures of dairy over-indulgence, perched on the red vinyl banquette of a seaside milk-bar. No, Fortune's wheel took a turn and shortly after our visit to the resort, we received the news that Othello was to transfer to the West End. I went with it and the Castle of Elsinore was moth-balled.

Perhaps it was just as well, for 2009 had been awash with famous Hamlets from stage and screen. In 2010 there was once again no room at Broadsides Inn for Gertrude and her son as news arrived that John Simm was to play the role in Sheffield and Rory Kinnear was to appropriate the part at The National Theatre. So instead I directed The Canterbury Tales and 1984. Now 2011 has dawned, Michael Sheen is to play the Prince in a Young Vic production and I wouldn't be surprised if, following Nigel Pargetter's recent demise in The Archers he might fancy a pop at the Bard too. It's too late now the tour is booked and I'm sure there's room for us all.

The truth is that since Richard Burbage walked the boards of the newly-built Globe Theatre over 400 years ago the world and his wife have been queuing to play Hamlet. Why? Because it is a wonderful, energetic and sensitive study of the human condition and it's bloody well written t'boot. No wonder then that the "stars" want to tussle with its pentameters then hang it like a big game trophy above the mantlepiece – "I played the Dane".

Whether you're one of the theatrical elite or not, the task remains the same: deliver the text with a dexterity, texture and accomplishment equal to that of the writer. In short, and to borrow a phrase, "say what you see". Allow the audience to receive the words.

But such simplicity is never easy, particularly if Hamlet becomes a series of monologues. Prince Hamlet thought Uncle a traitor/For having it off with his Mater. Revenge Dad or not? That's the gist of the plot. And he does – nine soliloquies later.

Hamlet must be a play, because the play's the thing: Murder, Marriage, Music and Madness. A decaying family unit and a rotten State. Spectres; swordplay; suspense; and, finally, silence…

Hamlet, directed by Conrad Nelson, opens on February 25. Full tour details 0844 800 1110, www.northern-broadsides.co.uk