Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Radiohead’s seminal album Hail To The Thief collide in a brand-new production mixing theatre, music and movement at Factory International. Co-created by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and celebrated directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, the production promises to distil ‘Shakespeare’s great tragedy to its dark and glittering emotional core’. Personally reworked by Yorke, the deconstructed album will be performed live onstage by a cast of 20 musicians and actors.
‘In this frenetic distillation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Elsinore has become a surveillance state and hectic runs in the blood of its citizens. Hamlet Hail to the Thief centres on Hamlet and Ophelia’s awakening to the lies and corruption revealed by ghosts and music. Paranoia reigns and no one is spared a tragic unravelling.’
Thom Yorke said: “This is an interesting and intimidating challenge! Adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet, using the music as a ‘presence’ in the room, watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.”