It was only a matter of time before Hamlet went full rock opera. Enter Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a feverish new adaptation of Shakespeare’s most iconic tragedy, supercharged by Radiohead’s haunting 2003 album and reimagined by Christine Jones, Steven Hoggett, and none other than Thom Yorke himself. Yes, that Thom Yorke — with live orchestrations, deconstructed soundscapes, and a pulse that thrums with dread, distortion and existential drama.
Previews begin 27 April 2025 at Factory International, Manchester, with opening night on 7 May, before the production moves to Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 4 to 28 June. But don’t be surprised if Shoreditch’s creative crowd already has this one circled in red — because this production’s chaotic creativity and genre-fusion would feel right at home on a stage in Hackney Wick.
Radiohead’s paranoia meets Shakespeare’s Elsinore
Let’s not pretend this is your typical RSC staging. Hamlet Hail to the Thief is a restless, musically-driven retelling of the Danish prince’s descent, where the usual monologues crash into Thom Yorke’s atmospheric orchestrations and Radiohead’s darkest sonic experiments. The result? A relentless exploration of grief, betrayal, and madness — where the ghosts might hum in falsetto.
The adaptation, created by Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett, isn’t simply a remix of the Bard’s text. Instead, it’s a full-body experience — part gig, part theatre, part fever dream — where Shakespeare’s language rubs up against deconstructed tracks like 2+2=5 and There There, finding eerie new meaning amid political paranoia and personal unravelling.
A cast of musicians, ghosts, and heartbreakers
Leading the charge is Samuel Blenkin as Hamlet, delivering a fractured, fiercely introspective prince. He’s joined by Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton as Claudius/Ghost, and Claudia Harrison as Gertrude. The cast, a hybrid ensemble of actors and musicians, performs live on stage, with a 20-strong company blurring the line between scene and score.
With musical arrangements by Justin Levine, choreography by Jess Williams, and sound design by Gareth Fry, this isn’t just Shakespeare with a few instruments thrown in. It’s an orchestrated emotional punch to the gut, with Thom Yorke’s hand on the volume dial.
A live experience where Elsinore pulses with sound
Staged at Factory International’s Aviva Studios, the production makes full use of the immersive, industrial space. The set, designed by AMP with Sadra Tehrani, is shadowy, fragmented, and electric — like a crumbling post-digital kingdom where even the air crackles with tension. Add lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun and projections by Will Duke, and you’ve got a visual world where anxiety becomes architecture.
Yorke’s orchestrations don’t just accompany the scenes — they disrupt them, haunt them. There’s no clean line between monologue and melody. Instead, we’re caught in a sonic loop of grief and disorientation, one where Hamlet’s unraveling is mirrored by the music’s own breakdown.
Hail to the Thief: An album built for this moment
Let’s rewind to 2003, when Hail to the Thief first dropped. It was an album of rage and unease, shaped by post-9/11 fear, Orwellian dread, and eerie lullabies for a fractured world. Now, more than two decades later, those themes hit harder than ever. Recontextualised in Hamlet, the album becomes a warning — a soundtrack to systemic rot, whispered lies, and internal collapse.
This isn’t just Shakespeare for Radiohead fans. It’s Radiohead for the Shakespeare-curious. It’s a Hamlet that sounds like the world we live in: anxious, overwhelmed, and deeply uncertain about who’s pulling the strings.
To see or not to see? There’s no question.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief is not your English teacher’s Hamlet. It’s not about reverence. It’s about collision — between words and noise, past and present, silence and distortion. And it’s about time.
Tickets are on sale now via Factory International and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Pack your Radiohead vinyl, your Shakespeare folio, and probably a box of tissues — because this Hamlet isn’t just going to whisper “to be or not to be.” It’s going to scream it through distortion pedals and broken synths.
