Hamlet Hail to the Thief

A theatre production that sets Shakespeare's Hamlet alongside Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, with a live score reworked by Thom Yorke. It is staged at the Barbican Theatre.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief places Shakespeare's tragedy in Elsinore, a court under a new ruler, where Hamlet and Ophelia gradually see the lies and corruption around them. Ghosts bring unsettling truths to light, and the drama turns on the minds and hearts of those who learn them. The show distils the play to its dark emotional core, with the words of the tragedy running through the staging.

Music is central to the production, which blends theatre, music and movement. Thom Yorke co-created it with the directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, and has reworked the band's sixth album into a deconstructed score that illuminates the text. The score is performed by live musicians on stage. Hoggett is a founder member of Frantic Assembly, and Jones is Creator and Artistic Director of Theatre For One. As choreographer and designer, the pair have also worked together on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, American Idiot and Let The Right One In.

The production was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company with Factory International. It now visits the Barbican Theatre, a concert venue on Silk Street in London, for a limited run that is open to audiences seeking a reworking of a classic tragedy through music and movement.