Radiohead meets Shakespeare for new production of Hamlet at Aviva Studios

An innovative new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet will debut at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, featuring reworked music from Radiohead’s iconic record Hail to the Thief.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief is directed by Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones. Jones says the inspiration for the exciting collaboration came after she noticed how the record and play shared themes of moral corruption, dysfunctional government and decay.

While much of the production’s details are understandably being kept under wraps, the show’s description reads: “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 in Denmark, gradually revealed by ghosts and music. Paranoia reigns and no one is spared a tragic unraveling.”

Thome Yorke, who is remaining the 2003 album especially for the show, 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.”

An orchestral version of the album will be played by a cast of 20 musicians in its entirety each night, with the project described as a “feverish new live experience, fusing theatre, music and movement.”

Speaking about the inspiration, Christine Jones said: “The first Radiohead concert I ever saw was the Hail to the Thief tour in 2003. It changed my DNA. Not long after, I was reading Hamlet and listening to the album. I became aware of how many songs from Hail to the Thief speak to the themes of the play,”

“There are uncanny reverberances between the text and the album.  For years I’ve wanted to see the play and album collide in a piece of theatre; eventually I shared the idea with Thom, who was intrigued. I wasn’t sure what we would make, but I knew I wanted to make it with Steven and continue experimenting and building on work we have done together over many years.”

The world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief takes place at Aviva Studios, Manchester, home of Factory International from Sun 27 Apr – Sun 18 May, before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from Wed 4 Jun – Sat 28 Jun.