Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke working on adaptation ‘Hamlet Hail to the Thief’ with RSC - the new version of Shakespeare’s tragedy opens in April 2025
THE notoriously introspective Hamlet is getting a perfectly modern makeover at the RSC with the help of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.
As collaborations go, it’s a bit of a corker, and probably not without controversy.
The production, which opens next year, is called Hamlet Hail to the Thief.
The name is derived from combining Shakespeare’s miserabilist hero with the title of Radiohead’s 2003 bestselling album.
Yorke, known for his experimental alt rock sound and angsty lyrics, is collaborating with directors Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett.
The RSC described the pending production as a “frenetic adaptation haunted by Hail to the Thief”; and a “dynamic new version of Hamlet where Shakespeare’s words are illuminated by Radiohead’s album Hail to the Thief re-worked by Yorke and performed live by 20 onstage musicians and actors.”
A spokesperson continued: “In this fast-paced distillation of the play, Shakespeare’s words and Radiohead’s album illuminate one another in thrilling new ways as the music becomes a critical part of the narrative.
“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 unravelling.”
Despite having nine best-selling Radiohead albums and numerous solo projects to his name – not to mention accolades galore – Yorke confessed to feeling nervous about the work ahead.
“This is an interesting and intimidating challenge - to adapt 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.”
Hamlet Hail to the Thief will have its world premiere at Factory International, Manchester, from 27th April to 18th May 2025 before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 4th to 28th June 2025.
Tickets go on sale next week at 10am on 2nd October.
Meanwhile a more ‘conventional’ take on Hamlet, starring Luke Thallon and directed by Rupert Goold, runs at the RST from 8th February to 29th March.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief directors Hoggett and Jones have enjoyed impressive commercial and artistic success. Hoggett is an Olivier winner and founder member of Frantic Assembly whose credits as a choreographer include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Black Watch. While Tony and Olivier Award winner Jones is creator and artistic director of Theater For One, and director of New York immersive nightclub experience, Queen of the Night.
Their projects together as choreographer and designer include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, American Idiot and Let the Right One In.
Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, RSC joint artistic directors, said: “Hamlet Hail to the Thief is a momentous project for us. To combine the totemic talents of William Shakespeare, with Radiohead and Thom Yorke, into a thrilling experiential piece of theatre, guided by the genius of Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, is a dream. It’s an event that embodies a core strand of our work, which is to be a meeting place for the work of our in-house playwright with the most exciting artists of our time, nationally and internationally.”
