The new production, titled Hamlet Hail to the Thief, will have its world premiere at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, Manchester (27 April – 18 May 2025) before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon (4 June – 28 June 2025).
It has been announced that Thom Yorke, Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett are collaborating on a brand new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which his words are enhanced further by Radiohead’s album Hail to the Thief re-worked by Yorke and performed live by a cast of musicians and actors.
Set to be a blend of music, theatre and movement Hamlet Hail to the Thief will include songs from the 2003 album such as “There There”, “2+2=5” and “Go to Sleep” and is Radiohead’s sixth album.
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.
Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones will direct the production, which will feature orchestrations by Yorke. Hoggett and Jones have previously collaborated on shows like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, American Idiot and Let The Right One In.
While casting has yet to be announced, the creative team behind the production will include: arrangements by Justin Levine, set design by AMP Collective featuring Sadra Tehrani, sound design by Gareth Fry, music supervision by Tom Brady, video design by Will Duke, light design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, costume design by Lisa Duncan, text consultancy and dramaturgy from Ayanna Thompson and casting by Charlotte Sutton for the RSC.
Talking about the news, 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.”
Meanwhile, 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. Paying attention to the lyrics, 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.”
Steven Hoggett commented: “To communicate this expansive narrative, we have found it illuminating and inspiring to look to movement, text, lighting, sound and music to achieve the complexities of the storytelling. We hope that bringing such elements into play means that anyone seeing their first ever Shakespeare will find a variety of ‘ways in’ to enjoy and appreciate what a spectacular play this is. We are thrilled to have found two venues with Aviva Studios, home of Factory International and Royal Shakespeare Company that complement each other so well. Both are at the very forefront of asking
questions about what theatre can be and are two perfect homes for this show.”