A union of creativity from Thom Yorke, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones…
Full cast and creative team have recently been confirmed for the upcoming world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief opening at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, Manchester from the 27th April to the 18th of May 2025.
The production then moves to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon from the 4th of June through to 28th June 2025. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, and celebrated directors, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones have joined forces for this frenetic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet haunted by Radiohead’s celebrated 2003 album Hail to the Thief.
Samuel Blenkin will play Hamlet, alongside Ami Tredrea as Ophelia. Paul Hilton will play Claudius/ Ghost and Claudia Harrison will play Gertrude.
The cast also includes Annabel Baldwin as Horatio, Brandon Grace as Laertes, James Cooney as Rosencrantz, Felipe Pacheco as Guildenstern, Tom Peters as Polonius and Romaya Weaver as Gravedigger. The cast is completed by Daniel Davids, Kieran Garland and Marienella Phillips who are all Off-Stage Swings. The band will include Ed Begley, Tom Brady, Joe Downard, Shane Forbes, Megan Hill, Tom Knowles and Adam Martin.
Also announced is choreographer Jess Williams, an associate director and creative practitioner at Frantic Assembly whose other credits include Nye, National Theatre; Richard III, Shakespeare Globe and Lost and Found, Factory International.
Hamlet Hail To The Thief is adapted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Christine Jones with Steven Hoggett, directed by Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, with music by Radiohead, orchestrations by Thom Yorke, scenography by AMP featuring Sadra Tehrani, arrangements by Justin Levine, music supervision by Tom Brady, choreography by Jess Williams, sound design by Gareth Fry, projection design by Will Duke, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, costume design by Lisa Duncan, casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG for the RSC, with text consultancy and dramaturgy from Ayanna Thompson.
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. Personally reworked by Yorke, the deconstructed album will be performed live onstage by a cast of 20 musicians and actors.
Elsinore has a new ruler 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.
Hail to the Thief (2003) is Radiohead’s sixth studio album with singles including ‘There There’, ‘2+2=5’ and ‘Go to Sleep’. Recorded in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent ‘War On Terror’, the album underscores a period of paranoia, fear and anxiety, using a striking mix of rock, unsettling sound experiments and lullaby piano ballad, with dystopian themes incorporating Orwell inspired lyrics and theatrical, Brothers Grimm style fables.
Aviva Studios, home of Factory International
Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ
Dates: 27 April – 18 May 2025
Tickets: factoryinternational.org
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Stratford-upon-Avon
Dates: 4 – 28 June 2025
Tickets: rsc.org.uk
