Preview by Steve Cooke
Factory International have announced the full cast and creative team for the world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a feverish new live experience, fusing theatre, music and movement created by Christine Jones, Steven Hoggett and Thom Yorke.
In this dynamic new version of Hamlet Shakespeare’s words are illuminated by Radiohead’s album Hail to the Thief re-worked by Yorke and performed live by a cast of musicians and actors.
Full cast and creative team are announced for the upcoming world premiere opening 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).
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.
The cast includes Samuel Blenkin as Hamlet, Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton as Claudius/ Ghost, Claudia Harrison as Gertrude, Annabel Baldwin as Horatio, James Cooney as Rosencrantz, Brandon Grace as Laertes, Felipe Pacheco as Guildenstern, Tom Peters as Polonius, Romaya Weaver as Gravedigger, Daniel Davids, Kieran Garland and Marienella Phillips (all Off-Stage Swings).
The cast also includes Annabel Baldwin (Tender, Bush Theatre; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, West End; I hate Suzie, Amazon Prime) as Horatio, Brandon Grace (Cyrano, Park Theatre; London Tide and Much Ado About Nothing both National Theatre) as Laertes, James Cooney (Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida, both RSC; Romeo and Juliet, Almeida) as Rosencrantz, Felipe Pacheco (Metamorphosis and Othello, both Frantic Assembly; The Responder, BBC One) as Guildenstern, Tom Peters (Stranger Things and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, both West End; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time, UK tour) as Polonius and Romaya Weaver (The Cabinet Minister, Menier Chocolate Factory) as Gravedigger.
The cast is completed by Daniel Davids (The Lion King and Everybody's Talking About Jamie, both West End), Kieran Garland (The Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both National Theatre) and Marienella Phillips (Love's Labour's Lost, RSC; A Christmas Carol, The Lowry) 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
27 April – 18 May 2025
Visit: factoryinternational.org
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