Shakespeare’s great tragedy and Radiohead’s seminal album collide in a new live experience.
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, and celebrated directors, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones join forces for a frenetic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet haunted by Radiohead’s celebrated 2003 album Hail to the Thief. Olivier award-winner Steven Hoggett is a founder member of Frantic Assembly whose credits as a choreographer include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Black Watch. Tony and Olivier award-winner Christine 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.
The world premiere of Hamlet Hail To The Thief will run at Aviva Studios, the landmark new home of Factory International, Manchester from 27 April – 18 May 2025 before transferring to Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon from 4 – 28 June 2025.
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.
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.
Hamlet Hail To The Thief: 27 April – 18 May 2025
Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ
Tickets on sale: 10am on 2 October 2024 at factoryinternational.org
For performance times, tickets and further details visit factoryinternational.org