- Radiohead's Hail to the Thief Meets Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Thom Yorke ReWorks Album for New Stage Show
- Manchester Premiere in April 2025
A bold new production combining William Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Radiohead’s iconic album Hail to the Thief is set to premiere in Manchester next April, before transferring to Stratford-Upon-Avon in June.
Conceived by theatre director Christine Jones, Hamlet Hail to the Thief draws parallels between the play’s themes of moral corruption, decay, and dysfunctional government, and the album’s dystopian commentary.
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who is reworking the 2003 album for the show, described the project as “an interesting and intimidating challenge.” Jones noted, “Paying attention to the lyrics, I became aware of how many songs from Hail to the Thief speak to the themes of the play.”
The “dynamic and frenetic” production will feature Shakespeare’s words illuminated by Radiohead’s music, with Hail to the Thief deconstructed and reworked by Yorke and performed live by a cast of 20 musicians and actors.
Jones and Steven Hoggett have adapted the original Hamlet for this production and will co-direct. Organizers promise a “fast-paced distillation” of the play, with Radiohead’s music integral to the narrative.
Yorke reflected on the project, saying, “Adapting the original music of Hail to the Thief for live performance… watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.”
Recorded in the aftermath of 9/11, Hail to the Thief reflected a period of fear and political turmoil. Yorke recalled, “I found myself writing down little nonsense phrases, those Orwellian euphemisms that [governments] are so fond of.”
Jones first conceived the idea after seeing Radiohead live on the Hail to the Thief tour in 2003. “It changed my DNA,” she said. “Not long after, I was reading Hamlet and listening to the album… There are uncanny reverberances between the text and the album.”
The production is set in a surveillance-state Elsinore, where Hamlet and Ophelia uncover lies and corruption. Organizers will announce the cast in the coming months.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief will run at Manchester’s Aviva Studios from April 27, 2025, before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon from June 4-28.
