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In the vast, industrial expanse of Manchester’s Factory International, Hamlet: Hail to the Thief strikes with powerful intensity — a feverish collision of Shakespeare’s tragedy and Radiohead’s brooding soundscape that does something rare: it lives up to and exceeds the hype.

Directed by Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, with a reimagined score by Thom Yorke, this groundbreaking collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International reinvents Hamlet as a haunting, politically charged spectacle for the 21st century

Fusing Shakespeare’s most psychologically tormented tragedy with the visceral, politically charged energy of Hail to the Thief (Radiohead’s 2003 anti-establishment opus), the production becomes a searing interrogation of power, paranoia, grief and identity.

What could have felt like a clumsy artistic mash-up instead emerges as a dark, dazzling triumph — a reminder of the timeless rage of Hamlet and the enduring power of Yorke’s songwriting.

Despite Yorke’s admission that Hamlet wasn’t on his mind when Hail to the Thief was written, the eerie synchronicities between the two are undeniable.

Both works are fuelled by a sense of moral disintegration and simmering fury. Both ask what happens when the people in charge betray their ideals. Both start with a question.

And in this production, those questions cut like a scalpel.

At the centre of this maelstrom is Samuel Blenkin’s Hamlet, and what a Hamlet he is.

Blenkin delivers a masterclass in control and release, veering between biting sarcasm, philosophical despair, and volcanic rage.

With his angular frame, sunken eyes, and ever-spiralling energy, he radiates the kind of restless intelligence that makes you lean forward every time he speaks.

His portrayal is as much vocal as physical. The rhythm of his delivery is precise, yet spontaneous. And he understands Hamlet’s humour, injecting scenes with a kind of unhinged levity that makes the character feel startlingly alive.

Not only is he mourning his murdered father and railing hard against a corrupt world, he is performing his grief, weaponising his wit, challenging everyone, audience included, to question what is true.

In the final stretch, as Hamlet’s fury boils into action and the bodies begin to fall, Blenkin doesn’t flinch. He burns. His final moments are less tragic than transcendent.

For Thom Yorke, the project wasn’t just artistic but personal.

Revisiting Hail to the Thief, a record he once felt had “turned to sh*t” in the final stages of production, he’s now re-forged it into something new and thrilling.

While Yorke in the programme notes suggested that ‘applying music to Shakespeare seemed like a kind of sacrilege’, The audience must have been thrilled they did, as they delicately intertwined, augmenting the action on stage, never detracting.

The score is very far removed from simply a jukebox medley of Radiohead hits. Instead, Yorke has re-orchestrated fragments and themes from the album, embedding them into the soul of the play.

Both Thom Yorke and Phil Selway from Radiohead were both present to see their work transformed.

The band, seen through hazy panes on the lower level of the set, plays in spectral silhouette. Above them, two vocalists, Megan Hill and Ed Begley, act like Greek choristers or ghosts, their voices weaving in and out of the action. Sometimes, the actors take over vocal duties, singing lyrics that echo their psychological states.

It’s a haunting device, and it works. Ophelia’s (a fierce, no-compromises Ami Tredrea) unravelling is paired with a fractured rendition of Sail to the Moon, her voice quivering with childlike melody and menace. Hamlet’s return to Elsinore is underscored by Scatterbrain, reimagined as a ghostly falsetto ballad that feels like it’s crawling up from the underworld. The death of Polonius is met with the thunderclap of There, There, an explosion of guilt and consequence.

Rarely have songs been used so surgically in theatre — not merely as mood-setters, but as narrative propulsion.

The staging itself is stark but richly suggestive. Designed by the AMP collective and Sadra Tehrani, the split-level castle set, wrapped in dry ice and stark lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun, evokes a kind of post-industrial purgatory. Fender amps line the stage like gravestones. The court dances, grotesquely and obliviously, to Go to Sleep, a moment that says more about the rot at the heart of Denmark than any monologue could.

And though the play runs just two hours, a brisk trot for Hamlet, nothing feels rushed.

Hoggett’s physical sequences do the heavy lifting when words aren’t enough: bodies twist and collapse in synchronised chaos, reflecting a world that has slipped its moral axis.

Beyond Blenkin, the ensemble is faultless. Paul Hilton doubles as both the slippery Claudius and the mournful Ghost, a performance that conjures both menace and regret. Claudia Harrison as Gertrude balances maternal warmth with a dawning horror at the world she’s trapped in.

Annabel Baldwin is a grounded and observant Horatio, never missing a beat. Brandon Grace brings real weight to Laertes, while James Cooney and Felipe Pacheco’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are comic but never cartoonish.

Tom Peters plays Polonius not as a bumbling fool, but a well-meaning man tragically out of depth, while Romaya Weaver’s Gravedigger brings a moment of eerie levity that cuts through the gloom.

Each performer is clearly dialled into the musical and emotional rhythms of the show, responding to a sonic world that constantly shifts beneath their feet.

It would be easy to see Hamlet Hail to the Thief as a gimmick — Shakespeare meets Radiohead, high art meets alternative rock.

But to call it that is to miss the point entirely. What this production understands — in its bones — is that both Shakespeare and Yorke are chroniclers of collapse. Both ask how we survive in the ruins of broken systems. Both give voice to the voiceless, the angry, the alienated.

Christine Jones’s remark that the Hail to the Thief tour “changed [her] DNA” makes sense here. You can feel that same sense of personal transformation in every aspect of the show.

It’s a resurrection. It’s Shakespeare’s most famous play for a generation shaped by dread and distrust — the heirs of both Hamlet and Yorke’s paranoia.

Hamlet: Hail to the Thief is a revelation — bold, brutal, and utterly absorbing.

It captures the restless heart of Shakespeare’s tragedy and refracts it through the fractured lens of one of the 21st century’s most interesting albums. The result is electric. Unmissable. And perhaps most importantly, unforgettable.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief is on at Factory International from the 27th of April to the 18th of May 2025.

You can get tickets by clicking here

Director Kathleen Akerley's gender-bending re-imagining brings fresh twists to the Prince of Denmark and the characters around him.

By

Debbie Minter Jackson

-

May 17, 2025

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about Hamlet, Avant Bard brings a whole new approach to one of the Bard’s most enigmatic characters. Director Kathleen Akerley’s re-imagining brings fresh, innovative twists to Hamlet and the characters around him.

Non-traditional casting flips gender roles all over the place. In addition, as the actors played multiple roles, you had to stay on your toes to keep up with who was who. Akerley’s work is described as cerebral for a reason — it’s mind-boggling and dreamlike. Her reimagining of the classics shakes everything up and deconstructs the presumptions, while her theatrical realism skills keep things grounded, like a launching pad that you can trust will get you back safely.

There have been so many theatrical takes on Hamlet recently because his dilemmas don’t get old. Whether it’s Dad and/or Mom issues, guilt tripping, or insecurity, Hamlet’s got it all in spades. And in this case, literally. Spades and shovels get serious air time in this production, where gravediggers open the show pontificating about the most recently departed (a body that comically doesn’t fit in its space). Spades are held by actors in military formation like weaponry, and the sound of grave digging is the last thing you hear at the end. Death is constant in the show — it’s the life issues swirling around waiting for death to happen and coming to grips with the aftermath that bring on the drama.

The gender-bending casting works because the actors are top-flight. First of all, Rachel Sanderson is wonderful as Hamlet, who prances playfully along the set, broods over his turmoil, and cavorts with buddies, running the gamut of emotions with easygoing grace and charm. The famous speeches and soliloquies slip easily along in the scenes instead of getting bogged down in pervasive darkness. Hamlet is indeed terrified of the specter of his father, repulsed by his mother’s choice to marry his uncle Claudius, and has no idea what to do with his tumultuous thoughts about his love interest Ophelia. But Sanderson’s Hamlet has a steady center that keeps him grounded enough to keep his focus, plot to expose his uncle’s wretched deeds, and seek revenge.

Award-winning metro favorite Lolita Marie is a grandiose Claudius, who stands his ground, barks orders, and plots his ongoing conquests. Marie cuts a striking figure strutting along the set in commanding attire (costuming by Akerley), looking around furtively for hints of sabotage with a killer gaze. Claudius is indeed in a conundrum dealing with this wayward youth who is wreaking havoc on his best-laid plans. All that softens when caring tenderly for Gertrude, his new wife, formerly his sister-in-law, wooed after his brother’s untimely death. Something about this pairing makes me wonder if Claudius had an hankering for her all along, but perhaps I thinketh too much. Akerley’s keen direction keeps everything fresh and possible. It’s thrilling watching these female actors have the chance to sink their teeth into these otherwise inaccessible characters.

Same thing with Willem Rogers, who is nearly iridescent as a waif-like Ophelia in expressing the confusion of being cast off by her former best friend and betrothed. Rogers embodies his character’s sensitivities and sensibilities with loving tenderness without camp or girly distress. Rogers portrays Ophelia as humble, with glimpses of defiance, using quiet stillness to express layers of emotional subtext for a masterful performance. There’s also the terrific costume choice of wrapping a shirt around the waist that Rogers fondles periodically as a skirt. The portrayal shows how Akerley digs into the essence of the character to be reflected in whatever vessel or body being used. That applies to the entire ensemble with a special nod to Sara Barker’s Gertrude, whose steely carriage holds up through all the contradictions of her life choices.

The design elements are all strikingly good. The simple yet clever scenic design by Elizabeth Jenkins McFadden contains several back stairs for dramatic entrances and long chimes with swinging sonorous tones across the set. Also striking is a short, sturdy wall that cuts across the stage, which serves to hide the grave pit and can be used to hop, skip, and jump across to accentuate the action. Ian Claar’s exquisite lighting hits gory red as the mortality piles up, while sound by Neil McFadden goes from pleasant baroque to tectonic to heart-pounding thunderous

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” is one of Hamlet’s many lines that express the power of thought to shape and justify even dastardly deeds, and the play is full of them. This new envisioning is a nervy combination of brilliance, excitement, and verve to explore the ageless and timeless wonder of Hamlet.

Running Time: Approximately two hours and 20 minutes, with one 10-minute intermission.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark plays through May 24, 2025, presented by Avant Bard Theatre performing at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two, 2700 S. Lang St, Arlington, VA. Showtimes are 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday, and 2:00 pm matinees Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are ($40 for general admission; $20 for students, seniors, and military veterans and servicemembers) are available online. Saturday matinees (including a mask-required performance on Saturday, May 17, at 2:00 pm) are pay-what-you-can. Federal employees who have been wrongfully terminated by the current administration are welcome to complimentary tickets. Email [email protected] with the date and time of the performance you would like to attend.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

CAST Hamlet: Rachel Sanderson Horatio: Kira Gandolfo Claudius: Lolita Marie Gertrude: Sara Barker Polonius/Marcellus: Erin Denman Old Hamlet/Guildenstern: Christopher Holbert Laertes/Rosencrantz: Selah Kreeger Ophelia/Bernado: Willem Rogers

PRODUCTION DESIGN Director and Adaptor: Kathleen Akerley Co-Producers: Sara Barker, Alyssa Sanders Production Stage Manager: Solomon HaileSelassie Assistant Director: Erin Abney Set Design: Elizabeth Jenkins McFadden Scenic Artist: Meg Zettell Lighting Design: Ian Claar Sound Design: Neil McFadden Costume/ Props Design: Kathleen Akerley Fight & Intimacy Choreographer: James Finley