Radiohead's Thom Yorke Joins Creative Team of HAMLET HAIL TO THE THIEF World Premiere

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, and celebrated directors, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones join forces for a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet underscored by Radiohead's celebrated 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

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. Tickets go on sale at 10am on 2 October 2024 at factoryinternational.org and rsc.org.uk.

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.

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.

Thom Yorke said “This is an interesting and intimidating challenge! Adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet, using the music as a ‘presence' in the room, watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.”

Elsinore has become a surveillance state 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.

Christine Jones said “The first Radiohead concert I ever saw was the Hail to the Thief tour in 2003. It changed my DNA. Not long after, I was reading Hamlet and listening to the album. Paying attention to the lyrics, I became aware of how many songs from Hail to the Thief speak to the themes of the play. There are uncanny reverberances between the text and the album.  For years I've wanted to see the play and album collide in a piece of theatre; eventually I shared the idea with Thom, who was intrigued. I wasn't sure what we would make, but I knew I wanted to make it with Steven and continue experimenting and building on work we have done together over many years.

We've found that the play haunts the album, and the album haunts the play. Both reflect the internal disquiet and rage that result from despair - in particular despair arising from scrutiny of dominant power structures- whether within governments, communities, or families.  The text and music probe us relentlessly to question what we are made of, and how to discern right from wrong.”

Steven Hoggett said “To communicate this expansive narrative, we have found it illuminating and inspiring to look to movement, text, lighting, sound and music to achieve the complexities of the storytelling. We hope that bringing such elements into play means that anyone seeing their first ever Shakespeare will find a variety of 'ways in' to enjoy and appreciate what a spectacular play this is.  We are thrilled to have found two venues with Aviva Studios, home of Factory International and Royal Shakespeare Company that complement each other so well. Both are at the very forefront of asking questions about what theatre can be and are two perfect homes for this show.”

John McGrath, Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Factory International said “With its extraordinary creative team and unique synthesis of talents and ideas, Hamlet Hail to the Thief is exactly the kind of inventive and ambitious collaboration that Aviva Studios was built for – speaking to the heart of our vision to be a space for artists to imagine new possibilities. We're so excited to be working with such a fantastic set of partners on this project and can't wait to bring it to the stage.”

Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, Co-Artistic Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company said “Hamlet Hail To The Thief is a momentous project for us. To combine the totemic talents of William Shakespeare, with Radiohead and Thom Yorke, into a thrilling experiential piece of theatre, guided by the genius of Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, is a dream. It's an event that embodies a core strand of our work, which is to be a meeting place for the work of our in-house playwright with the most exciting artists of our time, nationally and internationally.”

Producers ATC Experience, Nate Koch and Vivek J. Tiwary said “It's hard to underestimate people's deep relationship with Radiohead's acclaimed album; it speaks directly to the fear and anger of today, as keenly as it did in 2003. The opportunity to collaborate with creatives of the calibre of Jones, Hoggett and Yorke, to tell a story about how our world can be changed at the hands of the state, makes this an unmissable cultural event which will immerse and entertain audiences through music, movement and words.”

Bringing together the innovation of Factory International and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hamlet Hail To The Thief is equally at home in a vast music warehouse space and on an iconic theatre stage. Casting is to be announced in due course.

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, arrangements by Justin Levine, set design by AMP Collective featuring Sadra Tehrani, sound design by Gareth Fry, music supervision by Tom Brady, video design by Will Duke, light design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, costume design by Lisa Duncan, Text Consultancy and Dramaturgy from Ayanna Thompson and casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG for the RSC.

For performance times, tickets and further details visit factoryinternational.org