Shakespeare’s Hamlet has stuck with me since my A level English classes over thirty years ago and has long been my favourite of his plays. Coincidentally, I have been an ardent fan of Radiohead (not least Hail to the Thief) for over thirty years too. Imagine then my delight at the prospect of these two cultural entities unexpectedly eliding together on the same evening on the same stage….

And yet this seemingly curious fusion makes perfect sense artistically and thematically when you consider it; arguably Radiohead’s most politicised album, Hail to the Thief, their sixth, released in 2003, sees this highly influential group at their most angry and angsty, as fourteen bruising and powerful tracks explore their collective response to seismic global events of the preceding few years – 9/11, the ensuing war on terror, and a contentious and controversial presidential election in the United States – as well as exploring the debilitating effect of dysfunctional power structures and how we confront our responses to them. Hamlet, the twenty-second of Shakespeare’s thirty-seven plays, is believed to have been written in 1600. It explores “something rotten in the state of Denmark” and Hamlet’s mission to avenge his father’s murder by a corrupt king/uncle who has usurped the Danish crown, yet without damning himself in the process. Hail to the Thief would seem an apt subtitle for this celebrated tragedy given how both texts explore eerily similar themes which, like ghosts, return to haunt us. There is, according to co-director Christine Jones, “an uncanny synchronicity” between play and album, where both “…look at the complexity of what it is to be human, to delude yourself, and to be deluded by your government. To find your moral compass in the world.”

Hamlet Hail to the Thief strips back Shakespeare’s original four-hour play to just under two, yet loses none of the tragic tale’s power in the process. An astonishingly mature and layered performance from Samuel Blenkin brings to life the Prince of Denmark as I’d always imagined him to be – grief-stricken, endearing, vulnerable, witty, fallible and, most of all, human: Hamlet is arguably the most relatable of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes. A hugely talented supporting cast – most notably Ami Tredrea’s doomed Ophelia and Paul Hilton’s vile Claudius – also excel in what is a complete ensemble performance delivered on a dark, dystopian stage. Everything feels black, bleak and brutal, yet Shakespeare’s humour is still very much apparent in the otherwise fractured, Orwellian world of Elsinore.

Rather than simply accompanying or underscoring the action, Radiohead’s album, deconstructed and reorchestrated by Thom Yorke specifically for this collaboration, fills in the gaps left by a dramatically abridged text, creating both resonance and discord, echoing the play as well as disrupting it. Indeed, the music functions almost as an extra member of the cast. As Yorke puts it, the songs are “structural parts of the work”, thoughtfully and seamlessly woven into the narrative. For this reason, the six musicians who deliver them are integral and visible parts of the experience, partitioned upstage behind glass screens to allow an unfettered performance while Ed Begley and Megan Hill provide the haunting vocals from their elevated perches. Jess Williams’ stunning choreography is balletic at times, yet almost robotic at others, conveying a sense of what Yorke terms “bodies being hijacked by music”.

Technically, visually, artistically and theatrically, Hamlet Hail to the Thief is a stunning performance, and a truly unique reinvention. It must not unwatched go.

★★★★★   Tony Clarke   13 June 2025

Photography credit: Manuel Harlan