Thom Yorke’s ‘Hamlet Hail to the Thief’ to make London debut later this year
The acclaimed stage show is heading to the Barbican
By Nick Reilly
Thom Yorke’s acclaimed stage show Hamlet Hail to the Thief is heading to London later this year.
The acclaimed RSC play is a unique melding of worlds, with the Shakespearean classic being contrasted against Radiohead‘s 2003 album Hail to the Thief.
The show opened in Manchester last year to a five star review from Rolling Stone UK, and will now transfer to London later this year.
Olivier Award-winning directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones’ collaboration with Yorke will open at the Barbican Theatre on October 31 this year and run until 23 January 2027. Tickets go on sale at 10am on June 26 and you can buy them here.
Yorke said: “I’m into finally bringing ‘Hamlet Hail to the Thief’ to London, and to the Barbican of all places! It is fascinating and very strange to me how this came to life and how it has worked. When it revealed itself to us over time I was shocked, having never had this kind of experience before. I am happy for it to be seen by a wider audience in such an intense space.”
Jones added: “Bringing this brutal play into the Barbican’s brutalist space seems fated. I feel fiercely fortunate to regroup with these incisive collaborators and push our work further. Both the play and the album continue to speak urgently to the convulsed world we find ourselves in. For me, working on this project is one way to find the ground beneath me.”
The original cast will return for the Barbican run, with Samuel Blenkin (Alien: Earth, Black Mirror) playing the eponymous prince of Denmark, Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton as Claudius and Claudia Harrison as Gertrude. Alby Baldwin, Brandon Grace, Felipe Pacheco, Romaya Weaver and Marienella Phillips will also return.
Reviewing the show, Rolling Stone UK hailed Hamlet Hail To The Thief as “a stunning collision of worlds”.
“The biggest testament to Yorke and his co-writers is that these worlds collide so seamlessly, as if they were always meant to be together,” our review stated. “Though incredibly ambitious, there’s a sky-scraping beauty within this production that still manages to breathe new life into a tale as old as time.”