Casting announced for world premiere of HAMLET HAIL TO THE THIEF

The full cast and creative team have been announced for the upcoming world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, which opens at Aviva Studios in Manchester (27 April – 18 May) before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon (4-28 June).

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, and celebrated directors, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones have joined forces for this frenetic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet haunted by Radiohead’s celebrated 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

Samuel Blenkin (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, West End) will play Hamlet, alongside Ami Tredrea (London Tide, National Theatre) as Ophelia., Paul Hilton (An Enemy of the People, West End) as Claudius/Ghost, and Claudia Harrison (The Crown, Netflix) as Gertrude.

The cast also includes Annabel Baldwin (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, West End) as Horatio, Brandon Grace (Cyrano, Park Theatre) as Laertes, James Cooney (Romeo and Juliet, Almeida Theatre) as Rosencrantz, Felipe Pacheco (Metamorphosis, Frantic Assembly) as Guildenstern, Tom Peters (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, West End) as Polonius, and Romaya Weaver (The Cabinet Minister, Menier Chocolate Factory) as Gravedigger.

The cast is completed by Daniel Davids (The Lion King, West End), Kieran Garland (The Ocean at the End of the Lane, National Theatre), and Marienella Phillips (Love's Labour's Lost, RSC) who are all Off-Stage Swings.

The band will include Ed Begley, Tom Brady, Joe Downard, Shane Forbes, Megan Hill, Tom Knowles and Adam Martin.

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, scenography by AMP featuring Sadra Tehrani, arrangements by Justin Levine, music supervision by Tom Brady, choreography by Jess Williams, sound by Gareth Fry, projection design by Will Duke, lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun, costumes by Lisa Duncan, and casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG for the RSC.

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.

Elsinore has a new ruler 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.

For more info on Hamlet Hail To The Thief, please click here.