A live fusion of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Radiohead's album 'Hail to the Thief', with a deconstructed score by Thom Yorke performed by actors and musicians on stage.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief opens at the Barbican Theatre on 31 October 2026 and runs until 23 January 2027. It's a live experience that puts Shakespeare's Hamlet and Radiohead's Hail to the Thief on the same stage, and the two aren't just running alongside each other — they're woven together. Thom Yorke co-created the production with directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, and he personally reworked the album into a deconstructed score that the musicians and actors perform live, so the play's words and the songs illuminate one another. Radiohead themselves don't appear on stage; the music is handled by a live band.
Hail to the Thief was Radiohead's sixth studio album, recorded in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the 'War on Terror', and it's built on dystopian themes and Orwell-inspired lyrics. That political, unsettled energy sits close to the state of Denmark in Hamlet, and the production leans into that. The London run follows sell-out runs at Manchester's Aviva Studios — home of Factory International and the Royal Shakespeare Company — and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Hoggett, an Olivier winner and Frantic Assembly founder, and Jones, a Tony and Olivier winner behind Theatre For One, have worked together before on American Idiot, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Let the Right One In.
Samuel Blenkin takes the title role, with Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton as Claudius and the Ghost, Claudia Harrison as Gertrude, Alby Baldwin as Horatio, Brandon Grace as Laertes, Felipe Pacheco as Guildenstern, Nicolas Tennant as Polonius and Merryl Ansah as the Gravedigger. The music is played live on stage by Ed Begley, Tom Brady, Jenny Clifford, Joe Downard, Shane Forbes, Meg Hill, Tom Knowles and Adam Martin. The London run is strictly limited, so it won't be hanging around long after it opens.
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Standard tickets start from £34, which includes a £4 transaction fee, and Young Barbican tickets for 16-29s are £18. Groups of ten or more get £55 tickets for Monday to Thursday performances. The show runs from 31 October 2026 to 23 January 2027 at the Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS.
