Thom Yorke is adapting Radiohead‘s 2003 album Hail to the Thief for a new stage production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Designer and director Christine Jones and director and choreographer Steven Hoggett are also working on the new adaptation, which is called Hamlet Hail to the Thief, and is set to premiere at Manchester’s Aviva Studios on April 27-May 18, 2025, and then move to Stratford-upon-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre on June 4-28, 2025. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, October 2 at 10 AM BST, with a presale for W.A.S.T.E. subscribers starting Tuesday, October 1 at 10 AM BST.
“this is an interesting and intimidating challenge .. !,” Thom writes.
“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.”
Jones adds, “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.”
Colin Greenwood recently revealed that Radiohead, who have been in hibernation while members have been busy with other projects, rehearsed together earlier this year.
One of those projects is Thom and Jonny Greenwood’s The Smile, who are releasing their second album of 2024 and third overall, Cutouts, in October.