Thom Yorke to adapt Radiohead album for Shakespeare production
Thom Yorke is adapting the Radiohead album Hail To The Thief for an upcoming production of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.
The forthcoming production marks a first for Radiohead, as they step into the world of Shakespeare. The play is Hamlet Hail To The Thief and will see Yorke team up with Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, Tony and Olivier Award-winning directors. As a group, they will attempt to bring Shakespeare’s words to life in a never-before-seen way as they work on a contemporary adaptation of the classic play.
Yorke is responsible for reworking his album, Hail To The Thief, in order for a cast of 20 musicians and actors to be able to perform it live during each show. The orchestral version of the album will be played in its entirety each night, with the project described as a “feverish new live experience, fusing theatre, music and movement.”
This may seem like an unusual pairing, but much of the paranoia and anxiety embedded in Radiohead’s 2003 album can be directly applied to Hamlet. Songs like ‘2+2=5′ and ‘Go To Sleep’, written in the wake of 9/11, underscore an unprecedented period of fear and, if worked correctly, will provide the perfect backdrop for the Shakespeare play.
Yorke seems excited and slightly perplexed by the challenge put before him. The singer shared: “This is an interesting and intimidating challenge! 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.”
While many of the details surrounding the production are still kept secret, the official description of the play reads as follows: “Elsinore has become a surveillance state 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 unravelling.”
The play will begin on April 27th at Aviva Studios in Manchester and remain there until May 18th. After that, it will move to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, where it will run from June 4th to June 28th. Tickets for the production go on sale on October 2nd, 2024.
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