Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is transforming the band's 2003 album 'Hail To The Thief' into a new production of Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', set to debut globally next year at Aviva Studios in Manchester.
The production, titled 'Hamlet Hail To The Thief', will feature Yorke collaborating with Tony and Olivier Award-winning directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones to craft a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's classic, described as a 'feverish new live experience, blending theatre, music, and movement'. Yorke will personally reimagine and orchestrate 'Hail To The Thief' for a cast of over 20 musicians and actors, with the music performed live at each show.
The official synopsis for the show states: 'Elsinore has transformed into a surveillance state, and chaos runs rampant among its inhabitants. Hamlet Hail To The Thief focuses on Hamlet and Ophelia's realization of the deceit and corruption in Denmark, gradually unveiled through apparitions and music. Paranoia prevails, and no one escapes a tragic unraveling.'
This choice of Radiohead's sixth studio album, following 'Amnesiac', is fitting, as it is the band's most overtly political album and aligns well with the themes of paranoia inherent in Shakespeare's tragedy, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1602. This upcoming rendition of the play also echoes themes from 'Hail To The Thief', such as moral corruption and decay.
Yorke penned many of the lyrics in response to the US election, George W. Bush's victory, the War on Terror, false patriotism, and the rise of extremist conservatism. The album's title is a play on the American presidential anthem 'Hail to the Chief', and it's no surprise that the cover art by Stanley Donwood features words like 'FEAR', 'OIL', and 'DANGER' in a collage of assorted words.
Yorke expressed, 'This is an intriguing and daunting challenge!' in a press release about the upcoming theatre project. 'Adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this timeless story, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what resonates with the underlying sorrow and paranoia of Hamlet, using the music as a 'presence' in the room, observing how it interacts with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.'
Yorke previously described his Orwellian-inspired lyrics on 'Hail To The Thief' as stemming from 'the general sense of ignorance and intolerance and panic and stupidity' that followed the 2000 election. It's amusing how some things remain unchanged even after two decades...
Regarding the album, it received less acclaim than its predecessors 'OK Computer' and 'Kid A'. The band continued to experiment with electronic rock, but the album was criticized for being overly lengthy and lacking the creative spark of the 'Kid A' / 'Amnesiac' duo. However, fans of Radiohead's early work were delighted to hear guitars return to the mix. Overall, 'Hail To The Thief' is an underappreciated album that improves with time. It found a solid sonic middle ground, seamlessly merging alt rock with more experimental elements, with drum machines, sampling, and Ondes Martenot blending well with more aggressive guitar work. While many music fans don't rank it highly within Radiohead's discography, it feels uniquely undervalued.
'Hamlet Hail to the Thief' will premiere at Aviva Studios in Manchester from April 27 to May 18, 2025, before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon from June 4 to 28. Tickets go on sale October 2 via factoryinternational.org and rsc.org.uk.
