Grand Theft Hamlet comes to MUBI – There’s something rotten in the city of Vinewood

thesixthaxis.com:

Sometimes you hear of a project that is so preposterous that you immediately dismiss it as it is never, ever going to come to fruition. I am not talking about climbing Everest or cycling around the globe – we know those can be achieved – I am talking about performing all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. That barmy idea has made its way all the way through to now being available to stream on MUBI!

How did this come about, though? As we entered the third Covid lockdown in January 2021, two out-of-work theatre actors Sam and Mark joined millions of others online and played video games, specifically Grand Theft Auto Online. While exploring the map they stumbled across the Vinewood Bowl, a huge outdoor amphitheatre, and this backdrop planted an idea in their heads. They can’t act in real life, so why not put on a play inside Grand Theft Auto Online?

Hamlet was chosen, a decision which turned out to be more fortuitous than they could have imagined as they slowly discovered the world GTA Online, and how the perfect neon city hides a dark seedy underbelly of lies and deceit, themes that can also be found within play. “It’s got the same recognisability in theatre as GTA has to gamers,” said Sam “It’s glamorous but under the surface, there is a relentless focus on death.” Hamlet also has a play within the play, so staging a play within a game seems the obvious modern equivalent.

Sam brought in his partner, Penny, to document the entire process. Over 300 hours of footage were captured on PlayStation 5, shot completely within the game and without using the Director mode, so you can see the HUD, NPCs, and of course many players who have nothing to do with the film trying to murder the cast at every opportunity. The only thing that wasn’t done in-game was chopping it all up and editing it in Adobe to create the documentary film Grand Theft Hamlet.

“One major planning point was when the guys realized that they could do a promenade performance,” says Sam. “They