Shakespeare collides with Radiohead this autumn as Hamlet Hail to the Thief makes its London premiere at the Barbican Theatre. The full returning cast has now been confirmed, led by Samuel Blenkin reprising his role from the RSC run as Hamlet.
Following sold-out runs at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, last year, this dynamic reimagining of Shakespeare’s great tragedy comes to the Barbican from 31 October 2026 to 23 January 2027.
Co-created by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke alongside directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones, the production fuses theatre, music and movement, illuminating Shakespeare’s words through the songs of Radiohead’s celebrated 2003 album Hail to the Thief, personally reworked by Yorke and performed live on stage by a cast of musicians and actors.
View live availability for Hamlet Hail to the Thief here
The cast of Hamlet Hail to the Thief
Samuel Blenkin (currently a lead in Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth), known for Black Mirror, Mickey 17 and Mary & George, reprises the title role from the RSC run, alongside Ami Tredrea (The Shitheads, Black Mirror) returning as Ophelia. The pair lead a returning company drawn from the acclaimed original production.
The principal cast includes:
- Samuel Blenkin (Alien: Earth; Black Mirror) as Hamlet
- Ami Tredrea (Wendy and Peter Pan, RSC) as Ophelia
- Paul Hilton (Slow Horses; Olivier-nominated for An Enemy of the People) as Claudius/Ghost
- Claudia Harrison (The Crown; The Line of Beauty) as Gertrude
- Alby Baldwin (The Unbelievers, Royal Court) as Horatio
- Brandon Grace (Summerfolk and London Tide, National Theatre) as Laertes
- Felipe Pacheco (The Hunger Games, Troubadour Theatre) as Guildenstern
- Romaya Weaver (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe) as Barnarda/Player Queen
- Marienella Phillips (Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC) as Offstage Swing
Further casting is to be announced. Among the returning company, Paul Hilton brings particularly strong stage pedigree, having been Tony-nominated for The Inheritance and Olivier-nominated for An Enemy of the People, while Claudia Harrison is widely known for playing Princess Anne in Netflix’s The Crown.
What is Hamlet Hail to the Thief?
This is no conventional staging of Hamlet. In a fast-paced distillation of the play, Shakespeare’s text and Radiohead’s music are made to illuminate one another, fusing theatre, movement and live performance into something genuinely new.
The deconstructed album, which was reworked by Thom Yorke himself, is performed live on stage, blurring the lines between play and concert. Set in an Elsinore where “the air bites” and a new ruler has seized power, the production centres on Hamlet and Ophelia’s awakening to the lies and corruption infecting their war-like state.
The pairing is more natural than it might first appear. Hail to the Thief, Radiohead’s sixth studio album, was recorded in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent “War on Terror,” and its dystopian themes of paranoia, fear and anxiety was shot through with Orwell-inspired lyrics and Brothers Grimm-style fables. It finds an uncanny echo in Shakespeare’s tragedy of a corrupted state and a mind in turmoil.
The creators
Hamlet Hail to the Thief is adapted by Christine Jones with Steven Hoggett, who also co-direct, with orchestrations by Thom Yorke. It is a reunion of formidable talent: Olivier Award-winner Steven Hoggett is one of the most celebrated movement directors in world theatre, a founding member of Frantic Assembly whose credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Black Watch and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Tony and Olivier Award-winner Christine Jones is the creator of the acclaimed Theatre for One and a designer whose work includes Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Outsiders. The two have collaborated repeatedly, as choreographer and designer respectively, across some of the most distinctive theatre of recent decades.
For Thom Yorke, the project marks a rare venture into theatre. “I’m into finally bringing Hamlet Hail to the Thief to London, and to the Barbican of all places,” he said. “It is fascinating and very strange to me how this came to life and how it has worked… I am happy for it to be seen by a wider audience in such an intense space.”
What to expect
Co-director Christine Jones has described the move to the Barbican as “fated,” noting that bringing “this brutal play into the Barbican’s brutalist space” feels entirely fitting, and that both the play and the album “continue to speak urgently to the convulsed world we find ourselves in.”
Expect a frenetic, immersive fusion of Shakespearean tragedy and live music, performed by a cast who are as much musicians as actors. The production rounds out the Barbican’s autumn/winter theatre and dance season.
Book tickets to Hamlet Hail to the Thief at the Barbican here
Plan your visit to Hamlet Hail to the Thief
- Theatre: Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
- Booking dates: 31 October 2026 – 23 January 2027
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