Staging Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto

Staging Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto

When live performance shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen weren’t sure when—or if—they’d ever be onstage again. So, they turned to an unexpected venue: Grand Theft Auto Online, a sprawling, open-world video game best known for fast cars, chaotic and often criminal missions, and player-driven mayhem. Amid the game’s unpredictable violence, they decided to stage Hamlet—it would be the first ever complete performance of a Shakespeare play within a video game. Filmmaker Pinny Grylls joined them and turned the experiment into a documentary: Grand Theft Hamlet. Shot entirely within the game, the film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival. “A startling example of using any tools at your disposal to make memorable art,” said the Rotten Tomatoes website. “Grand Theft Hamlet’s experimental approach does justice by the Bard.” In this episode, Crane and Grylls talk about performance, friendship, and grief during lockdown, as well as how one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays unexpectedly resonated with a virtual cast of strangers and a world in isolation. The result is both funny and poignant, and as surprising as live theater itself. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 1, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Jaksot(297)

Will Tosh on the Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare

Will Tosh on the Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare

How did Shakespeare engage with the complexities of gender and sexuality in his time? Was his portrayal of cross-dressing and same-sex attraction simply for comedic effect, or did it reflect a deeper ...

24 Syys 202435min

Throughlines, with Ayanna Thompson and Ruben Espinosa

Throughlines, with Ayanna Thompson and Ruben Espinosa

How can educators effectively incorporate discussions about race into the study of Shakespeare and other premodern texts in the college classroom? Barbara Bogaev speaks with scholars Ayanna Thompson a...

10 Syys 202432min

Juliet, Then and Now, with Sophie Duncan

Juliet, Then and Now, with Sophie Duncan

Was Romeo and Juliet your first brush with Shakespeare? Whether it was on stage, on screen in films by Franco Zeffirelli or Baz Luhrmann or Shonda Rhimes' Still Star-Crossed, or in the pages of the Fo...

27 Elo 202437min

Completing the Canon: Barry Edelstein on The Old Globe's Henry 6

Completing the Canon: Barry Edelstein on The Old Globe's Henry 6

This summer San Diego’s Old Globe became one of only 10 theaters in America who have produced all of Shakespeare’s plays (or 11, depending on how you count it) with their production of Henry VI, parts...

14 Elo 202437min

Colman Domingo on Sing Sing and the Power of Theater

Colman Domingo on Sing Sing and the Power of Theater

Can a musical comedy featuring Hamlet and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger change lives? Actor, playwright, and director Colman Domingo thinks so. In Sing Sing, a new film from A24, Domingo ...

30 Heinä 202430min

The Brief Life and Big Impact of the Federal Theatre Project, with James Shapiro

The Brief Life and Big Impact of the Federal Theatre Project, with James Shapiro

Imagine: a fiercely idealistic, politically progressive artist takes the stand at a hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The chair of the committee is a hard-right demagogue with a g...

16 Heinä 202436min

A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 2: Research at the Folger

A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 2: Research at the Folger

After a four-year renovation, the Folger Shakespeare Library is now open with 12,000 square feet of new public spaces. But behind the scenes, in our original building, we’ve also revamped the way we s...

2 Heinä 202431min

A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 1

A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 1

On June 21, the Folger reopens after a four-year renovation. The reimagined Folger has brand-new public exhibition spaces where we can introduce visitors to Shakespeare and his plays, as well as showc...

18 Kesä 202434min

Suosittua kategoriassa Premium

nikotellen
anni-jaajo
tuplakaak
jaljilla
antin-matka
grekovit
hei-baby-3
maanantaimysteeri
terveisia-perheesta
olipa-kerran-otsikko
murhan-anatomia
sita
kaksi-aitia
palmujen-varjoissa
the-harlin-show
ihme-ja-kumma
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
backmanholmavuo
i-dont-like-mondays
ihan-oikeesti