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 didn’t have to stay in the amphitheatre they had found in the game. In fact, the whole of the game was a potential stage, and they could even utilize different vehicles to move between locations.”
The team start trying to recruit a cast for the play and gathered together not just actors, but full-time mothers, cooks, and an alien who offers to audition with his ass… but ends up reciting a passage from the Quran. It soon becomes clear that the documentary is not just about the play, but that so many of the cast across the globe are in the same situation, locked inside with no real human contact and we get to hear their personal stories of lockdown. It also shows just how positive video games can be, bringing a random group of people to create something new. “I do think there should be more films about the positivity of gaming,” said Penny, “I thought [gaming] was a negative place to begin with.”
There are some amusing moments when Sam, Penny and Mark meet an auditionee for the first time, but found the voice does not match the on-screen persona as the player has gender-swapped that avatar. I asked them if this was a help or hindrance when casting and they explained that made casting even easier. “We could do this gender neutral,” said Penny. “People’s flexibility in games meant it was easy to be flexible when casting.”
There are also many, many laugh-out-loud moments throughout Grand Theft Hamlet, something you don’t often expect in a documentary, but as the team had no control over NPCs or other players, they often found squads of police cars racing into their rehearsal space. A solution came in the shape of some volunteers players who acted as the play’s own security force, taking down any players who were encroaching on the scene. I’m not sure what Shakespeare would have made of his soliloquies being recited by Hamlet while a jet patrols the skies above, its chain gun thundering and blowing up incoming helicopters, but I loved it.
None of what the Penny, Mark and Sam have created makes any sense; Hamlet in GTA Online should not work, the idea should have been shut down before it was even suggested. Somehow it does, the documentary is funny and touching, but also shows that people with no existing connections whatsoever, people from different countries and all backgrounds, can work together and make something beautiful. Given what is going on across the planet these days it’s nice to be reminded that, even in murderous world of GTA Online, there are good guys.
Grand Theft Hamlet is streaming on MUBI right now, and you can sign up for a free seven day trial here.
