A fresh set of rehearsal photographs by Alex Lake takes the camera behind the scenes of Hamlet Hail to the Thief as the company finishes rehearsals, with the first London preview at the Barbican Theatre this weekend.
The pictures were taken during final rehearsals for Hamlet Hail to the Thief, before the production moves into the Barbican Theatre. Lake has photographed Radiohead often, and the black-and-white frames cover the actors and the band alike. They follow the rehearsal images by Manuel Harlan released earlier this month.
Samuel Blenkin, who returns as Hamlet, appears alone and in a scene with Nicolas Tennant as Polonius. Ami Tredrea is pictured as Ophelia, alone and with Brandon Grace as Laertes, and Romaya Weaver is shown in rehearsal for Barnarda and the Player Queen. Thom Yorke is caught in the room beside arranger Justin Levine, while singers Ed Begley and Meg Hill work at the microphones.
The Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International production pairs Shakespeare's play with Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief, which Yorke has reworked for actors and musicians who perform it live. Christine Jones adapted the text with Steven Hoggett, and the two share the direction; Yorke supplies the orchestrations and Levine the arrangements. The show had its world premiere last year at Aviva Studios in Manchester.
The rest of the company is Paul Hilton (Claudius and the Ghost), Claudia Harrison (Gertrude), Alby Baldwin (Horatio), Miles Barrow (Rosencrantz), Felipe Pacheco (Guildenstern) and Merryl Ansah (Gravedigger), with Marienella Phillips, Halim Diwani and Gavin James among the understudies. The original band is back in full: Begley and Hill on vocals, Tom Brady as music supervisor and music director, Tom Knowles on keys, Jenny Clifford and Adam Martin on guitars, Joe Downard on bass and Shane Forbes on drums. Two cover singers, Emilio Moreno Arias and Josephina Ortiz Lewis, join them.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief is booking now at the Barbican Theatre from Saturday 31 October 2026 until Saturday 23 January 2027, with press night on Thursday 12 November 2026. There is a captioned performance on Saturday 28 November 2026, an audio-described performance on Saturday 12 December 2026 and a chilled performance on Saturday 16 January 2027, all at 2.30pm.
