Shakespeare's tragedy meets Radiohead's 2003 album, reworked by Thom Yorke and played live, as the sold-out Manchester and Stratford production reaches the Barbican on 31 October. Here is everything you need to know before you book.
It sold out in Manchester. It sold out again in Stratford-upon-Avon. Now Hamlet Hail to the Thief has its London premiere at the Barbican Theatre, from Saturday 31 October 2026 to Saturday 23 January 2027, which gives London nearly three months to catch a show that two other cities could barely get into.
Who is starring in Hamlet Hail to the Thief?
Samuel Blenkin returns as Hamlet, with Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton doubling Claudius and the Ghost, and Claudia Harrison as Gertrude. Alby Baldwin plays Horatio, Brandon Grace is Laertes and Nicolas Tennant is Polonius.
The rest of the company of fourteen is Merryl Ansah, Miles Barrow, Halim Diwani, Gavin James, Felipe Pacheco, Marienella Phillips and Romaya Weaver. They share the stage with a ten-piece band, among them music supervisor and director Tom Brady, and the music is played by actors and musicians together rather than from a pit. Our full casting report lists every musician.
What is Hamlet Hail to the Thief about?
It is Hamlet, distilled. Elsinore has become a surveillance state where paranoia runs in everyone's blood, and Hamlet and Ophelia wake up to the lies around them through ghosts and through music. The score is Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, which Thom Yorke has taken apart and rebuilt for the stage, with his own orchestrations.
One thing worth knowing before booking: Radiohead are not in it. The album is performed live by the cast and band. The show runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes with no interval, and the Barbican gives an age guidance of 14+.
Who is behind the production?
Christine Jones adapted the play with Steven Hoggett, and the two direct it together. Jones won Tony and Olivier Awards for her design work, and Hoggett's movement-led credits include Black Watch and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Yorke is the third co-creator. The scenography is by AMP, featuring Sadra Tehrani, with arrangements by Justin Levine, choreography by Jess Williams, sound by Gareth Fry, projection by Will Duke, lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun and costumes by Lisa Duncan. Ayanna Thompson is dramaturg and textual consultant.
The staging is a Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International production. In London it is presented by ATC Music Group, Vivek J. Tiwary for TEG+ and Nate Koch.
When and where can I see it?
The run opens on Saturday 31 October 2026 and closes on Saturday 23 January 2027 at the Barbican Theatre, so it spans the whole of the Christmas season. At 100 minutes straight through, it is an easy fit for an evening after work. Booking details for Hamlet Hail to the Thief are on our show page.
What else should I book if I like it?
For another way into the same play, Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead follows two of Hamlet's minor characters as the tragedy happens just offstage.
If it is the album-to-stage idea that appeals, Buena Vista Social Club builds a musical around one of the most famous records ever made, and Jesus Christ Superstar began life as a concept album before it was ever staged.
