Grand Theft Hamlet

Lockdown played havoc with so many lives, but professionally none more so than those in the entertainment industry. With theatres and cinemas all closed, their livelihoods dried up and a serious degree of ennui crept in to their day to day lives. One escape from that was "Grand Theft Auto" and that's where we meet jobbing actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen. Two forty-somethings who were dealing with this situation by shooting as many folks as they could online. The former lives with Pinny and has a couple of kids, the latter lives on his own and is struggling to find some sort of motivation. It's whilst playing the game one day that they find an outdoor auditorium and hit on the idea of performing "Hamlet" there. Swiftly they realise that standing on the stage belting out the best of the bard is only going to get their characters shot, then that two folks aren't going to be able to cover all the roles - so they embark on a project to recruit other players to fill the roles. What now ensues sees these men introduced to some serious would-be Thespians, some folks who think he wrote "Harry Potter" and some generally eclectic characters who all decide that this can be done after all. I'm not sure Shakespeare could ever have envisaged his play being put on using warplanes or giant blimps whilst the actors faced real peril (though I am sure we've all seen plays on stage where that might have been a benefit!) but as the two men start to become more absorbed with there mission it starts to become just as compelling to watch. Can they do it? How is their obsession impacting on their "real" lives? I have never played GTA in my life so was a little apprehensive that not knowing the game might impact on my enjoyment. It didn't at all, indeed that proved quite a fun template for their scenario as the mix of characters they encountered showed quite clearly that these men were not the only ones adrift in a closed-down world. As you'd expect, it is a quickly paced affair and I thought well worth and hour and a half.

The greatest argument to convince me that games could indeed be art, husband and wife Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls' documentary about staging Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the online world of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto is authentic and emotionally deep. Surprising, considering the entire movie takes place in a world where people dressed like aliens can fly military jets and shoot each other with a bazooka.

The absurdity of the premise quickly settles in though, as the movie quickly rises towards thoughtful and philosophical upper middle-class ruminations. Crane, his wife Grylls, and their family friend Mark Oosterveen have all lost their jobs due to the lockdown. Mark is especially down on his luck, as he is alone so it's difficult for him not to spend time feeling sorry for himself. Sam now takes courses in tech and sees that as a sign that his dreams are lost to him. Pinny is more optimistic, though, and does her best to carry both her husband and her friend through the hardships.

In what can be described as a desperate form of therapy, the trio plans to recreate Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the video game world and the first conclusion they reach is that they need more people so they start recruiting. Initially there is not much success. The world of Grand Theft Auto is about driving fast cars, shooting, stealing, fighting, flying--basically things most of us can't do in real life. But in a way, is the same for our protagonists. They are filmmakers who cannot perform their jobs in the real world, so it's time to log in.

Eventually, they did get a team together. People with their own stories, regrets and struggles. Just like in real life, they organized practice sessions, they staged the show across multiple locations of GTA's digital realm, with the final "performance" live on a streaming platform. However, amidst the emotional depth, this is still an online video game. The movement of the characters are cranky, robotic. There are technical issues, disconnects and the world is overall an unpredictable space. This technical element, now being part of the artistic performance, not only brought an unusual Lynchian sense of surrealism, but was pure fun--truly the closes video games ever got to being their own art form.

Grylls' way of perceiving the world though, was the biggest selling point of this movie. As quotes from "Hamlet" were being delivered, we see faces of the various NPCs in the game. Their expressions so human that you almost forget for a second that they are nothing but indelible pixels on a flat screen. For Sam and Mark, who live in a world which was shut down, they are as real as they can get. Unlike us, their lives are as long as the life of the world itself and in this liminal space unchained by the laws of physics and in which everything can be recorded, William Shakespeare was also given his slice of eternity.

When I first started watching this film, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much. As a fan of video game walkthroughs, I feared it would simply be another standard take on people playing in their respective digital worlds. Thankfully, I was proven wrong, and what unfolded was an emotional journey that kept me hooked.

Watching it, whilst remembering the context of the time it was 'filmed' adds an extra layer of depth to the experience. The film resonates more when you remember the world we were living in during that period.

There's a lot of fun to be had, especially with the video game slapstick humor. What really stands out, however, are the performances-some truly fine actors navigating both the real and virtual worlds, each delivering their craft in unique and compelling ways.

This film is surprising and genuinely enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone fascinated by virtual worlds, but also to those who appreciate the underlying struggles we try to suppress in the real world.

It's 2021 and near enough the entire world is locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many creatives at that time Sam and Mark (Not the CBBC duo) find themselves out of work and as a result find their mental health declining. They both get into playing video games primarily it seems as a way to socialise without actually being in the vicinity of others. Whilst playing the game Grand Theft Auto 5 together they come up with a seemingly impossible concept... staging a production of Shakespeares Hamlet set entirely within the fictitious world of Los Santos.

On hearing the synopsis it would be easy to assume that they got a few of their actor friends involved and simply put on the play. This however is not the case and whilst I've seen a lot of people criticise how little of the actual play is in this film I think what Sam and Mark have created is actually a lot more interesting. Grand Theft Hamlet is a documentary rather than a drama that explores both the stresses of putting on a play, as well as drawing parallels between the themes of Hamlet and the lockdown experiences of the two leads.

Firstly there's the stresses of putting on a play. This tends to be where the more comedic moments come in as Sam and Mark try to do things like hold auditions all whilst being shot either by other players or by NPC's. Not only do they have the general public to contend with however they also have the personal lives of everyone involved. People get jobs in the real world for instance and as a result become less available for the play. Sam and Mark are then left with the dilemma of finding a replacement. Needless to say this all results in some hilarious moments whilst also creating real tension around whether their objective is actually achievable or not.

There's also some surprisingly heartfelt personal moments. A particularly poignant moment is when the two discuss the infamous 'To be or not to be' line and its meaning that almost draws parallel with their personal pandemic struggles. I think it's something that a lot of people will be able to relate to if you think back to that time, it just plain sucked. In fact the whole documentary is a great time capsule for remembering the COVID pandemic, the funny moments, the really dark moments and the general strangeness that we all felt.

Grand Theft Hamlet is ultimately one of the most unique and creative pieces of filmmaking that I've seen for a good while and I highly recommend giving it a watch.

So, what is Grand Theft Hamlet? It's a performance of Hamlet staged within Grand Theft Auto Online.

But what exactly is GTA Online?

It's an "open-world, action-adventure, multiplayer" sandbox game. That might sound like World of Warcraft mixed with Grand Theft Auto, but not really. GTA Online is actually part of Grand Theft Auto V, rather than a separate MMO. Only 30 players can be in the same session at a time-far fewer than the thousands in WoW.

But is GTA Online any good?

That's what I've been trying to figure out. The game had a mixed critical reception when it launched on PS3, likely due to server issues and bugs. Even after a PS4-era re-release, reviews remained similar. GTA V as a whole is beloved-often considered one of the best games of its generation-but I'm not sure how much of that acclaim extends to its online component.

One thing's for sure: GTA Online is popular. Over 20 million people still play it every month, even today. Considering GTA V has sold 205 million copies, that means about 10% of people who bought a game originally released 12 years ago still log in regularly. That's remarkable longevity. It might not be my thing, but it must have done something right.

So how was the performance of Hamlet?

No idea. Out of Grand Theft Hamlet's 90-minute runtime, only about 10 minutes are dedicated to the performance itself. No full scene is shown. I was hyped to see Shakespeare-I even prepped by familiarizing myself with the themes, characters, and plot. But I didn't need to. The full performance isn't available online. And if the filmmakers didn't want to show it, I have to assume it wasn't very good.

As a documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet is a fascinating making-of feature. But it's more like a DVD bonus than a full-fledged film. The project was marketed as a complete in-game performance of Hamlet, but the documentary isn't that-it's about the attempt to make it happen.

Was GTA Online the right place for this?

Probably not. The idea started when two out-of-work Shakespearean actors, stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, discovered a massive outdoor theater while exploring GTA Online. They wondered, Could we stage a play here? They tried performing lines, announcing their impromptu show to any players nearby. Before they could start, another player in the audience shot them, looted their corpses, and left.

Not a great start.

But they persisted, bringing in a documentary filmmaker to capture their attempt to perform Hamlet in full.

At first, I thought GTA Online was a large enough MMO that thousands of players could gather to watch, but with only 30 per session, that wasn't the case. Even then, the idea of Hamlet performed in the chaos of GTA-grenades going off, cars ramming the stage, audience members shooting each other-sounded like a trainwreck I needed to see.

It wasn't quite that, but it was still a trainwreck. They struggled to recruit actors, often getting killed mid-rehearsal. Every time they died, they respawned at their home base and had to drive all the way back-assuming their car didn't explode on the way.

I appreciate that GTA Online sparked the idea: Let's perform a play in an online world. But they put zero effort into considering other platforms. VRChat, Rec Room, Neos VR, Second Life, Minecraft, Roblox, Mozilla Hubs-all arguably better suited for virtual theater. But because they got the idea while playing GTA Online, that's what they used.

As a gimmick for a documentary, it's clever. The contrast between GTA's violence and Shakespeare's high art is intriguing. But if the goal was to explore whether online theater works, the film needed to dig deeper. I'd love to see a documentary that actually tested different platforms to see which one best supports digital performance.

"I've been sitting at home. Alone." More than anything, Grand Theft Hamlet is about pandemic-era isolation and how people filled that time. Unless you worked in an essential field, you were probably stuck at home, wondering how to stay productive. (Charli XCX: Alone Together tackles a similar theme-though in that case, the result was How I'm Feeling Now, one of her best albums.)

Many people got pulled into video game routines. One actor even asks his wife, "Do you think I spend too much time playing this game?" She says, "Yeah, a little bit." His friend stays up late rehearsing, while he spends all night "buying planes" in GTA Online. He even misses his wife's birthday. She tells him she has to log into the game just to spend time with him.

At one point, he says, "I want to give you a hug." She replies, "You can in real life. I live in the same house as you."

While Grand Theft Hamlet has more to say about video game addiction than Shakespeare, it's still worth a watch. If you're interested in how video games are changing the way people connect and create, this documentary offers a glimpse of what's starting to be possible-while also highlighting the many limitations.

Final Thoughts

The idea of performing Hamlet in a video game is interesting, but this documentary sells the concept of a great film rather than being one itself. That said, it got me thinking. Online theater is still underexplored. I'd love to see a documentary that takes a methodical, America's Test Kitchen approach-experimenting with different platforms to see how Shakespeare (or any play) translates into a digital environment.

If their Hamlet is unavailable, maybe it just didn't work. But I'd love to see someone try again-this time, with a game that actually supports the concept.

Rating: 7.5/10.