How Hamlet found a virtual stage in Grand Theft Auto

A virtual avatar selfie featuring Grand Theft Hamlet's director, Pinny Grylls, alongside co-star writers and directors Sam Crane (left) and Mark Oosterveen (right)

How do you keep Shakespeare fresh after 400 years? Two actors found an unexpected answer inside the computer game Grand Theft Auto (GTA).

Prevented from working by the Covid pandemic, Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen turned to online gaming.

The UK-based pair decided to put on a virtual production of Hamlet inside the online version of GTA.

It would be the first time in the play's 400-year history the actors needed to be protected by a fighter jet - especially one piloted by a luminous green alien.

• The history of Grand Theft Auto - BBC Sounds

GTA, set in Los Angeles-inspired city Los Santos and the fictional state of San Andreas sees players create and control their own characters - known as avatars.

Players can personalise their homes, clothes and vehicles and enjoy virtual leisure pursuits including sports, gambling and nightclubbing.

The idea of bringing Shakespeare to Los Santos came to Crane and Oosterveen when their avatars stumbled across an abandoned amphitheatre, called Vinewood Bowl, in the game.

Temptation struck. Could theatre be revived in this virtual arena while the UK's real-life theatres were shut?

The colourful personalities of the Grand Theft Hamlet cast avatars, captured mid-rehearsal

As with any real-life play, the production began with auditions.

"This is William Shakespeare's Hamlet," Crane's in-game character announced to a group of hopeful avatars. "I believe it's the first time it's ever been performed at the Vinewood Bowl.

"If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other," he begged. "And don't kill the actors either."

But predictably, murderous carnage ensued.

'Dig deep'

GTA is notorious for its violent content - and its bloodshed certainly fits the plot of the original play, in which (spoiler) almost everyone dies.

One of Shakespeare's famous tragedies, the story follows Prince Hamlet, who is encouraged by his father's ghost to avenge his death by killing his uncle, the usurper of the throne.

The actors' attempt to bring theatre to the gaming world inspired Crane's wife, film-maker Pinny Grylls, to create a documentary called Grand Theft Hamlet.

Shot entirely in game, the film presents Grylls, Crane and Oosterveen as their onscreen avatars - controlled and voiced by their real-world selves - as they attempt to cast and produce the play in GTA.

"We realised that the most important thing in moments of stress [is to] dig deep and try and find creative solutions to existential crises," Grylls tells BBC News.

The trio were not alone in turning to virtual worlds as a coping mechanism. Data from research company Nielsen indicates 82% of global consumers engaged with gaming content during the pandemic lockdowns - a record high for the medium.

Crane, Grylls and Oosterveen's avatars overlooking the sprawling skyline of GTA's virtual city, Los Santos

The documentary captures this need for escape - often in bittersweet humour.

"I'm so sick of Hackney," Grylls says as she drives through sun-kissed Los Santos to Crane's virtual flat.

"This is like we've just started dating again and you're taking me to your place."

And since years have now passed since the pandemic lockdowns, the film provides an opportunity to reflect.

"A lot of people have found solace and emotional catharsis in this film," Crane says.

Grylls and Crane, a real-life couple, have said the concept was partly inspired by a Minecraft YouTuber their then-12-year-old son watched

Grand Theft Hamlet is not the first film to adopt the in-game visual style - known as machinima. But the contrast between the virtual world it portrays and the bleak real-world context it was made in sets it apart.

“There's a positivity to our film, despite, yes, dwelling in the kind of trauma of what we were going through,” Crane says.

“There's still something... creative.”

Grylls was particularly struck by the strong “sense of community” fostered by the wide variety of players who answered their virtual casting call.

They include DJ Phil89 - a Hamlet-loving literary agent borrowing her nephew’s account to audition, strutting around as his shirtless male avatar in a top hat and aviators.

ParTeb, the luminous green alien, on the audition stage

ParTeb, half-Finnish, half-Tunisian, appears as a luminous green alien. Nervous of his poor English, he delivers a poignant audition, spontaneously reciting an Islamic prayer in Arabic - an emotional reminder of the surrounding pandemic.

Ultimately, ParTeb chooses to become the cast’s defender in chief, protecting them from mid-performance attacks - once piloting a fighter jet to save the day, in true (intergalactic) Top Gun style.

“It made me realise that the people who game are not just one kind of person,” Grylls says.

Crane hopes their film can help demonstrate how game spaces can foster genuine real-world connection.

Crane, who voices Hamlet, saw his avatar killed numerous times by passing anarchic gamers, known as griefers, who deliberately annoy other players

And he points to this year’s World of Warcraft documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which explores how Mats Steen, a young gamer with the life-limiting degenerative condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy, forged a vibrant secret life online.

“It's finally coming into public consciousness,” Crane says. “These relationships with people inside the game, they can be very real.”

Despite moments of humour and light, Grand Theft Hamlet cannot fully escape the painful reality of lockdown.

When Grylls, speaking in game, asks Crane if he is OK, his reply is swift: “Not really... I have nothing now.”

And the tensions are compounded by the bleak state of the arts, with Crane referencing the then-government’s much-derided advert encouraging artists to "reskill" in cyber-security.

Reality check

Mental-health struggles pepper the trio’s asides.

Oosterveen battles isolation as a single man - mentioning the loss of his only remaining relative.

And, as the documentary progresses, Grylls openly argues with Crane, accusing him of neglecting family duties through his growing obsession with the game.

For some peace in the Los Santos chaos, Crane purchases a virtual office for planning meetings, paying to rename its foyer sign Elsinore, in a nod to the Danish castle in Hamlet.

But the group soon starts questioning the value of art and what they are trying to create, particularly when Dipo, the player originally cast as Hamlet, quits rehearsals for his new "real-world" job.

The reality check sees Crane lash out, dismissing their project as “not a real thing”, only for Oosterveen’s frustrations to boil over.

“You’ve got a wife, you’ve got kids,” he says, “I don’t have any of those things.”

New dimension

Reviews for Grand Theft Hamlet have praised its innovative emotional depth.

"This is an irreplaceable experience that speaks volumes about following your dreams despite the challenges that await," IGN wrote.

Variety said it took Shakespeare to a "whole new dimension".

And Crane feels traditional stage plays can learn from gaming, a more accessible medium.

“With theatre, you need to be in a place with a rich culture for it,” he says. “But with gaming, anyone can pick up a console, play, and express their creativity.”

Actress Jen Cohn (left), known for voicing Overwatch’s Pharah and now playing Horatio in GTA Hamlet, joined Crane, Oosterveen, and Grylls at this year's South by Southwest festival

Young cast member Nora has benefited from this opportunity. She openly thanks those in game for giving her the opportunity to act and express herself freely, particularly as someone going through a gender transition.

“It’s amazing that her first production experience of Shakespeare, beyond studying in school, was in Grand Theft Auto,” Grylls says. “That’s what kept us going really, the fact people kept coming back because they wanted to.”

Grylls, Crane and Oosterveen‘s committed madness has paid off. Their documentary has won festival awards, been screened at the BFI London Film Festival, secured a cinema release and will be streamed on Mubi next year.

Its success continued at the British Independent Film Awards on Sunday, with Crane and Grylls jointly winning the best debut director (feature documentary) category. The film also secured the Raindance Maverick award, celebrating bold, creative filmmakers.

So what of the future?

Last month, the government announced the Royal Shakespeare Company would look at using artificial intelligence and immersive technology in future productions.

And without spoiling the final performance of Hamlet in GTA, one scene is staged atop a blimp.

It is a spectacular metaphor of ambition (even as some actors and audience members accidentally fall to their deaths).

In the words of Shakespeare: “All the world's a stage.”

Grand Theft Hamlet is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 6 December, then streaming globally on Mubi in early 2025