There is a reasonableness the play ofWilliam Shakespearecontinue to hold such cultural up-to-dateness over 400 year after the author ’s death . His stories — stretch across history , drollery , and tragedies — are achingly relatable portrayals of the human experience in all its facets . It is whyRomeo and Julietcan work as amusical in 50 ’s New YorkorMacbethcan be transported tofeudal Japan . Shakespeare is timeless . So who ’s to say it would n’t forge inwardly of a video game ?
That ’s precisely the premise ofGrand Theft Hamlet , a documentary that chronicles two actors ’ troubled attempt during the Covid-19 pandemic to stage the bard ’s famous disaster wholly within Rockstar ’s multiplayer sandbox , Grand Theft Auto Online . stage the experiential story in the thick of a pandemic when the future of alive dramaturgy is uncertain is a compelling crotchet , but this struggle is never present enough projection screen fourth dimension over the course of the docudrama ’s refreshing 91 minute runtime
Grand Theft Hamletbounces between grand philosophizing about life sentence ( Hamlet would be proud ) and inviting the audience to express joy at just how wacky video secret plan can be in comparison to the in high spirits artistic creation of theater . What gets misplace in between are the human moments that make plain the universal desire for community that both theatre and on-line gambling can provide .
Anyone can act
The opening ofGrand Theft Hamletsees out of work thespian Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen in the middle of a school term ofGrand Theft Auto Online . While fleeing from the cops — the entire documentary is shoot in - game — the two stumble upon the Vinewood Bowl , a turgid unresolved - breeze amphitheater . After reciting some monologues and jump off around , an idea form : What if the duo give away a live output ofHamlethere ? It ’s not like the two , stick to at rest home during UK lockdown ’s in 2021 , are doing any other acting . But the logistics of such an task soon head to a telephone number of complications .
The first vault is round up a plaster cast . A full production of Hamlet necessitate around two 12 performing artist when one without some people double up on roles . When their first attempts at wreak random participant into the fold go raiment , including several over - the - top deaths at the hand of potential auditionees , Crane and Oosterveen put out the call online . This garners much more success , as a smattering of wannabee show up to answer the call .
The auditory sense are the first capital moment ofGrand Theft Hamlet . In brusk interviews we see about the motley gang that will become our cast . There is a professional voice histrion ( Overwatch ’s Jen Cohn ) but also full - prison term parents , real - spirit friends of Crane and Oosterveen , and a literary agent that has commandeered her nephew ’s story to fulfill a long - held aspiration of act . Some performer plume for the part and others time diagonal of knife to the climactic import of their soliloquy . learn the in - game good example awkwardly gesticulate and emote to the words of Shakespeare ( as heard over fuzzy voice chat ) is jarring at first but soon feels natural as the timeless prose hold midway point . possibly this wild idea just might work .
Even these poignant moments come with the drawbacks of being in a outlaw public meeting place likeGrand Theft Auto . Weapons go off , actors accidentally kill each other midplane , and eventually the copper show up to deflower it all . This is the major juxtapositionGrand Theft Hamletconstantly leans into . A encounter of high and small prowess , and how comedic it is to see actors get squander to mellow heaven . Crane and Oosterveen claim early on that this replicates a true Shakespeare experience in many way . The fabric ofHamletitself is incredibly violent , something that the macrocosm ofGrand Theft Auto Onlineprovides in jigaboo . Yet the photographic camera ofGrand Theft Hamletnever penetrate the unpredictable violence of Los Santos with anything but humor . “ Is n’t this comic ” it seems to ask the viewer every single time an inadvertent death occurs , of which there are countless . It takes aside from Oosterveen and Crane ’s claim about this repeat the original experience of seeingHamletat The Old Globe , and it frames it as a contrast between serious ( theater ) and unserious ( telecasting games ) artistic production course .
Reality and fiction blend
There is something to be said for how the endless parade of last inGrand Theft Hamletmore aptly verbalise to the experience finger during the Covid-19 pandemic . Crane and Oosterveen , and the stamp they have piece , are doing their best to create something in the shadow of unimaginable loss . Between rehearsal for the play , we see the real world bleed intoGrand Theft Auto Online . In a sober instant between Oosterveen and Pinny Grylls ( Colorado - film director of the documentary , source of the majority of in - game footage , and Crane ’s married woman ) that he recently attended the funeral of his last blood proportional . In this moment he is digitally present with Grylls , but in the tangible - creation he is alone in his apartment while also being alone in a much more existential definition . It is grievous .
These moment of reality often cause just as much to-do to the production of Hamlet as any of the unpredictable mayhem ofGrand Theft Auto Online . In a scummy - full point for Crane and Oosterveen , their Hamlet break the news that he has gotten a chore and must quiet the production since he no longer has the clip . Crane and Oosterveen , standing in a subway station constantly humming with arrive and departing train , bring out down in an argument . perchance this production is goosy , perchance it has no intent . It conduct to a feud between the duo . And what should feel as real as the other poignant moments ofGrand Theft Hamletonly shows one of the documentary ’s egregious flaws : Much like the play they are attempting to do , it all feels rehearsed .
Harold Hart Crane and Oosterveen are role player , and you’re able to feel them punch up their dialogue in these moments about the “ actual - world . ” While the work of Shakespeare helps to break down the uncanny vale of the digital world , these scenes do the opposition . They pull me back to the tryout in which player carefully train their emotes and action to reflect their words . To sync natural process and voice in this online space takes preparation , meaning when Crane angrily punches the airwave or fend off “ appear ” at Oosterveen by getting a drink from a vending machine it reads as far too choreographed , with on the olfactory organ dialogue . mayhap these fight between the two and existential outbursts did happen , but what we see inGrand Theft Hamletcomes across as a theatrical retelling that lack worked up inexperience . The two often go for a tone that clearly is meant to mirror the melodrama ofHamlet , when their circumstances really palpate more consanguineous to the meandering and often comedic existentialism ofRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead .
Lack of intent
But the playing period ’s the thing , so just how does the cast ’s many hours of rehearsal pay off ? In all honesty , Grand Theft Hamletdoesn’t seem very interested in show up you precisely how it all shake ’s out . The few tidbits of the incoherent live operation we do see near the documentary ’s end are replete with bazookas , sports railcar , and even a sausage balloon fly through the sky . Harold Hart Crane and Oosterveen tend into the spectacle Los Santos affords without thinking about how it deepens their take onHamlet
As for the performances , most of them are fair weak . Though I ’m not actually mad about that . Outside of Crane , Oosterveen , and Cohn , nobody in the cast is a professional actor . Rather than the Royal Shakespeare Company this production is more like seeing your local community dramaturgy ’s variant ofHamlet . Which is enceinte ! For most of these people , lay on a Tony worthy performance is n’t the most of import affair , it ’s about the friendly relationship that this adventure has given them . It speaks to the importance of theater as a tool for building community , something that it shares with online game . peculiarly in a global pandemic that made all of us more solitary than we had ever been , Grand Theft Auto Onlinestands in for all the on-line spaces that allow for people to expend time together .
That does n’t seem to be the takeaway for Crane and Oosterveen however . WithHamletsuccessfully execute in game and lockdown ’s being lifted the two look forth to life back in the real - world , at which steer their artistic and communal adventures withinGrand Theft Auto Onlinewill likely come to an end . It read almost as a admonisher to get out of doors and touch grass . Much ofGrand Theft Hamletfeels like this , with Crane and Oosterveen acting as irregular visitors to online digital space only out of necessity . As a side - effect of the film focusing more on the duo as it proceed on , we also get less and less of those compelling human fib that the cast of characters bring to the table .
All the world’s a stage
This is perhaps my corking frustration withGrand Theft Hamlet . Theater and picture games are such artistic siblings in their interactivity and community , but those connective threads are n’t openly acknowledged by Crane and Oosterveen . Much like other projects from non - gaming the great unwashed wading into this world , the whole premise also comes from an uninformed place of self - aggrandizement . The duo forever blab about the accomplishment of performing Shakespeare inGrand Theft Auto Onlineas having never been done before . That might be true ofGrand Theft Auto Online , but it is n’t true of video game at big .
Dedicatedtheater company inFinal Fantasy 14have been putting on theatrical performances to full - houses for years — I attended one in 2020 — includingproductions of Shakespeare . Also in 2020 , Celine Song ( author and director ofPast life ) put on a production ofAnton Chekhov’sThe Seagullentirely inThe Sims 4that like an expert put the two medium into a conversation about the ephemeral nature of stories tell within both . what is more , Crane and Oosterveen neglect thethriving roleplaying scenethatGrand Theft Auto Onlinehas nurture since its release . It might not be Shakespeare , but it requires the same communal feat from a dedicated group of participant wanting to make something of their own within the sandbox .
Hart Crane and Oosterveen incessantly seem to believe that due to their theatrical background they are bringing an inheritor of seriousness to what they see as a silly world . To quote the bard , the two see Grand Theft Auto Online as “ full of speech sound and fury , signifying nothing . ” In the end it leavesGrand Theft Hamlet feelingmuch the same .
Grand Theft Hamletwill be uncommitted to pullulate via MUBI on February 21 .
