Thom Yorke is reworking and orchestrating Radiohead’s Grammy-winning 2003 album, Hail to the Thief, that will be incorporated into a new theater production of Shakespeare’s classic play, Hamlet. The Radiohead frontman is reimagining the album for a cast that will include 20 musicians and actors, who will be performing the new work titled, Hamlet Hail to the Thief. Yorke’s production will be directed by Christine Jones, and will make its debut at Aviva Studios in Manchester, England from April 27th to May 18th, before fittingly moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon, from June 4th to June 28th.
“This is an interesting and intimidating challenge!” Yorke said of the project. “Adapting the original music of Hail to the Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told, using the music as a ‘presence’ in the room, watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.” (Consequence of Sound)