Grand Theft Hamlet

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.

First and foremost, do not make the same misjudgment of this film that I did. This is not a complete recreation of 'Hamlet' in Grand Theft Auto, rather a documentary on the making of this concept/production with glimpses of its execution.

That being said, I really appreciated the central idea behind this piece and found the journey that this documentary was portarying to be full of humour, honesty, and integrity. In a time of lockdown and social isolation, it was genuinely moving to see how certain uses of technology, unusually combined with the timelessness of theatre/Shakespeare, could bring people together, even between those of different backgrounds, experiences, and languages.

I was surprised by how a guy in a green alien skin endeared me. Despite everyone involved in this documentary being visually portrayed by these otherwise unexpressive video game characters, the voice overs really shine in making the audience emotionally connect with these people, their passions, and lives.

The one drawback I can think to this documentary is that of the pacing. Even though this film is only 90 minutes, something about it slowed down time for me - though I'm not sure why, and I may be the only one who felt this.

However, this pacing issue does not put me off recommending this documentary to others, due to it's sincerity and uniqueness in concept.

Grand Theft Hamlet attempts something with exciting potential, yet the film's interpretation of Hamlet remains rather weak. Although the production explains the reasons for this within the film itself, it still leaves the impression that an even stronger and more nuanced adaptation could have been achieved with very little additional effort. In this regard, the film does not provide a fully satisfying cohesion as a Hamlet interpretation, yet it presents its innovative concept to the audience openly, without hiding its flaws and the reasons behind them.

Games are seen by many as both a poor means of self-expression and the lowest form of art, but this is likely to change.

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.

Although it takes a while to get used to, 'Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)' is ultimately surprisingly compelling considering it's essentially a series of screen recordings of 'Grand Theft Auto Online (2013)'. This documentary depicts two out-of-work actors deciding to merge two of their major interests by staging a production of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' entirely within the open-world sandbox of their favourite COVID-lockdown distraction. After tentatively staging auditions, the pair and their documentarian observer (a non-fiction filmmaker who's also the wife of one of the focal actors) are surprised to find legitimate interest from people all over the world. Soon, their dreams of putting on the first GTA-only production of a play are underway, and they find themselves reckoning not just with the unruly nature of their digital stage but also with the schedules of their fellow actors. At its best, the piece is a testament to the sense of community and connection both theatre and video-games can provide, something we all realised was incredibly important during the recent pandemic (arguably, something like this could only be made under such circumstances). At times, though, it does feel overly staged and it also struggles to justify its length, even though said length is only around ninety minutes. Still, it's an intermittently funny, intermittently moving, and generally inspiring experimental documentary that offers a unique take on its material and feels specifically crafted for today's digital world. It's arguably one of the most timely updates of Shakespeare we've seen in a long time, even if it's more about the making of a Shakespeare production than an actual production itself (said production was live-streamed and viewed in-game a few years ago). It's an engaging experience that isn't ashamed to be exactly what it is and is all the better for it.