There's something wonderfully absurd about staging Shakespeare's greatest tragedy in a video game best known for car theft and mayhem. Yet Grand Theft Hamlet, newly released on MUBI, transforms this seemingly bizarre premise into a surprisingly moving meditation on creativity, community, and connection in confined spaces.
The documentary follows two out-of-work actors, Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, as they attempt to stage Hamlet within Grand Theft Auto's sprawling Los Santos. Shot entirely using in-game footage, the film constantly plays with delightful contradictions - one moment we're listening to thoughtful discussions about theatrical staging, the next we're watching an auditionee spontaneously combust via rocket launcher.
What makes this work isn't just the humour (though watching Shakespeare performed by avatars in outlandish costumes is consistently hilarious), but how it captures something genuine about human connection in digital spaces. Like the forums and online communities that have long brought together people across cultures and continents, this virtual Hamlet creates its own peculiar sort of intimacy. The film reminds us that while the internet is often criticised for its darker elements, it can also be a space for unlikely creative collaboration and genuine human connection.
The COVID-19 lockdown context feels both distant and familiar - enough time has passed to laugh at the strange ways we coped with isolation, yet the fundamental need to forge connections and create art within constraints remains resonant. Like Mark Borchardt in American Movie, another documentary about friends pursuing an unlikely creative vision, there's something endearing about watching people navigate the gap between artistic ambition and practical limitations.
The decision to film entirely within GTA occasionally feels repetitive, but it ultimately serves the project's charm. There's something genius about using a game engine designed for chaos to stage one of literature's most thoughtful explorations of mortality and meaning. The constraints become part of the creative expression, much like how Shakespeare himself worked within the limitations of Elizabethan theatre.
Grand Theft Hamlet could have easily been a mere curiosity - a quirky footnote in the history of Shakespeare adaptations. Instead, it becomes something more profound: a testament to human creativity, a celebration of unlikely communities, and a reminder that art can flourish in the most unexpected places.
The concept might sound bizarre on paper, but like a modded GTA session that somehow transforms into legitimate theatre, it really works. It's the kind of film that makes you appreciate both the timelessness of Shakespeare and the strange new worlds where his work continues to resonate.
Grant Theft Hamlet is now streaming on MUBI - get your 30 days free.
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