Grand Theft Hamlet (2025)

The history of video game adaptations for the big screen is fraught with stinkers. In fact Duncan Jones's Warcraft (2016) is the only one that I thought warranted a follow up (which it didn't get) and as far as the more child friendly ones go, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (202-2024) remains the most harmless. Damning with faint praise indeed.

A Grand Theft Auto adaptation has been muted for decades, (the 1977 film of the same name is not in any way affiliated with the game series) and we're still yet to see that come to fruition. But after the recent release of Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls' Grand Theft Hamlet, one wonders if we now ever need a full adaptation of the game.

During lock-down, two out-of-work actors (Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen) spent a lot of their time playing Grand Theft Auto V online; a world so expansive that you can lose yourself in it, come across all kinds of people, and essentially kill each other. After happening upon the Vinewood Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater, the pair toy with the idea of somehow staging an in-game performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet; recruiting other gamers to play different parts but keeping their original avatar outfits and dispositions.

The idea is audacious; but their increasing dedication as the documentary unfolds (all within the GTA universe) is what makes Grand Theft Hamlet so stirring. The auditioning process is highly amusing if at times understandably frustrating; several people turn up simply to waste whoever happens to be in the area and it's testament to all involved that they choose not to confine their production to the Vinewood Bowl, but to range all over Los Santos in a bid to find locations that might suit particular Shakespeare scenes.

Early on as they're experimenting it's difficult to complete scenes what with other players turning up to kill people having no idea what's unfolding in front of them, but as the players get more au fait with where exactly they're meeting and at what time it becomes real life itself for them, with all of them confined to their own homes with their own problems (which we briefly hear about) making this a more humanist experience than you might have originally expected.

The project gives all involved purpose, which means when certain characters have to back out of the bizarre production due to other commitments you can feel it; this has become everyday life for these people. When Crane, Oosterveen and Grylls start arguing amongst themselves towards the end in a particularly dank setting it does feel a little put on, as if they felt they needed to inject some sort of realism into the piece when in fact what they had was more than valid in itself.

For someone who doesn't game and can't think of anything worse than spending hours and hours in front of a screen arguing with people I don't know, Grand Theft Hamlet admirably supports the theory that gaming can be a positive social outlet, especially during the Covid lock-down. Games now are without doubt an art form and just because I personally don't take a huge interest it doesn't mean the entire entity is dismissible.

Grand Theft Hamlet does occasionally feel like you're simply watching other people play Grand Theft Auto, albeit a very sophisticated version. And while watching other people play video games is now a genuine past time for some people, it's something I have absolutely no interest in. But that doesn't take away from Crane and Oosterveen's achievement, and when the final (far from perfect) performance ends and the characters head to an in-game nightclub owned by one of the players, you have to hold your hands up- and applaud. 7.7/10