Grand Theft Hamlet review: a hilarious and moving treat about staging Shakespeare in the notoriously violent video game

You think Coppola had it tough with Martin Sheen’s breakdown and heart attack while making Apocalypse Now? Or the Fitzcarraldo shoot was tricky with Werner Herzog plotting to kill Klaus Kinski during filming?

Pah! A walk in the park. On this production of Hamlet, an alien had to to patrol the skies in a military gunship to fend off the hordes of gun-toting killers regularly blowing away cast members.

Of course, no one actually died. As this documentary opens to a dark screen, a faint, rhythmic padding can be heard. For those who know, it’s the unmistakable sound of footsteps in the video game Grand Theft Auto.

It is this hyper-violent online world where out-of-work London actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen chose to stage a live performance of Shakespeare’s most famous play. The resulting account of their endeavours (filmed entirely within the game) turns out to be an utterly hilarious and unexpectedly moving treat.