Grand Theft Hamlet is a hilarious, moving, and inspiring documentary where just reading the premise catches your interest.
The documentary takes place in January 2021, and the UK is still in lockdown due to COVID-19; to pass a massive amount of time, two actors, Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, decide to play Grand Theft Auto Online. While playing through the game, they find an area in the game almost hard to find, an amphitheater, called The Vinewood Bowl (inspired by the real-life Hollywood Bowl in LA), which serves as a concert and event venue. A funny idea came through this discovery - a digital production of Hamlet. They decide to act out a few monologues from the play, which results in hilarious moments where they get interrupted by other players who open fire on them, so they shoot back, and then the SWAT team quickly arrives at the scene to further escalate the chaos. The funny thing is that he is still delivering his soliloquy while shooting at the police.
The entire documentary is in the video game, and the game-play footage is recorded.
However, a funny idea turns into a serious project. The plan is to do the entire play of Hamlet through GTA, set up auditions in the online game to get people on board, do rehearsals, block it, and eventually live-stream the event. But this comes with its challenges and difficulties, such as organizing production in the video game world. Whether that is problems with the Internet connection, availability, or other players interrupting the rehearsal, it all becomes a massive headache and takes a toll on everyone involved.
The funniest part of the documentary is the ridiculousness of it all. There were plenty of laughs from everyone, me included. But what surprised me was how personal and, oddly enough, thought-provoking.
There comes a point when they question why they are doing this and why this silly idea is causing much stress. Some of them have families to provide for, and others have jobs. But for some, it gives them a purpose, a drive, and a therapeutic escapism. So, this stupid thing is giving someone a reason to keep going. Or one part where a cast member, who is trans, finds a deep connection to the play and character of Hamlet because when they came out to their family members as trans, they realised they don't know their proper characters until the ugly truth. They become more distant than before.
Shakespeare's text still has relevance - and what amazes me is the different interpretations people can get from the play. While watching, it made me reflect on certain things. Yep, Grand Theft Hamlet made me reflect on things.
After the screening, we had a short Q&A with Mark Oosterveen. I have never been to a Q&A before, and I am glad I stayed around because I learned a lot more about the doc. Mark said something compelling about his acting style in this, which is a mixture of puppetry (controlling your avatar in the game) and voice work (using a headset mic to talk online). But what is even more insane and unreal is that the Royal Shakespeare Company contacted them asking if they had the recorded live-stream performance so they could show it to younger people and get them interested in Shakespeare. Not bad.
Overall rating: The most wild and wonderful documentaries out there.
