What happens when you try to perform Shakespeare inside a public lobby in GTA Online, a game space notorious for its aggression and gratuitous violence? You might expect the other players in your server (randomly allocated from anywhere in the world) to respond with heavy weaponry, perhaps a mini SMG, or a compact grenade launcher. And indeed, this is often what happens. Yet occasionally you may come across someone who responds in an entirely unexpected manner ... This work radically appropriates the violent and chaotic world of Grand Theft Auto, and reimagines it as a space for live performance of Shakespeare. It also interrogates what an audience can be and how it can interact with performance.

Two unemployed friends have a fresh idea: They want to stage Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' in Grand Theft Auto. But even in a virtual world, reality intrudes in a wild and trippy film shot entirely inside the ultra-violent video game. For unemployed actors Sam and Mark, the future looks bleak. Britain is in its third lockdown and theatres remain closed. They pass the time by stealing cars and shooting strangers in Grand Theft Auto. But when they accidentally discover an amphitheatre in the game, they have a bright idea. How about performing William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ inside GTA? They start casting other online gamers for the roles and rehearse the scenes, but are met with countless challenges. It proves nearly impossible to recite Shakespeare’s immortal classic (which is set in Denmark) in the inhospitable universe without being shot to pieces or chased by the police. Behind the thick layers of British humour runs a deep undercurrent of anxiety. The production of ‘Hamlet’ becomes the two friends’ all-consuming project at a difficult time where Mark is growing increasingly lonely, while Sam is panicking about how to provide for his family. ‘There’s something rotten in Denmark’, but in GTA’s surrealist version of Elsinore, fortunes can change quickly. 源自：