GRAND THEFT HAMLET

Staging Hamlet is hard enough. Doing it in Grand Theft Auto Online—where rehearsals are interrupted by random shootouts, cast members plummet off blimps, and the audience must be ferried across a digital ocean—borders on the absurd. Yet, this is precisely what actors Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls set out to do in Grand Theft Hamlet, an unconventional documentary that captures the chaos and unexpected poignancy of performing Shakespeare in a virtual crime world.

It all began in lockdown. Crane, an actor who had just missed out on a major role in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, found himself playing GTA Online to stay connected with his friend Mark. What started as a way to pass time became something far stranger: an attempt to stage Hamlet inside the game’s anarchic, hyper-stylized world.

The film unfolds entirely through screen recordings, tracking their efforts to recruit players—some eager, some baffled, some responding with gunfire. Eventually, a cast forms. Auditions take place in the Vinewood Bowl, a grand amphitheater nestled in the game’s hills. Rehearsals move from penthouse apartments to speeding sports cars, with digital avatars delivering Elizabethan monologues against a backdrop of neon cityscapes and luxury high-rises.

Grylls, an experienced documentary filmmaker and Crane’s partner, begins documenting the process. The footage captures not just the mechanics of directing a virtual production but also a deeper story about art, friendship, and human connection in an isolating time.

At its core, Grand Theft Hamlet isn’t just a film about gaming or Shakespeare—it’s a meditation on performance itself. The boundaries between actor and avatar blur, and Shakespeare’s exploration of identity and artifice takes on new resonance in a digital space where every character is both real and fictional. The result is something both hilarious and unexpectedly profound.

Written and Directed by
Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane

Associate Writer and Director
Mark Oosterveen

Filmed and Edited by
Pinny Grylls

Produced by 
Rebecca Wolff and Julia Ton

Music and Sound Design by
Jamie Perera

Executive Produced by
Beth Levison
Harlene Freezer
Sam Bisbee
Cody Ryder
Jackie Kelman Bisbee
Eric Kuhn
Sam Crane
Hannah Bush Bailey
Shanida Scotland
Robina Riccitello
Josh Peters
Will Clarke
Andy Mayson
Mike Runagall

Words DONALD GJOKA

donaldgjoka