While many of us baked countless loaves of banana bread, learned new musical instruments, or binged our favourite boxsets, some used the COVID lockdowns as an opportunity to explore more off-piste creative endeavours. For British actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, a period of unemployment led them to a very unusual undertaking in 2021 where they attempted to stage a production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet within the unhinged virtual world of the Grand Theft Auto Online videogame. Co-written and directed by Crane and his filmmaker wife Pinny Grylls, who joined them on their mission, the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet illustrates their efforts.
Due to the unique nature of this piece, it’s impossible to critique the aesthetic style (framing, lighting, use of colour) as this is a somewhat rare example of ‘machinima’; where in-game graphics are used exclusively to craft a faux-cinematic experience. This approach provides boundaries to, but doesn’t necessarily prohibit, storytelling flair and creativity which comes from the overall execution of such an unorthodox concept. Blending Crane’s thespian credentials with Grylls’ knack for pacing and structure, the pair collaborate well and their script cleverly draws thematic parallels with the Shakespearean verse the characters are performing.
If you’re struggling to get your head around how this film would play out, we see a pair of avatars discover an ampitheatre venue for their play in the opening moments, then go on to hold casting auditions, learn lines, and get interrupted by other in-game players at every turn. Often these disturbances result in our protagonists being ‘wasted’, gunned down and having to respawn and start over. As the plot develops, some of the chaos they encounter does feel a little less random than the narrative suggests, but nonetheless it forms into a very funny and quietly thought-provoking story of friendship, community, the preservation and protection of the arts, and the global pandemic itself.
Cinema Perspective 