Full Company Announced for Hamlet Hail to the Thief at the Barbican
The complete cast and band have been announced for the London premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, which brings Shakespeare's tragedy together with the music of Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief. The production runs at the Barbican Theatre from 31 October 2026 to 23 January 2027 WhatsOnStage.
Samuel Blenkin reprises the title role of Hamlet, having played the part in the production's earlier runs with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International, a Manchester-based arts organisation. Both of those runs sold out. The show premiered in Manchester, transferred to Stratford-upon-Avon, and now makes its London debut WhatsOnStage.
Ami Tredrea plays Ophelia, with Paul Hilton as Claudius and the Ghost, Claudia Harrison as Gertrude, Alby Baldwin as Horatio, Brandon Grace as Laertes, Felipe Pacheco as Guildenstern, and Romaya Weaver as Barnarda and the Player Queen. Nicolas Tennant, seen in Mother Courage and Her Children, plays Polonius, completing the principal cast WhatsOnStage.
The production also names its understudies and swings. Miles Barrow plays Rosencrantz and covers Hamlet. Merryl Ansah, from The Lion King, plays the Gravedigger and understudies Gertrude. Gavin James, from Rosie, covers Claudius and Polonius. Halim Diwani makes his professional stage debut as understudy for Laertes, Horatio and Guildenstern. Marienella Phillips serves as an offstage swing — a performer who covers multiple ensemble tracks and steps in as needed WhatsOnStage.
The full original band returns: Ed Begley, Tom Brady, Jenny Clifford, Joe Downard, Shane Forbes, Meg Hill, Tom Knowles and Adam Martin, joined by cover singers Emilio Moreno Arias and Josephina Ortiz Lewis WhatsOnStage.
The production is co-created by Thom Yorke, Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett. Yorke, Radiohead's frontman, reworked material from the album for live performance and serves as orchestrator. The wider creative team includes Justin Levine as arranger, Sadra Tehrani as scenographer (the designer responsible for the stage's visual world), Jess Williams as choreographer, Gareth Fry as sound designer, Will Duke as projection designer, Jessica Hung Han Yun as lighting designer, and Lisa Duncan as costume designer. Ayanna Thompson is dramaturg and textual consultant, Charlotte Sutton casts for the RSC, and Jack Moulton is sound manipulator WhatsOnStage.
The production was previously nominated for three WhatsOnStage Awards, the audience-voted prizes run by the theatre listings site. Radiohead also released Hail To The Thief – Live Recordings in September, a album of live performances that the band said grew out of Yorke's preparation work for the stage show WhatsOnStage.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief is an RSC production, presented at the Barbican as part of the venue's autumn/winter 2026 season, which was announced on 12 June 2026 WhatsOnStage.
For audiences, the appeal is straightforward: a Shakespeare text many already know, threaded through with songs from an album that has sold in the millions, performed by a cast that audiences in Manchester and Stratford have already watched sell out two houses.
