Shakespeare in GTA World: To Be or to Be Offline

Berlin taz Shakespeare is always a challenge, no matter what medium. Whether on stage , on the big screen, in improv theatre or in literature - for over 400 years, art has been fascinated by his plays and is constantly reinventing them. But hardly any Shakespeare adaptation is as daring and bizarre as "Grand Theft Hamlet."

The animated documentary shows how an actor tries to stage Hamlet within an online video game with strangers during the pandemic. The film's quirky approach stands out, as does the authenticity of the emotions.

It's 2021 and Corona lockdowns have brought the cultural scene to a standstill. Artists are trapped within their four walls, cut off from their audience. Real-life actor Sam Crane finds the escapism he needs in the video game "GTA V" and its multiplayer mode "GTA Online".

The fictional city of Los Santos - almost indistinguishable from Los Angeles - lets him and a friend gamble for money in casinos, break the law, swim in the sea under a bright sun and forget their boredom for a moment. While fleeing from the police, the two stumble upon a large, open theater.

Sam comes up with a crazy idea: he wants to perform Shakespeare's "Hamlet" here, in the online mode of a game, on a virtual theater stage, with strangers.

He and his friend organize rehearsals with strangers, assign roles and texts, and search for suitable locations in the game world. Then there is Sam's girlfriend and documentary filmmaker Pinny Grylls, who documents the production - should it ever be finished.

“Grand Theft Hamlet” is particularly interesting for those who are not yet familiar with the narrative power of video games. Non-gamers will be all the more impressed by the documentary, which shows the narrative possibilities of games, but also by the interesting interactions between players.

But it is not just a film about a video game, it is a testimony to how creative people can be - and must be in times of crisis. It is a film about the power of theater, art and entertainment.

The documentary is surprisingly emotional. You can feel how much the creatives are suffering under the restrictions and how much hope they have in their initially insane, megalomaniacal project. And even though you don't see the real faces behind the digital characters until the credits roll, their feelings and dialogues are real.

Whether they're happy that people are showing up and rehearsals are starting, or sad when the play starts to falter, Grand Theft Hamlet packs more emotion into its 90-minute run than most major film productions.

The two creators know that such a project is outside the norm. In an interview with taz, Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls talked about how often they lost hope in “Grand Theft Hamlet.”

But contrary to their expectations, enough people came together - both on stage and in front of it - to make the virtual play a success. "We never lost hope when we were together with other people and rehearsed, for example," says Grylls.

Sam Craine sees the fact that her film breaks down genre boundaries as an enrichment: "There are people who say that Shakespeare has to be staged in this way or that way. Or those who say that you have to make films in this way and documentaries in this way. I think it's good to break down these boundaries."