Hamlet Hail to the Thief Tickets at the Barbican Theatre

Before You Book

• Age: 14+. The Barbican doesn't let in under-5s, and anyone under 14 must come with someone aged 16 or over.
• Running time: about 1 hour 40 minutes, straight through with no interval.
• Start times: evenings at 7:45pm, matinees at 2:30pm on Thursdays and Saturdays.
• Content: when it played in Manchester, the producers warned of strobe, flashing lights and haze, and of violence, suicide and blood. There's some swearing too.
• Radiohead: the band aren't in it. The music is played live by a band and two singers.
• Getting in late: there's no interval, so arrive in good time. If you're late, you may be kept out until a suitable break, and there may not be one.

Ticket Prices

The link here takes you straight to the Barbican. Tickets there start from around £35, and the best seats on a Saturday night go up to around £200. Midweek seats cost less than Saturdays.

The first week is almost sold out, so look from the second week of November.

Best Seats for Hamlet Hail to the Thief

Sit in the middle of the Stalls, from row E back to row M, or at the front of the Circle. The band plays from booths on stage and there are projections, so a central seat that takes in the whole stage is worth more than being close. For this set, a few seats at the far ends of the top two levels have a slightly restricted view. There's more in the Tickets and Best Seats tab.

Where to Sit for Hamlet Hail to the Thief

The Barbican Theatre has four levels: the Stalls, the Circle, the Upper Circle and the Gallery.

• Stalls: rows E to M, in the middle, are the ones to book. The rows have no aisles, so a middle seat means passing a lot of people, which is another reason to be early.
• Circle: the front, in the middle, gives a clear view down onto the stage.
• Upper Circle and Gallery: the cheapest seats. Stay away from the ends and the side slips, which the Barbican marks as slightly restricted for this set.

Accessible Performances

• Captioned: Saturday 28 November, 2:30pm
• Audio described: Saturday 12 December, 2:30pm, with a touch tour at 2pm
• Chilled: Saturday 16 January, 2:30pm

There's no BSL performance listed. Wheelchair users can sit at the back of the Stalls or in the Upper Circle, which has a platform lift, and assistance dogs are welcome. Access bookings are handled by the Barbican's own access team, not by us.

Who's Hamlet Hail to the Thief For?

• Radiohead fans. The album runs right through it, and the reviews singled out There There, Scatterbrain and Sail to the Moon.
• Anyone who knows Hamlet and wants to see it done fast and loud, with as much dance as speech.

It's not for you if you want the whole play: much of the text has gone, and The Times thought newcomers might find it hard to keep track of the story.

Is It a Musical?

Not really. It's a cut-down Hamlet with the album as its score, and most of the singing comes from two singers, Meg Hill and Ed Begley, rather than the actors. Thom Yorke didn't want the scenes to stop for a song, so the music comes in pieces: a riff here, a chorus there. Some of the cast do sing, and Hamlet has Scatterbrain.

About Hamlet Hail to the Thief

The idea came from Christine Jones, who designed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. She and Steven Hoggett, who co-founded Frantic Assembly, adapted the play and direct it together, and Thom Yorke wrote the orchestrations. It's a Royal Shakespeare Company and Factory International production, and it opened at Aviva Studios in Manchester in April 2025 before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford that June. The Barbican run is its London premiere.

Hail to the Thief was Radiohead's sixth album, made after 9/11, and its mood of paranoia and distrust is what links it to the play.

What Happens in Hamlet Hail to the Thief?

Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, is dead, and his uncle Claudius has taken the throne and married his mother, Gertrude. The court in Elsinore is a place where everyone is being watched. The Ghost of Hamlet's father tells him that Claudius murdered him, and Hamlet sets out to prove it, losing Ophelia, the woman he loves, along the way.

This version gives Hamlet and Ophelia more time together. He speaks "To be or not to be" to her, and she has her own turn at it later.

When It's On

Hamlet Hail to the Thief plays at the Barbican Theatre from Saturday 31 October 2026 until Saturday 23 January 2027. In a normal week:

• Monday to Wednesday: 7:45pm
• Thursday: 2:30pm and 7:45pm
• Friday: 7:45pm
• Saturday: 2:30pm and 7:45pm

There are no Sunday shows, except Sunday 27 December at 7:45pm.

Over Christmas there's no show from 24 to 26 December or on New Year's Day, and New Year's Eve has a 2:30pm matinee only. There are extra matinees on Tuesday 10 November, Monday 21 December, Wednesday 23 December, and Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 December. The first Thursday, 5 November, has no matinee, and the press night on Thursday 12 November starts at 7:15pm.

An evening show finishes at about 9:25pm, and a matinee at about 4:10pm.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief at the Barbican

Tickets for this one are sold by the Barbican rather than by us.

Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we'll help you find another show.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief Reviews

These reviews are from the world premiere in Manchester in 2025, the same production.

Rolling Stone gave it five stars and called it "a stunning collision of worlds". The Manchester Evening News also gave it five and called it "unmissable drama". Nick Curtis gave it four in the Standard: "Radiohead plus Shakespeare? Yes please". In the Guardian, Mark Fisher found it "a lucid, angsty revenge tragedy, played with clarity and verve".

Not every critic was won over. Dominic Cavendish gave it three stars in the Telegraph, calling it "a hurtling experiment that only intermittently flares into brilliance", though he found the use of Sail to the Moon and Scatterbrain "sublime".

Hamlet Hail to the Thief News

The London press night is Thursday 12 November 2026.

Cast and Creative Team

Samuel Blenkin, who played Scorpius in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and stars in Alien: Earth, returns as Hamlet, with Ami Tredrea as Ophelia, Paul Hilton as Claudius and the Ghost, and Claudia Harrison as Gertrude. The full cast is in the Cast and Creatives tab.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief Cast

• Hamlet: Samuel Blenkin
• Ophelia: Ami Tredrea
• Claudius and the Ghost: Paul Hilton
• Gertrude: Claudia Harrison
• Horatio: Alby Baldwin
• Laertes: Brandon Grace
• Polonius: Nicolas Tennant
• Guildenstern: Felipe Pacheco
• Rosencrantz: Miles Barrow
• Gravedigger: Merryl Ansah

With Romaya Weaver, Marienella Phillips, Halim Diwani and Gavin James. The band is Tom Brady, Jenny Clifford, Joe Downard, Shane Forbes, Tom Knowles and Adam Martin, with singers Meg Hill and Ed Begley.

Creative Team

Written by William Shakespeare, with music by Radiohead. Adapted by Christine Jones with Steven Hoggett.

• Directors: Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones
• Orchestrations: Thom Yorke
• Arrangements: Justin Levine
• Scenography: AMP featuring Sadra Tehrani
• Choreographer: Jess Williams
• Lighting: Jessica Hung Han Yun
• Sound: Gareth Fry
• Projections: Will Duke
• Costumes: Lisa Duncan

Getting to the Barbican Theatre

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Come in at the main entrance on Silk Street, go to Level G and follow the signs to your seats.

Barbican station (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) is a 4-minute walk. Moorgate, with the Northern and Elizabeth lines, is 7 minutes, Farringdon 8, and St Paul's and Liverpool Street about 11.

The 153 stops on Silk Street and Beech Street, a couple of minutes away. The 4 and 56 stop at Barbican station and on Aldersgate Street, and the 76 and 100 on London Wall, about 5 minutes' walk. The 21, 43, 141 and 214 stop at Moorgate, about 6 minutes away.

Arrive 20 to 30 minutes before, no later. The Stalls are two floors below the entrance, bags are checked, and with no interval you can't slip in at half-time.

There's more on the building in our Barbican Theatre guide.

Accessible performances

• Relaxed performances: Sat 16 Jan 2027, 2:30pm
• Captioned performances: Sat 28 Nov 2026, 2:30pm
• Audio described performances: Sat 12 Dec 2026, 2:30pm

Access bookings are handled by the venue's own access team, not by us.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief FAQs