Someone Staged a Production of Hamlet Inside GTA 5, and Now It’s Getting a Documentary

Film company Altitude Media Group has picked up a documentary that takes place entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto 5, and it’s called Grand Theft Hamlet, per Deadline.

The in-game production will cover the story of Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two players with theatre backgrounds who took COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK as an opportunity to recreate Shakespeare’s Hamlet within Rockstar Games‘ fifth Grand Theft Auto title. With the future looking grim and lots of time on their hands, they embark on an adventure that sees them facing griefers and learning about the truths of life. You can read the full synopsis below:

“January 2021. The UK is in its third lockdown and all entertainment venues remain closed. For theatre actors Sam and Mark, the future looks bleak. As the pandemic drags on, Mark — single and childless — is increasingly socially isolated, while Sam panics about how he is going to support his young family. They spend their days in the online digital world of Grand Theft Auto and when they stumble across a theater, they suddenly have an idea to stage a full production of Hamlet within the game. This film charts their ridiculous, hilarious and moving adventure as they battle violent griefers and discover surprising truths about life, friendship and the enduring power of Shakespeare.”

Written and directed by Crane along with Peter and Ben director Pinny Grylls, the film will see its worldwide debut at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10. It’s a pandemic-era story more than three years in the making that Altitude will bring to UK and Irish theaters later in 2024.

“We are extremely proud and excited to be partnering with Pinny, Sam and the whole team on Grand Theft Hamlet and cannot wait for audiences to experience this singular and masterful piece of machinima filmmaking,” Altitude Film Sales Managing Director Mike Runagall said. “Grand Theft Hamlet is like nothing you have seen before.”

The COVID-19 lockdown inspired all sorts of creativity across gaming, and the GTA 5 community wasn’t even the first to put on an in-game theatrical production. Fallout 76 players, for example, formed a group called The Wasteland Theatre Company, which saw them pulling together to recreate classic plays like A Midsummer Nights Dream.

GTA 5 first launched in 2013, and now, more than a decade later, Rockstar is prepping to launch its follow-up, Grand Theft Auto 6. Details about how the project might tackle online multiplayer are a mystery, but you can bet fans will be quick to turn it into a sandbox playground with theatre and so much more.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

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