In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, two out-of-work actors, Sam and Mark, face a bleak future. Desperate for purpose, they stumble upon an idea: stage Shakespeare's Hamlet within the ultra-violent world of Grand Theft Auto Online. Shot entirely in-game, Grand Theft Hamlet explores their attempt to merge classical theatre with a chaotic digital landscape. With stunning visuals and unexpected moments of reflection, this engaging documentary examines how ancient cultural narratives can still resonate in new, virtual spaces, raising questions about art, isolation, and the digital world’s potential for storytelling.

The movie is exactly what the title implies: a chronicle of an attempt to stage Shakespeare’s play in the virtual space afforded by the famed video game Grand Theft Auto. If you’re not a gamer and don’t keep up with certain realms of digital development, you’re probably not familiar with the reality that you can enter a contemporary video game and spend an awful lot of time not actually playing it. So, this movie asks, why not get into theater if you’re not in the mood to steal cars and drive them very fast?

This idea did not hatch in a vacuum. Sam and Mark conceived the project during the COVID lockdown, in large part to prevent going stir-crazy, or any other type of crazy. (But then again, non-gamers may conclude that these guys were already crazy in some way.) And they took it seriously from the outset. They scouted locations within the GTA world. (It does, in fact, contain an amphitheater.) They held auditions. (The game can be played with almost limitless players online.)

They indeed seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time on this. This adds a perhaps unexpected poignancy to the story. And it also makes their Hamlet noteworthy in a way that perhaps they didn’t even expect. When Sam finally speaks the “to be or not to be” soliloquy he doesn’t sound like he’s acting. At all. How he came to inhabit the role sure is unusual, but inhabit it he does, and you may feel like giving him a standing ovation after all. More than just a shaggy dog story, Grand Theft Hamlet is a pointed, entertaining and moving examination of interdisciplinary conductivity at its most surprising.

A pivotal moment in Hamlet revolves around an in-universe play, where a nested performance is part of a ploy to speak to a higher reality. Grand Theft Hamlet sees the power of this play-within-a-play and asks, “Why not a play-within-gameplay?” The result of two stage actor pals’ mid-pandemic cabin fever, the film documents Sam and Mark’s attempt to stage a full-length production of Hamlet, performed entirely on the unpredictable virtual streets (and beaches, and skyscapes) of Grand Theft Auto Online. It is equal parts charming and cheesy – both due to its experimental setting.

Sam and his filmmaker partner Pinny Grylls record all of Grand Theft Hamlet through avatars and voice chat, joining the company of other game-shot films like We Met In Virtual Reality and the roleplay reenactments in The Remarkable Life Of Ibelin. Like those films, the messy mise-en-scène of games – the UI, in-game ads, mission announcements, map, and Wanted Level – adds to and intrudes upon the narrative. And, like those films, Grand Theft Hamlet focuses on the very real connections and fulfilling emotional experiences that defy games’ scripted quests and inscrutable character models.

While this human depth is part of the film’s broader premise – “Aren’t Shakespeare and GTA a wacky combo?” – it’s not a surprise or revelation, since most members of the film’s audience maintain purely online parasocial and social relationships. But it’s still heartwarming and, yes, enjoyably absurd to watch its ambitious troupe band together, at times literally fighting to save their show using rifles, handguns, rocket launchers, fighter jets, and their own fists.

What is surprising, though, is how compelling it is to watch actors interpret one of the most famous dramas ever written through pixelated puppets in a surrogate performance space. Sam and Mark have their own roles to play, but they also hold in-game auditions in a Los Santos amphitheater. These personal showcases squeeze an omnipresent text through unwieldy virtual instruments. Combining their grainy voices with the limited movement and emotes provided by the game engine, the actors thrillingly strain against their self-imposed limits. Some even use GTA’s combat mechanics to their advantage, stabbing or aiming their pistols for added effect. Close-ups highlight the jabbering mouths of everyone’s ridiculous character models, funny because it just doesn’t work…but engaging because, wow, it kinda works.