Hamlet - Hail to the Thief, a dynamic new version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, sees Shakespeare’s words illuminated by Radiohead’s album Hail to the Thief, reworked by Thom Yorke and performed live by a cast of musicians and actors for its world premiere at Manchester’s Aviva Studios next spring (April 27-May18).
The new Aviva season will also feature Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and Complicite in the world premiere of the final instalment of Simon McBurney and Crystal Pite’s award-winning dance trilogy, Figures in Extinction (February 19-22, 2025), a meditation on the natural world and our relationship to it. The performance brings together all three parts of the trilogy and is the first chance to experience the series as a whole.
Other highlights for 2025 include the world premiere of Balkan Erotic Epic, a large-scale performance work from world-renowned artist Marina Abramovic exploring eroticism, spirituality and ritual, and Sherlock Holmes, a new play with choreography from Akram Khan.
Written by British writing team Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel (The Girl on the Train, The Da Vinci Code), the play will be directed by Tony and Olivier award-winner Rob Ashford. Staged as a mystery within a mystery, the case presented to Holmes forces him to confront his murky past.
The show will premiere in Manchester ahead of West End and Broadway runs. Full details will be announced in the coming months.
Next year will also bring another iteration of the world-renowned Manchester International Festival, across the city from July 3-20, the first MIF curated by creative director Low Kee Hong. Full details will be announced in March.
Reflecting Factory International’s access for all commitment, £10 tickets will be available for all shows.
The world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief will see Shakespeare’s great tragedy and Radiohead’s seminal album merge in a new live experience fusing theatre, music, and movement. Shakespeare’s words and Radiohead’s album will illuminate one another in new ways as the music becomes a critical part of the narrative. Reworked by Thom Yorke, the work will be performed live on stage by a cast of 20 musicians and actors.
The show concentrates on Hamlet and Ophelia’s awakening to the lies and corruption in Denmark, gradually revealed by ghosts and music. Elsinore has become a surveillance state and paranoia reigns: no one is spared a tragic unravelling.
Thom Yorke said: “This is an interesting and intimidating challenge: adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet...”
For the past four years, choreographer Crystal Pite and Complicite artistic director and co-founder Simon McBurney have weaved their hopes and fears into the dance trilogy Figures in Extinction. In spring 2025 Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and Complicite will present the final instalment of this major new collaboration at Aviva Studios, performed by NDT 1 dancers.
Another highlight for 2025 is a large-scale performance work by world-renowned artist Marina Abramovic, exploring eroticism, spirituality and ritual. Uncovering ancient beliefs and folktales, Balkan Erotic Epic blends performance, dance and traditional Balkan throat singing to explore and enact the eroticism embedded in Balkan mythology.
John McGrath, the artistic director and chief executive of Factory International, said: “Each of these projects features the kind of inventive and ambitious ideas and collaborations that Aviva Studios was built for – embodying our vision to be a space where artists can imagine new possibilities. We’re truly excited to be working with such a fantastic array of partners on these projects and can’t wait to bring them all to life.”
More information and tickets here. Tickets for the new season are on sale from today (October 2)