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‘Grand Theft Hamlet’ Review: A Captivating Staging of Shakespeare in ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Changes the Game


'Grand Theft Auto' sets the stage for an unusually revealing Shakespeare production in Pinny Grylls & Sam Crane's unorthodox doc 'Grand Theft Hamlet.'

“Well, you can’t stop a production just because someone dies,” Grylls dryly tells Crane when auditions can be interrupted by a missile launcher-wielding maniac or an aspiring actor who doesn’t know how to use their controller has their avatar wander off the side of a building. The infrastructure of the game leaves things wide open for human creativity to take it in directions that couldn’t be predicted and people foster connections without any superficial prejudices getting in the way as Crane and Oosterveen assemble a cast. Oosterveen, who is single and lost the last in his bloodline during the pandemic, and Crane, who has a family but increasingly isolates himself by playing “GTA,” are situated as counterpoints as much as partners, and they prompt self-reflection from the actors they find by talking about their characters with them.

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