For grief, parach for memes. It begins, as the best idea, with a joke.
By the third UK lockdown, Sam Crane began to feel like a ghost. His career was stalled – West End Theater Dark, Television Productions remained dull. Even the grand achievement of being cast as Harry Potter Cursed child It was slow, a dream postponed by an epidemic that seemed with the intention of destroying every delicate thing in its way. Across the city, Mark Ostevane, a fellow actor, was also an untured, who were caught in separate Limbo waiting for work that could never return.
“I will lose my job, and I was quite sad and worried about the future of live performance,” Sam misses. “My son-who was 11 years old-was watching in YouTube video, especially Sapna SMP, which was a semi-improved fictional drama MincraftI did not know that people were playing a role inside the video game. “Intressed, he immersed and discovered in the world of virtual storytelling Grand Theft Auto V of V Live roll-player underground communities. He had much more than the open world of the game. “I really didn’t play the first game, and it hit me as an extraordinary place – really a creative place.”
Sam Mark reached for an experienced GTA The players, and both wandering the city – spent stealing cars, stealing firing, and in the right Shakespeareian fashion, in the middle of traffic. Then, one day, they stumbled at some unexpected: a completely functional in-game theater. Winewood Bowl, a smooth, open air amphitheater, was waiting in the supernatural replica of the game of Los Angeles. This was perhaps, destiny – Small village There was always a story of ghosts, existence crisis and reluctant violence. “It seemed just that, yes, here it is. There is a platform here. Why don’t we put a drama? “Sam says.
Of course, the drama inside a digital world designed for destruction was a logical nightmare. The first obstacle was casting. He made a call to the actors – any person with a mic and a playstation can audition. A parade of hope changed, but similar trolls, grief (the players have nothing, but intended to provoke you), and topical Bazuka-Vidembal Lunatic.
This was followed by a production contrary to another. Rehearsal secretly, in the hidden pocket of the map, where they will not be closed under the middle-monogger. The ghost scene occurred over a blimp, which crashed the middle performance. Nevertheless, amidst the destruction, something was notable: the play began to feel more alive than any polish waste and production.
“I think it felt that we are going back to Shakespeare’s original spirit,” Sam says. “In the theater, there was no etiquette, there was no reverence for it as an art. It was for the common people. If they do not like you, they will shout, throw rotten fruits. In GTAPeople will shoot you only instead. ,
His wife, documentary filmmaker Pinny Grills saw the absurd talent in what he was doing and he knew that it had to capture the film. “There was something about the world that used to talk to us,” Pinny says. “It felt like a rotten state of Denmark, where, where, where, where Small village Is set. A place that is glamorous on the surface, but below, is a dirty underbeli. As an order, one has to face chaos. ,
The atmosphere of the game became an integral part of the performance. “We can go to a recurrence to search for amazing landscape, light and architecture,” Pinny says. “You can record your feed in 4K and make a film with really cinematic scenes. GTA Could never do a traditional phase.
Still ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’. Photo Credit: Mubi
For years, videogame (especially like) Gta) Repeatedly dismissed as a mindless entertainment, your brain has a chance to close and allowed to reveal chaos. But the idea that gaming is only a guilty pleasure, Sam’s argument is, its ability is misbehaved. “They have fun and live with their friends, to give some steam,” he believes. “But they are also a possible place for great story and artistry. This idea about Shakespeare is ‘high art’ and video game ‘low art’ – public playground – really wrong. GTA Is a highly satirical game. It is very sophisticated. ,
Change in this notion, Sam believes, is already going on. Growing up with videogame, now holds the positions of cultural influence. “More and more, people recognize how much sophisticated and technically skilled games can be. You see it with video game optimization like Last of usWhich is really well considered. Just because something is produced in a game, it does not mean that it cannot be a high-level TV or film. ,
Even rockstar games, acclaimed studios behind Grand Theft AutoHas kept a vigilant watch Hamlet in GTA“They really knew about it from a very early stage,” SAM says. “And generally, they were very supportive of what we were doing. But this is an independent film – he did not try to take control. Pinny recalls their reaction with some entertainment. “They are very hands, in fact, which is good. And it was nice to hear that what we were doing tickled. ,
When he eventually staged his full performance-it was a victory for the audience both in-the-game and online, if it was a little deranged. The show went against all obstacles, against all obstacles. The screen of the game sometimes “ruined” death became an ongoing joke, but also a kind of mantra: Failure was unavoidable, but therefore firmness. As of now, as Gorgeous theft haemlet The Rack Up Festival Jeet, Sam and Pinnie are still half-incomplete that they pull, including the SXSW Jury Award, a BFI NOD, and a Rendens Mavick Award.
Still ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’. Photo Credit: Mubi
With AI and virtual space developing, does it indicate a new era to the theater? “I don’t think exclusively,” Sam says. “There will always be a place for traditional theater – just people of one place, telling other real people a story. But virtual performance will be more normal, and I think those lines between real and digital will get mess and mess. ,
For Pinnie, the most exciting part is how the virtual theater makes access to access. “It used to be that if you were lucky enough for a theater in your city, you can go. But many people do not. Now, the theater may be present on the twitch on YouTube. The audience is much larger than before. ,
And if Shakespeare can catch the court in Los Santos’s digital underbeli, what is to prevent it from braiding under the neon glow of the night city? The crane, for one, is already scouting new virtual stages. “I’m playing Cyberpank 2077 Right now, “he says. “It is visually surprising, with an incredible story. I think Shakespeare will feel right at home there. ,
Grand Themlet Stream on Mubi on Friday on 21 February
Published – February 19, 2025 02:53 pm IST
