Special Event: Grand Theft Hamlet + Q&A with Actor and Associate Director Mark Oosterveen

Event details

It's the beginning of 2021 and two out-of-work actors are struggling to find anything to do during the UK's third pandemic lockdown. With acting jobs few and far between they find themselves spending far too much time playing the video game Grand Theft Auto Online at home. One day, upon discovering an amphitheater within the game, they decide to stage a unique version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet inside the virtual world they have been spending so much time in. Soon joined by a documentary director/producer, what at first seems like a crazy way to pass the time soon morphs into a full-scale production, filled with casting calls, rehearsals and a lot of highly charged emotion. Taking place entirely on a computer screen, this groundbreaking documentary is a surprisingly poignant look at the power that art has in bringing people together whilst also providing an alternative perspective on one of Shakespeare's most revered plays.  

Speaker

Mark Oosterveen's 2024 SXSW Feature Doc Winner Grand Theft Hamlet was shot entirely within a computer game, the film, a collaboration with Pinny Gryllis and Sam Crane was born from their audacious production of Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto, garnering acclaim at prestigious festivals worldwide.

Mark is also an actor and writer, known for The Ministry of Ungentlemenly Warfare (2024) and Hedda (2025).