Factory International has announced its programme for 2025, headlined by Hamlet Hail to the Thief.
The new version of the Shakespeare play is directed by Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones and set to Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief re-worked by Thom Yorke.
“This is an interesting and intimidating challenge!” said Yorke.
“Adapting the original music of Hail to The Thief for live performance with the actors on stage to tell this story that is forever being told, using its familiarity and sounds, pulling them into and out of context, seeing what chimes with the underlying grief and paranoia of Hamlet, using the music as a ‘presence’ in the room, watching how it collides with the action and the text. Ghosting one against the other.”
It will be performed live by a cast of 20 musicians and actors at Factory International, before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford.
“The first Radiohead concert I ever saw was the Hail to the Thief tour in 2003. It changed my DNA. Not long after, I was reading Hamlet and listening to the album. I became aware of how many songs from Hail to the Thief speak to the themes of the play,” added Christine Jones.
“There are uncanny reverberances between the text and the album. For years I’ve wanted to see the play and album collide in a piece of theatre; eventually I shared the idea with Thom, who was intrigued. I wasn’t sure what we would make, but I knew I wanted to make it with Steven and continue experimenting and building on work we have done together over many years.”
Other headlines from the season include the world premiere of a large-scale performance work from world-renowned artist Marina Abramović, Balkan Erotic Epic, exploring eroticism, spirituality and ritual.
“I was born in the Balkan. As a child, I have been exposed to many spiritual rituals in the house of my grandmother which left me with deep and lasting impressions that continue to shape the way I see the world today,” explained Abramović.
“I have long desired to look into ancient and pagan beliefs, folktales, and rites rooted in the mythologies of this region of Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, along with Gypsy and traveller cultures. In the past, for so many ancient cultures, procreation and life itself were based on numerous ceremonies aimed at creating an understanding of our existence. By rediscovering this forgotten past, I would like to create a new understanding and context for the public today.”
Another world premiere will be Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and Complicité which will present the final instalment of Simon McBurney and Crystal Pite’s award-winning dance trilogy, Figures in Extinction.
Next year will also be the return of Manchester International Festival, which will be the first edition to be curated by new Creative Director Low Kee Hong. Full details will be announced in March.
“I am delighted to be sharing some of our highlights for 2025 as we approach the end of our first year in our extraordinary new building,” said John McGrath, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Factory International.
“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.”
