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But for some reason or another, he helps the production out anyway.
Theres something poignant in watching strangers come together over a community-art project in an unlikely space.
Honestly, we werent trying to be funny, says Crane.
We were very sincere about what were trying to do.
We were desperately trying to make this work.
Grand Theft Hamletopens in January 2021 as the U.K. was enduring its third lockdown, and things were dire.
Sam and I had been actors for about 15 years.
We mainly worked in theater, which obviously closed during the pandemic.
I was also going through a difficult time personally.
My father had passed away a year or so before that, and Id been dealing with the fallout.
My New Years resolution in 2020 was actually to get back on with life.
Then the funniest thing happened in February 2020, you know?
So in short, not great.
Crane:Things were looking pretty good for me before COVID, actually.
I was just about to start rehearsals for this massive West End show.
I was playing the lead.
Thenboom, everything collapsed.
Then I started watching Sam and Mark mess around insideGrand Theft Auto.
They were making little experiments.
They were kind of just playing around with this idea.
Maybe we could follow this and make it into something.
So you were already recording stuff?Oosterveen:Yes.
Maybe YouTube skits or something like that.
We tried this whole football-analysis show inGTA.
Oosterveen:We did a modern dance piece.
Crane:We were just messing around.
Oosterveen:We had no deadline at that point.
No looming performance date.
It was kind of a joke at first, if Im honest.
And then it got serious.
When you do live theater, theres electricity in the room if youre performing and something goes wrong.
Grylls:I just knew I hadnt seen anything like it before.
Also, we all lost our jobs.
If it doesnt work, so what?
Thats such a rare thing for an adult to feel.
When you were a kid, or in college, you could play these imagination games.
Crane:I totally agree.
Because thats not the way to make original ideas and ways of doing things.
Because, literally, during Shakespeares time 500 years ago, they were less reverent about theater.
So you had to be really good.
It was also really violent at the time.
People would be fighting and killing each other in the background.
Shes a professional actress and a voice artist, but shes also a gamer.
Tell me more about the technical aspect.
How does performing actually work?
Grylls:I regret not putting more of the rehearsal elements in the film.
Oosterveen:The performance is a lot like puppetry.
That style of acting, youre often told to forget acting completely and just focus on the puppetry movement.
If youre a good actor, the acting will seep into the motions youre doing.
Nick, have you playedGTAbefore?
So you really need to be on that.
Theres also the challenge of figuring out the camera work for the doc.
How did you approach that?Grylls:It was about figuring what options you had.
So you’re free to do closeups, which introduces a certain intimacy.
Oosterveen:I think I filmed some of the best stuff, personally.
Grylls:Im sure.
Oh, so youre cutting together the actual performance?
Thats great, because I couldnt find the original production online.Crane:Its on our list of to-dos.
We really want to make it available as an educational resource so people can watch it as a production.
I think thatll be really cool.
I wanted to ask about a specific choice.
Some of those scenes tracked to me as maybe a little staged, or as if they were reenactments.
Oosterveen:We used the real audio from that call.
There are scenes that are genuinely real, like Mark talking about the meaning ofGrand Theft Hamlet.
That happened as we were having a long chat about what he was going through.
All the auditions were real.
My argument with Sam a lot of people think that wasnt real, but it was.
So that was a real thing.
Crane:As Pinny mentioned, this whole thing is about the different layers of reality.
Theres the reality of Hamlet in medieval Denmark.
Theres the reality of Shakespeare writing in 16th-century England.
Los Santos is a digitally created world, but it has its own reality.
So Grand Theft Hamlet is really funny in a rather particular way.
Almost all of Shakespeares plays have literal comic characters whose entire purpose is to come on and be funny.
The contrast is the whole point.
And youre like, Whoa there.
We didnt do this deliberately, but it is a very Shakespearean unit.
Crane:I dont know.
We were having fun doing it, but we werent trying to be funny.
We were actually very sincere about what were trying to do.
Maybe thats why its fun.
We were desperately trying to make this work.
Grand Theft Hamletends with the production being recognized at the Stage Awards.
How do you feel about all this?Grylls:Its all a bit surprising.
Winning the prize at SXSW was very surprising.
Oosterveen:I liked seeing two disparate groups appreciating the film for different reasons.
I used to hate studying Shakespeare in school, but this made me think about him differently.I love that.
I never really understood he had those friends in the game.
Then I saw your film and realized I should talk to him about gaming differently.
I have to ask about ParTeb.
Ive never met ParTeb in real life.
Maybe one day we will, but I dont know.
In some ways, I feel its enough.
What we had in-game was so beautiful and special.
Oosterveen:I dont ever want to meet ParTeb.
I thought he was a nightmare to work with.
Grylls:Id love to meet him.
Oosterveen:You guys can hang out with him.
