Hamlet Hail to the Thief at Aviva Studios Manchester review: Radiohead plus Shakespeare? Yes please

The apron stage is hung with black jackets, dotted with amps and lined with black sound insulation. Behind, the six instrumentalists are isolated in glass-fronted studios at the base of Elsinore’s castle wall, with singers Ed Begley and Megan Hill periodically appearing in doorways above to give a keening commentary on the action. The costumes are mostly black – the RSC and art-rock bands share a taste for the monochrome. Indeed, Samuel Blenkin’s frail and compelling Hamlet looks kind of like a tousle-haired indie frontman who’s been starving himself of food and sleep in pursuit of an elusive, anguished lyric.