Interview: Space Hamlet

Space Hamlet: A glam Rock Musical

Space Hamlet relocates Shakespeare’s famous Danish story to a Viking-run multi-planetary empire. After selling out their Norwich run, and ahead of their London transfer, the Space Hamlet team talked to Red Bus Londinium about futurism, Vikingness and whether Bowie would like this glam-rock puppet version. We hear about influences from Dr Who to Hunky Dory, a cross-continent development process and rehearsal mishaps.

Red Bus: Shakespeare’s plays are constantly reimagined. What was it about Hamlet that made you think this story needs Norse space Vikings?

Space Hamlet team: Well we didn’t really start by thinking it needed Space Vikings, that idea evolved and evolved as the show developed, and certain, often daft ideas just started to make more sense.

In fact the earliest ideas around Space Hamlet were more in a Dr Who vein. But when you decide you want to set Hamlet in the far future in space, to earn the “Space” in Space Hamlet you find you’re faced with questions like what does a far future Denmark look like? And then you start to ask yourself is it more fun to imagine a 30th millennia Denmark as a middle-power Constitutional Monarchy in Northern Europe, or is it a Viking-themed multi-planetary multi-species absolute-monarchy locked into an eon-spanning forever-way with the rival galactic power of Norway.

It all builds from there really. Rather than Protestant Elsinore, we have a floating Palace orbiting Denmark-5, or what we call Saturn. Rather than commune with Christ, our Claudius summons the fantastical Nornir. The late King Ham curses his wicked brother is “Born of Loki” and at the end the good guys go to Valhalla. All in all, the futurism and the Vikinginess unlocks a lot of fun. We are certainly a unique Hamlet.

Red Bus: You’ve been collaborating across England and New York for more than a decade. How did that work practically, and did technology changes over the last ten years alter the way you worked?

Space Hamlet team: When we first started collaborating over 16 years ago, working across a five-hour time difference meant sending audio files back and forth, writing long email chains and waiting on slow uploads. We had to be incredibly disciplined about setting aside dedicated slots to review drafts or listen to new demo tracks. Technology over the last decade has completely transformed our process. High-speed file sharing, cloud storage for scripts and sheet music and reliable video calls mean we can now hold real-time writing sessions, demo a song live and refine lyrics line-by-line as if we were in the same room. It’s turned an ocean-wide gap into just another step in our daily workflow.

Red Bus: Your cast of eight actor-musicians also have to manage a “chorus of violent puppets”. Were there any onstage or rehearsal mishaps as they got to know these multiple responsibilities that you would like to share?

Space Hamlet team: With an eight-person cast handling 18 songs, dozens of characters, 50 costume changes, live combat, and a whole fleet of alien puppets, the backstage area is pure controlled chaos!
During early rehearsals, the biggest challenge was timing the physical hand-offs. There are moments where cast members are backstage changing into a complex, two-person alien puppet monster while simultaneously singing live backing vocals into a headset mic for a song happening on stage. In early runs, we definitely had a few instances of puppets entering missing key limbs, or an actor accidentally delivering a heartfelt Shakespearean line through a puppet head that was tilted entirely sideways. The cast’s coordination now is razor-sharp, but getting there took a lot of laughs and a few near-collisions with space props!

Red Bus: Space Hamlet enjoyed a sold-out run in Norwich last year. Have there been major changes for the London transfer?

Rather than just restaging the show, we’ve used the transfer to finetune and scale everything up. Because almost the entire original cast returned, we skipped the basics and jumped straight into elevating the production—adding richer choreography, sharpening emotional beats, and expanding the music.
Moving to The Cockpit Theatre in London has been a huge game-changer technically. The venue allows for a much more ambitious lighting setup, dynamic projections, and immersive stage effects. Dan Sturman built an upgraded, illuminated space-Viking set equipped with custom LED wiring and textured rockwork. London audiences are getting a faster, sleeker, and visually grander version of the show.

Red Bus: The score is described as glam-rock inspired by Bowie. Were there particular Bowie albums or eras that inspired you more than others?

As much as it’s a homage to Bowie, it’s 70s Glam era Bowie, so we’re talking Hunky Dory, Stardust, Aladdin Sane. But also the universe Bowie was living in at that time – Mott The Hoople, but there was so much musical creativity at the time, there’s probably references to the more arty efforts of Cockney Rebel.
The song “To Be Or Not To Be” that comes in right near the end of Act One, isn’t very much a Bowie type song, It’s close to a 1950s chanson. But when I learned after Bowie’s English language lyric for the French hit “Comme d’habitude” had been rejected in favour of Paul Anka’s “My Way” and that’s what spurred him to write his “Life On Mars” as his own My Way – In Space, I thought our song needed that Gallic shape. So in that way, and I’m sure in other ways peppered throughout the show, there’s glimmers of thoughtful cheekiness and charm that finds the spirit of that magical moment of British music history.

Red Bus: Would Bowie like this show?

It’s actually a great question. Our show is a pastiche love-letter to a retro aesthetic, while Bowie was a constant innovator who was thinking about the future of music right up until his last moments. I’m not sure if he was a nostalgic sentimentalist or not, but I understand he had a great sense of humour, and loved puppets. Space Hamlet is certainly funny, and is stuffed fill of puppets, so he’d love that. I think he’d like The Game too, that’s a great song.