January 2021. The UK is in its 3rd lockdown and all entertainment venues remain closed. For theatre actors Sam and Mark, the future looks bleak. As the pandemic drags on, Mark - single and childless - is increasingly socially isolated, while Sam panics about how he is going to support his young family. They spend their days in the online digital world of Grand Theft Auto and when they stumble across a theatre, they suddenly have an idea to stage a full production of Hamlet within the game. This film charts their ridiculous, hilarious and moving adventure as they battle violent griefers and discover surprising truths about life, friendship and the enduring power of Shakespeare.

This conversation explores the emotional and philosophical weight of sonder - the realization that each person that each person lives a life as vivid and complex as your own - within the mediated, glitchy, and performative worlds of online gaming. Using Grand Theft Hamlet as a point of departure, we ask: how do digital spaces alter the ways we see, connect with, and perform for one another?

In conversation:

Andreas Nilsen Ervik is a media scholar and artist with a PhD from the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo, where he has also taught for several years. His work explores digital culture, aesthetics, and distraction – from gaming and mindless scrolling to memes and cute animals. He is the author of Becoming Human Amid Diversion: Playful, Stupid and Funny Evolution (2022). More info at andreaservik.com

Joakim Johansen Østby is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication at University of Oslo. His research and teaching focuses on video games, with particular attention to diversity, representation, and inclusion in gaming culture.