Hamlet.ai

A disagreement over whether to use AI in a production of Hamlet spirals into all-out war in this absurd meta-comedy about technology, Shakespeare, and the future of art.

A US theater company, hoping to be chosen for a production of Hamlet, is given three chances to impress a prestigious theater in Denmark with their AI technology. The audience participates in the tech demos and witnesses the backstage drama in between. As the collaboration between theatermakers breaks down, they begin to use the AI tools against each other. Audience members volunteer to have their own voices cloned and become part of the show. Prop poison is introduced and swapped for real poison. For the final presentation, the play within the play, the audience is handed the reins. Using Wolf 359’s custom Hamlet Engine software, the audience suggests new characters, plot points, and other elements for a script that is generated anew at each performance. Audience volunteers then perform the script with the help of in-ear monitors. A last scene brings a duel and a reconciliation. Once Hamlet dies, the rest is silence…And the audience is left to debate the questions themselves: what have we made, and where is it taking us?