Macbeth - by William Shakespeare (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The spellbinding story of love and murder, power and paranoia, and the internal struggles of a married couple as they try to control their destiny, and one another...

This official tie-in edition to the Donmar Warehouse's hotly anticipated 2023 revival of Shakespeare's extraordinary psychological drama features rich and revealing behind-the-scenes material exploring how the production was conceived and developed.

Starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, and directed by Donmar Associate Director Max Webster, this bracingly fresh version used binaural sound technology to place the audience inside the minds of the Macbeths, asking us: are we are ever really responsible for our actions?

In addition to the version of Shakespeare's text performed, this volume also includes a fascinating rehearsal diary, color photos, and interviews with its leading cast and creative team: Tennant, Jumbo and Webster, plus designer Rosanna Vize, sound designer Gareth Fry and composer and musical director Alasdair Macrae.

Review Quotes

"Magical and revelatory... Max Webster's production is so chilling and exhilarating that watching it is like discovering the play for the first time."--Telegraph

"Cool, cocky and utterly arresting... there is an intensely focused vision behind [this production]. Superbly directed by Webster, it is full of wolfish imagination and alarming surprise. The action takes place at under two hours' traffic yet it is not a classically fevered Macbeth but coolly creepy, and horrifying."--Guardian

"An ingenious and uncanny production full of shards of darkly glittering ingenuity... a sensory, helter-skelter plummet into horror, paranoia and psychological disintegration... a production of galvanising flair and originality, with two absorbing, highly charged and intricate performances at its centre. It's a murky psychodrama in which minds, bodies and body politic are shattered, and where nothing, thrillingly, is quite what it seems."--The Stage

"A Macbeth for the digital age... stylish and evocative... never for a moment can you tear your attention away... richly imaginative... The sense of mystery and of evil is all-encompassing... Macbeth has only to whisper his darkest thoughts and we are there, with his vaulting ambition, inside his head."--WhatsOnStage

"Astonishing... one of the most powerful and interesting takes on the play I've ever seen."--Sardines Magazine

"A radically inventive production that gives Shakespeare's tragedy a new lease of life."--Theatre Weekly

"The unique concept of this particular rendition propels the audience into 11th-century Scotland, and deeper into Macbeth's downfall than ever before... the technological risk pays off in big ways; witches whisper in your ears, ravens swoop from the skies and above all, the characters' innermost thoughts are spoken as if to you."--West End Best Friend

About the Author

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet and playwright of some renown.

Max Webster is a theatre director, specialising in new work, opera and live music events.

He has directed major productions in London at The Old Vic, The Globe Theatre and English National Opera, as well as across Europe, North America and Asia. He is currently an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse.