Anthony Sher and Harriet Walter star in a highly-acclaimed screen version of William Shakespeare's classic story of tyranny and ambition. On the stage this Royal Shakespeare Company presentation was universally lauded. Following sell-out seasons at Statford's Swan Theatre and in London, the production played Japan and in the United States, where The New York Times praised director Gregory Doran's interpretation as a "harrowing and disturbingly funny parable for the dawn of the 21st century". To make this compelling screen version, Gregory Doran worked with all of the original cast and filmed at London's Roundhouse. Brilliantly shot by director of photography Ernie Vincze, the production uses the edgy techniques of fly-on-the-wall documentaries. The effect is raw, intimate and strikingly dynamic.
Acting
Sher and Walter's marriage of ambition curdles in real time.
Direction
Doran's documentary-style cameras stalk the actors like guilt itself.
Cinematography
Roundhouse intimacy makes you complicit in every murder.
Director
Gregory Doran
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Richard Armitage's Angus was shot before his Hobbit fame; he later said Sher's Macbeth haunted his own stage work.
The Roundhouse's circular architecture was chosen deliberately—Doran wanted audiences trapped in Macbeth's psychological loop with no escape routes.
US
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