David Bianculli

It was one of the... Max Webster, our director, it was one of his very earliest ideas. He was fascinated with the idea of Macbeth as a soldier. He'd done a production of Henry V where they'd looked a lot into the actuality of being a soldier who goes to war, what that might do to you, ideas around PTSD and shell shock. And he talked to people who'd experienced that.

It was one of the... Max Webster, our director, it was one of his very earliest ideas. He was fascinated with the idea of Macbeth as a soldier. He'd done a production of Henry V where they'd looked a lot into the actuality of being a soldier who goes to war, what that might do to you, ideas around PTSD and shell shock. And he talked to people who'd experienced that.

It was one of the... Max Webster, our director, it was one of his very earliest ideas. He was fascinated with the idea of Macbeth as a soldier. He'd done a production of Henry V where they'd looked a lot into the actuality of being a soldier who goes to war, what that might do to you, ideas around PTSD and shell shock. And he talked to people who'd experienced that.

And the idea that one would hear voices... that one would imagine things were happening that weren't. And he sort of took the idea of PTSD and put it onto Macbeth and it kind of fits remarkably well. I mean, who knows what Shakespeare's experience was with veterans from whatever wars were around at the time.

And the idea that one would hear voices... that one would imagine things were happening that weren't. And he sort of took the idea of PTSD and put it onto Macbeth and it kind of fits remarkably well. I mean, who knows what Shakespeare's experience was with veterans from whatever wars were around at the time.

And the idea that one would hear voices... that one would imagine things were happening that weren't. And he sort of took the idea of PTSD and put it onto Macbeth and it kind of fits remarkably well. I mean, who knows what Shakespeare's experience was with veterans from whatever wars were around at the time.

But it feels like it all tracks with how modern day veterans describe some of the things they struggle with after tours of duty. And he started working with a sound designer called Gareth Fry, who'd done other shows where the audiences all wore headphones.

But it feels like it all tracks with how modern day veterans describe some of the things they struggle with after tours of duty. And he started working with a sound designer called Gareth Fry, who'd done other shows where the audiences all wore headphones.

But it feels like it all tracks with how modern day veterans describe some of the things they struggle with after tours of duty. And he started working with a sound designer called Gareth Fry, who'd done other shows where the audiences all wore headphones.

And you can do extraordinary things then to the audience's experience, because for a start, you can whisper very quietly and you can move where that whisper is. So if you can do that for the audience, they get an understanding of perhaps what's happening inside Macbeth's very troubled brain.

And you can do extraordinary things then to the audience's experience, because for a start, you can whisper very quietly and you can move where that whisper is. So if you can do that for the audience, they get an understanding of perhaps what's happening inside Macbeth's very troubled brain.

And you can do extraordinary things then to the audience's experience, because for a start, you can whisper very quietly and you can move where that whisper is. So if you can do that for the audience, they get an understanding of perhaps what's happening inside Macbeth's very troubled brain.

So you could particularly when so much of what Macbeth says is in soliloquy, which is an address to the audience. I think it was just using a tool that was available and adding to that, you have a sort of soundscape, which is happening the whole time.

So you could particularly when so much of what Macbeth says is in soliloquy, which is an address to the audience. I think it was just using a tool that was available and adding to that, you have a sort of soundscape, which is happening the whole time.

So you could particularly when so much of what Macbeth says is in soliloquy, which is an address to the audience. I think it was just using a tool that was available and adding to that, you have a sort of soundscape, which is happening the whole time.

You're mixing in the music, you're mixing in sound effects that may or may not be live on stage in front of you, which again is adding to that sense of. disconcertion and what's real what isn't real and so it was a sort of conceptual way of telling this very well told story perhaps in a slightly new quite modern way while still being entirely faithful to the text that Shakespeare wrote

You're mixing in the music, you're mixing in sound effects that may or may not be live on stage in front of you, which again is adding to that sense of. disconcertion and what's real what isn't real and so it was a sort of conceptual way of telling this very well told story perhaps in a slightly new quite modern way while still being entirely faithful to the text that Shakespeare wrote

You're mixing in the music, you're mixing in sound effects that may or may not be live on stage in front of you, which again is adding to that sense of. disconcertion and what's real what isn't real and so it was a sort of conceptual way of telling this very well told story perhaps in a slightly new quite modern way while still being entirely faithful to the text that Shakespeare wrote

It's hard to know because, you know, when you prepare a production like that, you kind of know what your version of it needs to be. I've never heard that back. So it's hard. I don't know. All I'm hearing is what I would have done differently. What would you have done differently? Oh, I don't know. You know, I think that speech in particular actually was probably out of the whole play.

It's hard to know because, you know, when you prepare a production like that, you kind of know what your version of it needs to be. I've never heard that back. So it's hard. I don't know. All I'm hearing is what I would have done differently. What would you have done differently? Oh, I don't know. You know, I think that speech in particular actually was probably out of the whole play.