Project Detail

Macbeth

Synopsis

In this adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, both the staging and the interpretation of this classic play are radically reinvigorated for a contemporary audience. In a godless world of moral relativism, we follow Macbeth’s inner journey from his position as an assured warrior hero, to his nadir as a bereft, lonely, insecure and guilt-ridden king. Driven by his ambition, which he attempts to justify by a desperate appeal to supernatural signs and influences, Macbeth finally recognises his personal culpability, casts aside his self-excusing acts of self-deception, and dies bravely and defiantly, bleakly aware of the fragility of his own humanity.

Shakespeare's genius encompasses a deft and fluid ability to weave complex poetic threads that bind together the outer material story, and the inner psychological narrative.

We have created sequences of cinematic poetry to work in sympathetic engagement with the actual poetry at such moments – not just summoning the Shakespearean imagery in newly visualised form but allowing the stream of Shakespearean imagery to suggest other directions of travel for the film’s account of Macbeth’s inner world. Our film language is as dexterous, fluid and imaginative as the spoken language is at such moments.

Details

Year: 2018
Type of project: Features
Running time: 118 minutes
Director: Kit Monkman
Producer: Thomas Mattinson, Alan Latham
Co-Producer: Judith Buchanan
Editor: Thomas Mattinson, Kit Monkman
Screenwriter: Kit Monkman (screenplay), Thomas Mattinson (screenplay), Tom Wexler (screenplay), Judith Buchanan (screenplay), William Shakespeare (play)
Composer: Gregory Spears
Principal cast: Mark Rowley, Akiya Henry, Al Weaver
Creative Director: Tom Wexler

Genre

Literary Adaption Drama

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

GSP Macbeth Ltd

Highfield Grange
Bubwith
Selby
YO8 6DP

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Sales Company

GSP Studios International

Highfield Grange
Bubwith
Selby
YO8 6DP

Visit Website

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Kevin and Cassandra are a married couple who have lost their only daughter Hannah in a freak car accident. They both raised her differently. Kevin had been a traditional parent, Cassandra a permissive one. While Hannah had decided to exhibit her body and mind online, she cut adrift from her father and gravitates towards her mother. Her death drove a wedge between them. Their lounge becomes a battlefield where incendiary words and spiteful things are said. Their marriage is one where opposites no longer attract. Kevin is filled with loathing for his in-laws, his daughter’s boyfriend, himself. Cassandra wears her daughter’s favorite colours with pride and exhibits her painting on the walls. Kevin finds he is powerless in his home and Cassandra mocks the fact that it was her father who bought it. And when he finally leaves it, he leaves Cassandra forever.

Black Drama