Shakespeare Magazine 11
The shiny new-look Shakespeare Magazine 11 is adorned with a stunning cover image of Lily James and Richard Madden in Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet. Also in Issue 11, SK Moore tells us about his compelling new graphic novel of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, while broadcaster Samira Ahmed turns her magnificently mercurial mind to the subject of Shakespeare. We have words with Pub Landlord comedian Al Murray about his recent brush with the Bard (and Judi Dench) at RSC Shakespeare Live. And our Editor raves about a 3-DVD box set of 1960s TV Shakespeare classic The Wars of the Roses. We chat with the great Don Warrington, star of Talawa Theatre’s earth-shaking King Lear at Manchester’s Royal Exchange – youthful co-star Alfred Enoch joins in too. Also this issue: we imagine what Tom Hiddleston’s Hamlet would look like, we explore the life of Elizabeth Siddal, Victorian Ophelia, and Bristol’s Insane Root scare the living daylights out of us with their Macbeth!
The shiny new-look Shakespeare Magazine 11 is adorned with a stunning cover image of Lily James and Richard Madden in Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet. Also in Issue 11, SK Moore tells us about his compelling new graphic novel of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, while broadcaster Samira Ahmed turns her magnificently mercurial mind to the subject of Shakespeare. We have words with Pub Landlord comedian Al Murray about his recent brush with the Bard (and Judi Dench) at RSC Shakespeare Live. And our Editor raves about a 3-DVD box set of 1960s TV Shakespeare classic The Wars of the Roses. We chat with the great Don Warrington, star of Talawa Theatre’s earth-shaking King Lear at Manchester’s Royal Exchange – youthful co-star Alfred Enoch joins in too. Also this issue: we imagine what Tom Hiddleston’s Hamlet would look like, we explore the life of Elizabeth Siddal, Victorian Ophelia, and Bristol’s Insane Root scare the living daylights out of us with their Macbeth!
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Insane Root<br />
“We see Macbeth battling in a hellish bunker,<br />
raging and raving, and we are locked in with him”<br />
<br />
production’s few props<br />
<br />
those all-important candles.<br />
perspective of Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film, and brings<br />
the focus back to the language and its imagery.<br />
<strong>Shakespeare</strong>’s words are given unique cadence<br />
in such a small space. Lady Macbeth’s intimate<br />
supplications with her husband are spoken softly<br />
in candlelight. The porter holds a solitary lamp at<br />
the cave entrance and initiates the audience into<br />
the space with whispered tales of battle. Actors are<br />
both exposed and energised, echoed by an audience<br />
unused to be being so close to the players.<br />
“Setting has to have meaning,” Justin argues.<br />
“I don’t think you can just put Hamlet on in a car<br />
park.” He constantly emphasises the importance of<br />
the setting informing the performance. Performing<br />
<strong>Shakespeare</strong> in a unique space shouldn’t just be<br />
about selling tickets to jaded punters – it’s an<br />
opportunity to radically rethink the plays.<br />
Underground Macbeth’s complicit atmosphere<br />
makes us wonder – exactly how involved are we<br />
with the tyranny we see, hear and feel?<br />
“When Macbeth is talking to his court, the<br />
audience play witness,” Justin explains, “almost<br />
becoming his accomplices. In a way, the audience<br />
are visible ghosts and become part of the whole<br />
performance.”<br />
Insane Root’s Macbeth makes these historic<br />
caves feel like a modern-day dictator’s bunker. And<br />
it’s one that the audience are challenged to face.<br />
<br />
Find out more about Insane Root Theatre<br />
insaneroot.co.uk<br />
62 shakespeare magazine
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