Macbeth (an undoing) (Playscript)

The revised and updated edition of Zinnie Harris’s powerful reimagining of Shakespeare’s brutal tragedy, telling Lady Macbeth’s story as it has never been heard before.

‘A clever, heartfelt and, in the broadest and most persuasive sense, feminist revisiting of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. Bold, innovative and bleakly comic, it justifies itself gloriously.’ Daily Telegraph

This story will be told, the way it has always been told. What else use is it otherwise? The hags on the heath. The woman who went mad. The man who became a tyrant.

When her husband returns victorious from the battlefield with a prophecy that he will become king of Scotland, Lady Macbeth vows to make their darkest ambitions a reality. So far, so familiar. But then the story fragments.

Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is ruthless and driven, unstoppable in her pursuit of power, yet she quickly descends into madness and despair. Zinnie Harris’s thrilling new version undoes the narrative we know, and remakes it, examining Lady Macbeth’s trajectory and asking if we have really heard the whole story.

This edition includes an afterword by Dan Rebellato, Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Macbeth (an undoing) premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in February 2023.