The Play Podcast - SoundSage

James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan at the Almeida Theatre
Photograph by Marc Brenner

038 – Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

Published 2nd DecemberWilliam Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy of love, ambition and betrayal, full of relentless energy and shocking violence, infused by an air of the supernatural. With the ghostly witches, the plot of a thriller, and most of all the passionate partnership of the Macbeths and their doomed ambition, this has always been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It has some of the most memorable scenes in all of theatre: the witches chanting over their cauldron, the ghost of murdered Banquo haunting Macbeth at the banquet, Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and wringing her bloodless hands, and finally the avenging army approaching camouflaged by the branches of Birnam Wood.

The ‘Scottish play’ was written in 1606, in some way as a compliment to the new monarch and sponsor of Shakespeare’s theatre company, James I or James VI of Scotland. The three “weird sisters” may owe their creation to the king’s well-known obsession with witchcraft, and the story and consequences of a regicide echo the real-life assassination attempt by Guy Fawkes less than a year before.

Since the 17th century the parts of the central couple have attracted the greatest actors of the age, and the story has inspired multiple films, including those by Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski and more recently in 2015 by Justin Kurzel, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the title roles. As we record this episode The Tragedy of Macbeth is also running on stage at the Almeida Theatre in London, directed by Yael Farber, with riveting central performances from James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan.

I am joined in this episode by a familiar face, Professor Emma Smith, who teaches Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford. Emma was my expert guest in episode 17 of the podcast where we talked about another murderous Jacobean play, John Webster’s wonderful potboiler The Duchess of Malfi.

Professor Emma Smith

Professor Emma Smith teaches early modern drama at Oxford, with a special focus on Shakespeare, on which she has published a number of books, including The Cambridge Guide to Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s First Folio – Four Centuries of an Iconic Book, 30 Great Myths about Shakespeare and most recently This Is Shakespeare published by Penguin last year, and which was a Sunday Times bestseller. Her lectures on Shakespeare are also available as podcasts, which you can find on the Oxford university podcasts pages. She is reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and most pertinently perhaps for our purposes, she also happens to have written the Arden Student Guide: Macbeth, Language and Writing.

The Texts

If you are interested in buying the play text or other related books, we’d be delighted if you choose to purchase them by following the links below. We will earn a small commission on every book you purchase, which helps to keep the podcast going. Through our selected partners Bookshop.org and Blackwell’s you will also be supporting independent bookshops. Thank you.

We have footnotes for this episode …

The Footnotes to our episode on Macbeth include observations on the unnatural, propulsive pace of the play, and on the origins and interpretations of Shakespeare’s three ‘weird’ sisters.

Take me there!

Suggest a play

We’re always open to suggestions about plays to talk about, so if you’d like us to discuss a favourite of yours, please email us at plays@theplaypodcast.com. Let us know why you think we should cover it, and if you know anyone who’d be excited and qualified to talk about it with us (even yourself if modesty permits!).

Plays suggested for discussion by our Guests* Any play by Caryl Churchill – suggested by Nick Hern, our guest in Episode 2 - see Episode 30! More to follow.... * Jerusalem by Jez Buttwerworth, suggested by John Mitchinson, our guest in episode 20 * Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland - suggested by Matt McFrederick, our guest in Episode 3 * A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, suggested by Stephen Marino, our guest in episode 13 * Far Away by Caryl Churchill – suggested by Dan Rebellato, our guest in Episode 1 * The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan - suggested by Dan Rebellato, our guest on Episode 1 * All My Sons by Arthur Miller – suggested by Neil Docking, our guest in episode 4 * Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, suggested by Andy Miller, our guest in episode 20 * ear for eye by debbie tucker green - suggested by Mark Taylor-Batty, our guest in episode 6 * Mr Burns by Anne Washburn - suggested by George Spender, our guest in episode 7 * Rockets and Blue Lights by Winsome Pinnock - suggested by Dan Rebellato, our guest in episode 8 - see Episode 14! * Our Lady of Kibeho by Katori Hall - suggested by James Dacre, our guest in episode 37 * Misty by Arinze Kene, suggested by Winsome Pinnock, our guest in episode 14 * Art by Yasmina Reza, suggested by Michael Frayn, our guest in episode 18 * Downstate by Bruce Norris - suggested by Joe Penhall, our guest in episode 37 * Faith, Hope and Charity by Alexander Zeldin - suggested by George Turvey, our guest in episode 22 * Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads by Roy Williams - suggested by Nadine Holdsworth, our guest in episode 29 * On Blueberry Hill by Sebastian Barry - suggested by Nicholas Rowe, our guest in episode 10 * Hang by debbie tucker green - suggested by Elaine Aston, our guest in episode 30 * Closer by Patrick Marber, suggested by Lucy Bailey, our guest in episode 16 * Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell - suggested by Henry Filloux-Bennett, our guest in episode 9 * Sucker Punch by Roy Williams - suggested by Alan Brodie, our guest in episode 27 * The White Guard (aka The Day of the Turbins) by Mikhail Bulgakov, suggested by Michael Frayn, our guest in episode 18 * Disappeared by Phyllis Nagy, suggested by Lucy Kirkwood, our guest in episode 19 * The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez - suggested by Henry Filloux-Bennett, our guest in episode 9 * The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer - suggested by Patrick Marber, our guest in episode 33 * Sunday in the Park with George - by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim - suggested by Matt Beresford, our guest in episode 34 * Rafts and Dreams by Robert Holman - suggested by Simon Stephens, our guest in episode 40 * Handbagged by Moira Buffini - suggested by Matt Beresford, our guest in episode 35 * Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin - suggested by Greg Hersov, our guest in episode 36 * Shook by Samuel Bailey - recommended by James Graham, our guest in episode 39 - see episode 22! * Antigone by Jean Anouilh - suggested by Emma Smith, our guest in episode 38 * Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins - suggested by Monica Dolan, our guest in episode 41 * The Wexford Trilogy by Billy Roche - suggested by Conor McPherson, our guest in episode 28 * Shook by Samuel Bailey - suggested by Nick Hern, our guest in episode 2 - See episode 22! * Good by C.P. Taylor - suggested by Alan Brodie, our guest in episode 27 * Gas by Georg Kaiser - suggested by Justin Greene, our guest in episode 26 * The Birds by Aristophanes - suggested by Edith Hall, our guest in episode 25 * The Seven Streams of the River Ota by Robert Lepage - suggested by Adam James, our guest in episode 24 * The Effect by Lucy Prebble - suggested by Nina Raine, our guest in episode 24 * The Mikvah Project by Josh Azouz - suggested by Samuel Bailey, our guest in episode 22 * Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill - suggested by John Tiffany, our guest in episode 21 * The Blind by Maurice Maeterlinck - suggested by Tim McMullan, our guest in episode 5 * The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, suggested by Emma Smith, our guest in episode 17. * The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, suggested by Christopher Hampton, our guest in episode 15 * A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller, suggested by Stephen Marino, our guest in episode 13 * Across Oka by Robert Holman, suggested by David Eldridge, our guest in episode 11. * Lungs by Duncan Macmillan - suggested by Victoria Hamilton, our guest in episode 10 - see episode 7! * Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris -suggested by Monica Dolan, our guest in episode 41 Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.