Tony and BAFTA Award-winning actor Ralph Fiennes is set to take the lead in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with Olivier Award-winner Indira Varma to play Lady Macbeth.
Produced by Wessex Grove and Underbelly, in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C., Macbeth will open in Liverpool this November, from 24 November to 16 December 2023, and then travel to Edinburgh from 13 to 27 January 2024, London from 11 February to 23 March 2024, and Washington D.C. from 2 to 28 April 2024.
The production will be directed by Shakespeare Theatre Company’s artistic director Simon Godwin, in an adaptation by Emily Burns, with set design by Frankie Bradshaw.
The production promises to break free from the confines of traditional theatres and instead be staged in four site-specific warehouses in the four cities.
Further venue information, casting and creative team will be announced soon.
Ralph Fiennes was recently on stage in London starring in Straight Line Crazy by David Hare at The Bridge Theatre and at The Shed in New York. Fiennes’ most recent film credits include The Menu and The Forgiven.
Indira Varma won an Olivier Award for her performance in Present Laughter at The Old Vic. Her recent stage credits include Jamie Lloyd’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre. On TV, she is currently starring in Obsession on Netflix.
Ralph Fiennes said in a press statement: “Ever since we collaborated on Man and Superman I’ve longed to work with Indira Varma and Simon Godwin again. Simon brought us together then and he’s reuniting us for Macbeth. Simon’s visionary process is exceptionally collaborative. This will be my third time working with him – I’m truly excited. Macbeth is a play that always carries relevance but with wars in Ukraine and Sudan – and murderous authoritarian regimes very present in the world the play seems particularly current. But Shakespeare’s examination of the MINDS of his protagonists – the intimate nature of this – is what gives the play its brilliant and terrifying focus.”
Indira Varma said: “I’m thrilled to be heading back in to the rehearsal room with Ralph Fiennes and Simon Godwin exploring Macbeth and Lady M’s fraught relationship and the play’s themes of ambition and corruption which still feel chillingly poignant in our modern world.”
Director Simon Godwin said: “I’m thrilled to be reuniting with Ralph and Indira after our acclaimed Man and Superman at the NT. Macbeth is a remarkable portrait of a marriage and a terrifying account of the drift towards tyranny. The experience will be heightened by playing in different spaces across different cities before ending our journey – during a US election year – in America’s capital. I’m thrilled to be embarking on an international journey driven by Shakespeare’s capacity to urgently reflect our shared and volatile present.”
