Examination of everyday traumas

Shakespeare returned to the Manoel Theatre yesterday after 10 years with Unifaun Theatre Productions’ staging of Macbeth.

The classic tragedy is given a unique take by UK-based theatre director Clive Judd, who adapts it for a modern audience. Speaking about the production, he refers to colleague Phylida Lloyd and her staging of Shakespeare’s Trilogy (Julius Caesar, Henry IV and The Tempest) for the Donmar Warehouse.

“She reminds us that by entirely unshackling these plays from their contexts, they can be revived in the best possible sense. If you do that with Macbeth and you avoid the much-explored option of setting the play within a semi-recognisable political/military regime or framework, what remains are intimate, human relationships. The play’s psychological terrain is much more fascinating than the dystopian concept on which to offer parallels to our present situation or prophesies of our future,” he says.

In this version, Macbeth finds himself subconsciously adopting Shakespeare’s story. It is within this narrative that he finally gets to become king and thus experiences a taste of power and control.

“When I started to consider why someone would choose Macbeth as a...