Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!

Macbeth doth murder sleep’
Macbeth, Act 2 scene 2

Welcome to the RSC’s Macbeth Play Guide.

Almost 400 years after it was written, Shakespeare’s dark depiction of ambition, guilt and murder continues to cast a powerful spell over audiences. Poetically rich, this “tale told by a genius” is a portrait of the psychology of murder and tyranny and a study of a flawed hero’s disintegration into moral decay.

The Play Guide gives background information to Macbeth and charts a long and rich history of the play in performance. It also offers a unique profile of Dominic Cooke’s production which opened at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in March 2004, with Greg Hicks as Macbeth and Siân Thomas as Lady Macbeth. In the Guide you will find interviews with the director, designers, actors and understudies and galleries full of photographs from past RSC productions.

We hope you enjoy reading this Play Guide.

Roz Symon
RSC Play Guides

(All references are to the New Penguin edition edited by G.K. Hunter)

Credits