When I was 16, I played Macbeth at school and my English teacher said, 'I think you may have acting talent. Try to get into the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and see where you get.' I wouldn't have thought of that at all. I wanted to be a surgeon, but I wasn't a clever man.
A great performance like Lady Macbeth may be forgotten. Writing endures.
Richard III is not likeable. Macbeth is not likeable. Hamlet is not likeable. And yet you can't take your eyes off them. I'm far more interested in that than I am in any sort of likeability.
When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.
Historically, Macbeth is one of the greatest kings Scotland ever had. He was on the throne for 19 years, and he simply has this dreadful reputation because Shakespeare manipulated history for the benefit of James I, who was paying him to write the play to blacken Macbeth's name.
The play is about taking those pieces and putting them back together, ... The actors don't have much opportunity to convey that to the audience. I'm trying to get the secondary plot in line with the events that Macbeth instigates.
If you look at the play very closely, this is a thirdhand report of what a wonderful hero Macbeth is for saving Scotland. And in the next scene, he's planning to murder Duncan, and you never really know why or what's behind Macbeth.
But in her very first scene, she has to crawl into this different spirit to become a hard person. So she's not inherently evil. She changes as Macbeth changes.
I drink to the general joy of the whole table. - from Macbeth