#mecbeth

Ah, man. I feel like none of my stories are really dramatic enough to contribute? Like, so much has gone wrong, but most of it has been mishaps that strike me as pretty standard? There was one production where, during the course of a single performance, a column fell on someone and ended up with a hole shaped like his foot in the side of it, and the enormous fuck all earrings that were a part of my costume got caught in another performer’s costume and refused to be separated, because, I don’t know, maybe one of us was mean to an old woman that day and we were fucking cursed. I’ve seen Macduff swing and miss during the final sword fight and break Macbeth’s thumb (Macbeth’s actor was a trooper; none of us knew things had gone hideously wrong until after curtain). I feel like I’ve seen a disproportionately large number of broken thumbs during performances, actually? That’s weird.

My biggest theater mishap story is basically about the last production I did, which was desperately unfunny at the time, and which I really feel like should be some kind of case study of everything you shouldn’t do when staging a play. It was so, so bad. Someday I will write the whole story up for others to revel in the badness. I, the director, and one of the other actresses would head to a bar immediately after rehearsals to cleanse ourselves of the memory of rehearsals through the great and good power of alcohol. In what can only be karmic retribution, we’re almost through opening night when I realize, after having delivered a line offering the two people sharing the stage with me a drink, that whatever dip had stocked the “bar” had included bottles but no glasses. I grabbed the bottle, took a swig, and felt blessed that the scene in question had enough of a bitter-and-tense-and-poorly-written vibe for me to get away with chugging from the bottle like a frat boy on a bender instead of the dignified mother-of-two I was supposed to be.

29 April, 2013 | By Andreas Wiseman

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Fassbender, Justin Kurzel attached to new version of Macbeth, from the producers of The King’s Speech.

Michael Fassbender is attached to play Macbeth in a new version of Shakespeare’s classic, which will be produced by The King’s Speech and Shame producers See Saw.

Snowtown director Justin Kurzel is attached to direct the film, which is expected to shoot later this year. Writers are Todd Louiso and Jacob Koskoff.

The script has been one of the most in-demand ahead of the Cannes Film Festival with a number of sales outfits keen to work on the film.

Development and production backing on the UK-Australian co-production comes from Film4.

The part of Lady Macbeth is currently being cast and talks are underway with at least one Hollywood leading actress.

The production sees Fassbender reunited with Shameproducers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman and Film4, with whom the actor worked on Hunger, Shame and the upcoming Frank.

The in-demand Kurzel is also attached to direct John Le Carre thriller Our Kind of Traitor, which was due to shoot later this year.

The new take on Shakespeare’s classic - about a ruthlessly ambitious Scottish lord who siezes the throne with the help of his scheming wife and three witches - is set in the 11th century and in the original language.

The script is understood to be a visceral approach to the story including significant battle scenes.

The play has been recently staged in London’s West End starring James McAvoy, who was nominated for an Olivier Award for his turn. Famous film versions include Roman Polanski’s 1971 version and Orson Welles’ from 1948.

Actor-director Louiso, whose acting credits include High Fidelity and Jerry Maguire, has been twice-nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance - as director of 2002 comedy-drama Love Liza starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates; and in 2012 for comedy-romance Hello I Must Be Going.