Playwright & Director Zinnie Harris will soon open her newest work, Macbeth (an undoing) on the stage of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. The latest her growing collection of re-visisted classics, an undoing will re-tell events of The Scottish Play from Lady Macbeth’s perspective. Say goodbye enabler of villainy, say hello complex anti-hero railing against the Medieval patriarchy. Actors Nicole Cooper and Adam Best will play Lady Macbeth, and her husband, respectively, and they were kind enough to answer a few questions from The QR…
1. Before you came to Zinnie Harris’s vision of Lady M. what were your opinions of her?
Nicole: Traditionally Lady M feels like Bonnie and Clyde if Bonnie just waited in the car! This amazing potential to be an iconic character but desperately underwritten – by someone who dreamt something big for her as a character but then bottled it!
Adam: Icon. The wind in Macbeth’s sails.
2. Has being part of this production changed your minds at all?
Nicole: Yes – absolutely! Lady M in this version is in her own words “fearless, powerful and unrepentant” – we see a woman fighting against the limitations placed on her character in order to do what needs to be done – for the man she loves above all else!
Adam: Maybe. This production is Lady M’s production. It’s her story. I sort of think of her in less iconic terms now, because now this Lady Macbeth is a woman and a very real part of a very real marriage. She’s not solely an iconic character in the theatrical canon – she’s that, but she’s also “my” wife. That’s a weird answer. Sorry.
3. Why do you suppose theatre makers keep re-visiting the bard?
Nicole: The plays aren’t censored by the times and patrons they were written for anymore – which makes them endlessly interpretable. Shakespeare’s writing is at times – without doubt – some of the best combination of words used to express the complexity of the human condition. Why wouldn’t we want to see that on a stage!
Adam: Because the plays are brilliant and you don’t have to pay the writer.
4. What’s your diagnosis of the current state of female representation in the theatre?
Nicole: I think it is getting better – depending on your age! What is really impressive though – especially with this show is the number of women making decisions on the other side of the table. We have a predominantly female production team, with Zinnie at the helm. There are lots of young girls who aspire to be on the stage, I wish we encouraged more of them to enter the business of stage craft too – writing, directing, design, lighting, sound, stage management, producing. The female lens, the female perspective is a mighty thing to behold when it is given the platform! Plus we just get stuff done!
Adam: In the theatre I’m in currently, my diagnosis is “healthy”.
5. Coming out of a very odd and challenging two years for the stage, have you returned to live work as changed performers?
Nicole: Totally – I found my first job back desperately difficult. I felt so exposed and vulnerable in a way I never had before. What kept me going, and what drives me now is the sense that live performances are immensely powerful and something that we understand as precious – we cherish it more because we understand now what the lack of it means!
Adam: Not as a performer, no. As a worker, though, I feel a renewed gratefulness for being in employment on stage.
6. Do you think this production will surprise its audiences?
Nicole: I truly hope so! I am still being surprised by it and I know it well! I think our audiences will see a story and characters that they know and love but in a completely different light!
Adam: It will. In my experience audiences don’t always come to the theatre to be surprised, so I hope people are open to not having their expectations met in a positive and challenging way.
7. Do you think there’s anything to learn from Shakespeare as a theatremaker in putting bums on seats in the tricky year to come?
Nicole: We will never get tired of a good story and Shakespeare has written loads – I think you have to make them relevant though – I am not interested in a completely traditional take on the story. We should treat the material with respect but not reverence. The plays are malleable, they can bend and twist and reshape.
Adam: Make good work in difficult circumstances. Make it affordable for people to see it. I’ve heard people say “people want musicals or comedies” and whilst that’s maybe fair enough, good drama will always have a place on our stages.
8. How are rehearsals/preparations for the play going?
Nicole: We are in incredibly safe hands with Zinnie’s words and direction. The room feels collaborative and productive- everyone working to shape this story together. I am finding the journey to discovering who Lady Macbeth is complex but massively rewarding.
Adam: Grand. We’re at the business end now and are ramping up a bit and threading in some of the technical elements. Good times.
9. Is there another part in this new play that you’d like to play if you weren’t headlining?
Nicole: The character of Carlin – played brilliantly by Liz Kettle. She represents a particularly disenfranchised community in this story – ignore her at your peril!
Adam: Any of the witches, maybe. Zinnie has changed their story and it’s mad and beautiful.
10. Is it The Scottish Play or Macbeth?
Nicole: It’s Macbeth (an undoing). I am not a superstitious person so I am forever committing the cardinal sin of saying Macbeth. Like Lady M in this show – I am not influenced by things that I cannot see or feel!
Adam: An Undoing!
Macbeth (an undoing) will play at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh from the 4th to 25th of February 2023
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