Macbeth

Wyver, J. and Grant, S. 2001. Macbeth.

TitleMacbeth
CreatorsWyver, J. and Grant, S.
Description

120 minute film reworking of the Royal Shakespeare Company stage production of Macbeth, co-produced by Wyver and

commissioned by Channel Four. Macbeth aimed to produce a vivid and dynamic translation to screen of an existing RSC stage production. It built on Wyver’s

previous stage-to-screen translations of theatrical productions, including “Richard II” and “Gloriana”, to develop new production

methods and a single-camera film language.

The original stage production was acknowledged as one of the best of its generation. The screen version involved imaginative

re-thinking of this for a different media form, whilst retaining the core concerns and qualities of the stage production. The screen

production is one of fewer than a half dozen Shakespeare productions produced within British television in the past decade. Its

success led to Channel 4 commissioning a film opera of The Eternity Man, with Wyver as co-producer.

Almost all translations of theatrical productions created for television have employed multiple-camera live recording strategies.

While such productions have an important archival value, they rarely capture the excitement and interest of the original stage

presentation. Macbeth explored how filming a stage production with a single camera and collaborating closely with the stage

cast and production team (including employing the stage director as the screen director) can produce a screen version for an

extensive broadcast audience (800,000 on C4) and for other viewers, including within education, via DVD distribution. Another

key component was bringing the stage production into a single environment, in this case London’s Roundhouse, for the filming.

Wyver conceived this process during extensive collaborative work with the RSC and other theatre professionals. Co-producer

Sebastian Grant line-produced shoot and post-production.

The screen translation retained all of the play’s text and was produced to the highest broadcast production values. It was filmed

with a full professional team and achieved, without compromising the drama, on an unusually fast production schedule.

Year01 Jan 2001
Publication dates
Published01 Jan 2001
Output mediaFilm
Media typeVideo

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