"I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wounds" (Macbeth, Act IV Sc 3)
Is Macbeth a horror story. You bet it is - "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?"
Is Macbeth still relevant today? You bet. Shakespeare Must Die was banned in Thailand for twelve years and only this week has made it to the nation's cinema screens - hopefully the first step in spreading the movie far and wide.
The story tells of a theatre group putting on a production of Macbeth in a country (looking much like Thailand - gulp) run by a despot named Dear Leader. The actor playing the role looks similar to Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006 but an early scene alludes to a dark day in Thai history when the military cracked down on student protestors at a Bangkok university in October 1976, killing forty young souls.
When the movie was banned in 2012, director Ing Kanjanavanit said, "I feel like we are heading to a very dark, dark place right now, a place full of fears and everyone has to be extra careful about what they say." She pointed out that Dear Leader was intended to represent any tyrant - people in different countries would think of a different leader.
Appeals were lodged, battles were fought and finally the Supreme Court conceded that Shakespeare may be more generic than specific. Finally, we can see Shakespeare Must Die:
The movie stars Pisarn Pattanapeeradej as Macbeth/Great Leader and Thai-British actress Fiona Tarini Graham as Lady Macbeth
Is Macbeth a horror story. You bet it is - "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?"
Is Macbeth still relevant today? You bet. Shakespeare Must Die was banned in Thailand for twelve years and only this week has made it to the nation's cinema screens - hopefully the first step in spreading the movie far and wide.
The story tells of a theatre group putting on a production of Macbeth in a country (looking much like Thailand - gulp) run by a despot named Dear Leader. The actor playing the role looks similar to Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006 but an early scene alludes to a dark day in Thai history when the military cracked down on student protestors at a Bangkok university in October 1976, killing forty young souls.
When the movie was banned in 2012, director Ing Kanjanavanit said, "I feel like we are heading to a very dark, dark place right now, a place full of fears and everyone has to be extra careful about what they say." She pointed out that Dear Leader was intended to represent any tyrant - people in different countries would think of a different leader.
Appeals were lodged, battles were fought and finally the Supreme Court conceded that Shakespeare may be more generic than specific. Finally, we can see Shakespeare Must Die:
The movie stars Pisarn Pattanapeeradej as Macbeth/Great Leader and Thai-British actress Fiona Tarini Graham as Lady Macbeth
statistics: Posted by andrew.stephenson999 — 2:08 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 1 — Views 194