Episode description

Playwright Zinnie Harris, author Isabelle Schuler and New Generation Thinker Emma Whipday and Michelle Assay have looked at the murdering husband and wife of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Chris Harding hosts a discussion about the Macbeth story from Kurosawa and Shostakovich to a novel called Lady MacBethad and a play called Macbeth an Undoing.

Macbeth - an Undoing by Zinnie Harris runs at the Lyceum Edinburgh from Feb 4th to 25th 2023. Throne of Blood Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film is part of a BFI season celebrating the director which runs across February. https://whatson.bfi.org.uk You can find Free Thinking discussions about Rashomon https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b01vwk and Seven Samurai https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yqt07 available on BBC Sounds Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler is published March 2023. Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk from the New York Metropolitan Opera, starring soprano Svetlana Sozdateleva and tenor Brandon Jovanovich and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on February 25th and available on BBC Sounds for a month afterwards. Alice Birch’s 2016 version of this story relocated to Yorkshire is a film available for rent. Michelle Assay is a musician and has researched Shakespeare. A collection called Free Thinking explores Shakespeare are all available to download as the Arts & Ideas podcast and on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06406hm

Producer: Ruth Watts