Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest, most visceral and most disturbing tragedy. It was written in or about 1606, during the reign of King James I (VI of Scotland) and prudently places the current monarch as one of the line of good and justified kings deriving from Banquo, which is what the Stuart house itself to which James belonged also claimed. The plot centres on the Scottish general Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth (as a married woman, she must live in the public domain through the identity of her husband) and the ambition they share that brings about their downfall, although not until bodies are piled across the stage.

Returning victorious from a battle, Macbeth comes across a coven of three witches, who prophesy that he will become first Thane of Cawdor (this is an aristocratic title) and then king. Macbeth’s instinct is to ignore this and continue to act as a loyal and virtuous servant of the king. However, his composure is rocked when a messenger arrives almost immediately thereafter to inform him that King Duncan has indeed made him Thane of Cawdor, as the previous incumbent expired heirless. Macbeth informs his wife of the events but is in an agony of indecision over what to do. His wife is much more enthusiastic to embrace the apparent destiny and persuades her husband to take action (‘screw your courage to the sticking place’). This action is to murder Duncan, who is conveniently coming to stay at the Macbeth castle. Macbeth is finally convinced and kills the king and places the blame on innocent servants by planting the bloody dagger on them. He immediately has the servants killed in an attempt to close the case. This, however, proves impossible. Although he is crowned king, Macbeth finds himself becoming increasingly tyrannical in the attempt to suppress suspicions and eventually rebellion. His wife, meanwhile, cannot forget the murders and begins suffering nightmares about the act (‘Is this a dagger I see before me?”) and acting in an obsessively compulsive way by trying to wash imaginary blood from her hands (‘Out, damned spot’). It is clear that this is all going to end very badly.

The language and action of the play is extremely disturbing and full of a sense of claustrophobic evil. The witches are said to have genuine magic spells as part of their dialogue and, at one stage, a mysterious third murderer appears who may be a manifestation of the devil. Partly because of this, the play has a reputation for being so unlucky that actors will not even speak its name (it is called ‘the Scottish play’) for fear of bringing down some form of ill luck on themselves. Then again, there is another story that Macbeth was used as a kind of emergency fall back play when audiences were too small to support the actors’ wages. However, this is a much less entertaining tradition.