Macbeth

When thinking of adaptations of the Shakespeare ,admittedly, my mind doesn’t immediately run to the BBC’s Shakespeare Retold adapted by Peter Moffat and Penny Woolcock’s ‘Macbeth on the Estate’. Although very different settings both directors made relevance and its realism their main priorities. If any of these directors had decided to add women on broomsticks we all just might’ve laughed and scoffed in their faces. In the 17th Century witches were very current and believed to be very much alive, strengthened a great deal by King James the 1st’s incredibly strong belief , but back in the late 20th Century? You wish. Children and Binmen (both directors weapon of choice) make fantastic updated versions on the “old hags”, fitting in with each adaptation perfectly. I’ll be the first to admit that when three miserably scruffy-looking bin men appeared on my screen I did begin to question to question Moffat’s reasoning, the characters that replaced the weird sisters had to still have an air of mystery about them, not three middle-aged disgruntled workers who looked in need of a good scrub! However but as the film transpired I soon realised the director’s clever thinking. Do the subtlety added details of the disgusting filling to their sandwiches remind you of anything ? If the answer if something along the lines of “fillet of a fenny snake” or “poisoned entrails” you can see how Moffat has used understated visual lines to the original.
The clever little additions don’t stop there as the line “Excuse my Shakespeare”, spoken by the health inspector left a wide smile on my face. An adaptation should to do just that; make it relevant and who is more relevant than the man who wrote the play? Also that genius reference to Gordon Ramsay as the ‘Scottish Chef’ was an excuse for the audience to cry with laughter. Peter Moffat made it relatable by in cooperating TV cultures which most of us known of such as the