As the Scottish king might ask: ‘What bloody man is that?’ Well it’s not quite William Shakespeare that’s for sure. Writer/director Malachi Bogdanov loves Shakespeare but he also loves the films of Quentin Tarantino. Describing Macbeth: Kill Bill Shakespeare, he says, ‘It’s a post modernist comic caper, I seem to be going through a stage of these at the moment.’

Bogdanov’s new show is a natural follow on from his much praised 2003 Bill Shakespeare’s Italian Job. Trained at the legendary L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Bogdanov is no philistine intent on debagging the bard’s finest works. He says, ‘I’m an honorary professor at the University of Northampton and I was invited to do a show with their students so I decided to do a fusion between Macbeth and the oeuvre of Tarantino. So the thing grew and I ended up doing it with a professional cast and touring Germany and then we decided to do it in Italy with an Italian cast and finally we’re coming back to the UK with a British cast.’

As with Bogdanov’s previous work, the set up of this Macbeth is pleasingly simple. He says, ‘Basically I’ve taken some crucial scenes from the films of Tarantino and I’ve translated them into Shakespearean and inserted them into the Scottish play. So it’s all Shakespearean but it’s also identifiably Tarantino. For example the overdose scene in Pulp Fiction is used for the demise of Lady Macbeth.’ Bogdanov, who is looking forward to seeing Tarantino’s new film Death Proof so he can ‘insert some of that into the play as well’ has also just finished directing his debut feature film The Mandrake Root, an adaptation of Machiavelli’s erotic farce, in Italy where he now lives. Is he looking forward to returning home after the end of UK run of Macbeth? ‘Oh yes, I miss the siestas.’ (Paul Dale)
MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling, Mon 1–Wed 3 Oct