^{Nicole Cooper/Picture: Stuart Armitt}

Writer and director Zinnie Harris has long since shown she has a confident skill in adapting classic texts for modern sensibilities. After her own repeated stage successes, Nicole Cooper takes on the central role of Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (an undoing), a reimagining of the Scottish play that speaks to the source script’s prestige and a dynamic, contemporary dramaturgy.

Cooper is well-known for her powerful interpretations of Shakespeare as associate artist for Glasgow’s Bard In The Botanics seasons (she won the 2022 CATS Best Female Performance for her portrayal of Medea), but she is delighted by the opportunity to work on a new approach to a familiar story. ‘Who would say no to working with Zinnie Harris?’ Cooper says. ‘Her thinking behind filling in the missing blanks in the story of Lady Macbeth really resonated with me.’

For Cooper, the chance to challenge expectations attracted her. ‘Traditional takes have a place, but that doesn’t interest me as an actor or punter. I’m used to treating the text with respect, but not as a precious historical artefact that can’t be played with. If you’re doing Shakespeare in 2023, you have to make it relevant; you have to be saying something with it. I’ve played Lady Macbeth before, and we managed to find a way to make sense of what happened to her, but what excited me about Zinnie’s version was that we were unwrapping the story, almost to finish the story that Shakespeare started.’

Cooper’s enthusiasm mirrors the imagination with which Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre, under the artistic direction of David Greig, has developed its historical connection with theatrical classics through a determination to speak to today.

‘There is an energy around the building about the scale of this production,’ Cooper says. ‘It’s a big show: there are ten of us in the cast, and three times as many who work around us in the building. We are at the centre of a huge machine. But it is making a statement that work like this ought to be on the Lyceum stage; why not dream big, to represent what can be made with the talent in Scotland? Zinnie and David Greig have definitely got a direction in mind and are heading towards it.’

Harris’ most recent work has taken some dark themes (environmental devastation, male privilege) and worked them through a distinctive aesthetic that combines a naturalistic yet poetic language, and an attention to the detail of characterisation. And her adaptations always find an intriguing path through expected tropes and turns. 

But Cooper doesn’t provide any spoilers. ‘You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you,’ she laughs. ‘It is going to blow your mind. It is so clever. It’s going to challenge audiences, but it still feels like a version of Macbeth. The question is: how far can we challenge a classic? How far can we push the boundaries of expectations?’ 

Macbeth (an undoing), Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Saturday 4–Saturday 25 February.