Macbeth
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'Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.'
Fresh from victory on the battlefield, the celebrated general and nobleman Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that he will one day become king of Scotland. Driven by his own ambition and that of his power-hungry wife, he murders King Duncan and seizes the throne for himself. Forced to commit murder again and again to maintain their grip on power, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become haunted by guilt and paranoia, falling into a spiral of madness and, eventually, death.
Believed to have been written between 1599 and 1606, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most violent tragedies, and has inspired countless stage and screen adaptations.
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.