"The Scottish Play" by Shakespeare is on stage anew at Teatro Nacional São João

"Macbeth" by William Shakespeare is presented at Teatro Nacional São João (TNJS) on 21 February and performances will run till 11 March. 

 After sold-out performances in 2017, "The Tragedy of Macbeth" (the play's full title) features actor João Reis as Macbeth, a brave Scottish general who, upon a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland, is driven by ambition and spurred to action by his wife.

As such, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from plots and enemies he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The consequent civil war takes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into a swirl of paranoia and death.

Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies and that brevity has also been connected to the fast pace of the first act, and the oddness of Macbeth himself compared with other Shakespearean tragic heroes.

In the backstage world of theatre, the play is believed to be cursed, and its title will not be mentioned aloud, instead it is referred as "The Scottish Play".

+ info and tickets here.