The National previews Lotfi Achour’s Tunisian-themed Macbeth adaptation, premiering in London this July and playing Tunis in September.
"Leila and Ben" (timely Tunisian Macbeth)
Reply
Macbeth: Leila and Ben – A Bloody History – Artistes, Producteurs, Associes from Tunisia combine Shakespeare with film and reportage (LIFT at London’s Riverside Studios, Northern Stage – in Arabic with English surtitles).
There are not a lot of Arabic productions of Macbeth, for whatever reason, and even fewer adaptations. (Low prestige? High censorship?) But the time may be ripe for a production keyed to ousted Tunisian president Zine el Abdine Ben Ali and his widely reviled wife Leila.
Another 2B moment from the rhetoric of the Arab revolutions. This one’s a Facebook group called
Tunisie To be or not to be – شعب تونس نكون او لا نكون