This Summer, MidCoast Shakes brought theater artists and community members together to create a unique version of Macbeth, titled (Lady) Macbeth.  By combining Shakespeare’s text with historical research and original storytelling, our adaptation shifts the play’s focus to Lady Macbeth’s untold story. 

The character of Lady Macbeth is based on a historical figure, but her story has been co-opted not just by Shakespeare, but by our culture at large.  We see her only as an extension of her husband, and she is typically portrayed as the grasping, devious villain of the piece.  All of her husband’s sins are laid at her feet, and her story is a cautionary tale about trusting ambitious women. 

Would we think about her differently if we knew her real story?  If we knew that Gruoch, which was her given name, was married before, and that many historians believe that Macbeth was responsible for her first husband’s murder?  That she was left alone in the world with her young son, and would have had almost no other way to secure her son’s future and her own except to marry her first husband’s killer?