Won Adjudicator's Award and Best Use of Stage at Leicestershire One Act Play Festival. An Interview with Macbeth takes Shakespeare's play and examines the truth of that story compared with historical reality. The reason for the porter's speech is explained - MacDuff is the instigator of the plot to kill Duncan and arrives so timely in order to incriminate Macbeth as the murderer. Macbeth does not kill Duncan, the actual murderer is Donaldbain (a prince who eventually rebelled against his brother, King Malcolm of Scotland) who is being manipulated by the MacDuffs, who are followers of Wicca. Their intention is to take the throne of Scotland for their own family by marrying Donaldbain to their daughter, meanwhile crushing the Christian church and substituting Wicca as the religion of Scotland. Macbeth manages to derail this scheme, but cannot escape Malcolm's attack on him, which is backed by the English. However, Macbeth manages to ensure that his royal line survives until the present day. The play explores madness and the nature of evil, as well as changing patterns of morality and views of history. An Interview with Macbeth was written to be performed at drama festivals, at which it has won awards, and contains parts for experienced players and young people.
About the Author: James Clarke was born in Leicester on the day the Germans surrendered - rumours that these events were connected are completely unfounded! Brought up in Leicester, he became a detached youth worker in London and Blackburn and then fled to the Shetland Isles where he became the Laird of Punds and raised ducks, geese, dogs, cows and lots and lots of sheep - not to mention the odd goat, cat and non-existent Shetland fox! To learn more about Jim's adventures on Shetland read his Ratscape Chronicles - The Autobiographical Ramblings of an Outcast, it is both hilarious and tragic. Having abandoned the Shetlands in tragic circumstances, Jim returned to Leicester where he set up home with a deerhound, a Wurlitzer and his fourth wife. Together they breed the increasingly well-known Aylestone Bulldogs, tried entertaining foreign students with great success until the financial crash hit Spain, and write and paint (the Wurlitzer is not much good at painting but has a wonderful sound! And, alas, the deerhound is now hunting in the fields of Elysium). Jim's work is on the dark side of the world, seeing reality through completely unrosy spectacles. He has written several plays, two pantomimes, a modest amount of poetry (his first volume, Chocolate Rain, is on Amazon, and a new collection, Smoke from the Hills, is soon to follow, the first a dark view of the world, the second concentrating on its ephemeral nature), and three novels. Following the publication of An Interview with Macbeth, in celebration of Shakespeare's 450th birthday, he intends publishing the play 'Shades of Isis', which concerns the struggle of two powerul women to control Cleopatra and determine the rule of Rome - a tragedy that forshadows Armageddon. He also hopes to publish The Battle of Bosworth Range, a new look at the murder of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, set in the American West - he comes from Leicester, after all! Apart from all this, Jim spends time with his family (he heads four generations), his friends and his home brew - which he is fond both of brewing and sharing!