Knock knock, who’s there? It’s me, with an episode on The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), the latest film adaptation of the Scottish play.

Directed by a Cohen brother and produced by A24, the movie does give some low-key horror vibes, especially in the creeptastic portrayal of the Weird Sisters. Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand are unsurprisingly great.

But what is this adaptations deal, exactly? It’s using the original language, but a heavily edited version of the text and a simplified approach to the performance of that language. How much does this affect its role as an adaptation of a play?

I wrestle with these issues and a few more in this episode. Also, did some lazy searching and couldn’t find a credible source to confirm that Macbeth is the originator of knock knock jokes.

Further Learning

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Pop Culture Happy Hour's episode on the movie (as always, they have a good discussion)

The New Yorker's critical review of the movie

Crash Course on YouTube has some good overview videos on the play: Watch Part 1, Watch Part 2

Credit where credit is due

Art by Halie Branson

Music recording by josdvg