MacBeth Made Accessible With CGI Robots

By Nick Venable | Updated

While William Shakespeare dealt quite a bit of fantasy out there, he wasn’t much of a science fiction guy. Thankfully, the years have given us plenty of science fiction adaptations of his work, and it’s a well that won’t soon run dry.

Uppity purists may consider thumbing their nose at The Robot Shakespeare Company for their recent adaptation of The Tragedy of MacBeth, because it replaces the dark horror of the dense tale with CGI robots. Obviously we here at Giant Freakin’ Robot stand behind this product, for giving robots something regal to do for a change, for inexplicably setting it in space, and for making the material accessible to younger people for whom Shakespeare is unintelligible without CliffsNotes. Those are still real, right?

Originally a Kickstarter campaign, The Tragedy of MacBeth isn’t trying to take over the Academy Awards, but that’s fine, because you couldn’t watch any of this year’s Best Animated Feature nominees and call it homework. Not that calling something homework makes it cool, but watching a play performed is more proper than just reading it.

If you’re a kid, watching a movie instead of reading something like this is a no-brainer, and the film features subtitles that modernize the characters’ dialogue so that the sometimes steep language barrier is easily traversed. This might be blasphemy to some people, but only to those that have already experienced it before. Let’s give the newbs a shot.

Check out the trailer below and view this tale of regicide like never before. The entire movie can actually be watched in its entirety on the website, or purchased on DVD from Amazon. Here’s hoping the company can get more adaptations funded and inspire a new generation to appreciate the Bard’s words.