Picking up where Shakespeare left off

The tyrant is slain in battle and a new government is established with the help of foreign forces. The foreign commanding officer, a noble man with good intentions, seems to get it wrong at every step as he pursues peace and tries to rebuild the war-ravaged land.

This is the plot of "Dunsinane," a play that starts where Shakespeare's "Macbeth" ends with the death of the title character at Dunsinane Hill in Scotland.

In the world of playwright David Greig, Macbeth is not a tyrant and Lady Macbeth outlives her husband. In "Dunsinane," the Lady Macbeth character is Gruach, a calm, wise and patriotic woman who fights fiercely for her son and the country.

"The story of Macbeth is not Shakespeare's story alone," Greig, in his 40s, tells Shanghai Daily via e-mail.

"Macbeth was a historical character, as was Siward and Gruach and Malcolm (who becomes king after Macbeth's death). These are figures and places from Scottish history.

"I was interested in looking at the way that when one country invades another then propaganda stories emerge ... a queen becomes a witch who eats babies ... a king becomes a tyrant," Greig says. "It may be that there is truth in those portrayals but there is another side as well."

The well-received National Theater of Scotland and Royal Shakespeare Company production will be staged at Shanghai Grand Theater on April 26-27 after stopping at the Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts on April 22-23.

Considered one of the United Kingdom's most prolific contemporary playwrights, Greig is known to have no boundaries in his writing style. His plays span from English adaptations of foreign plays including Camus's "Caligula" and Strindberg's "Creditors" to West End hit musical "Charlie's Chocolate Factory" and "Damascus," inspired by his trip to the Middle East.

Born in Edinburgh, Greig spent his early years in Nigeria, where his father worked in the construction industry. At 13, Greig returned to Edinburgh, where he is now based. He has been putting on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since his early 20s in 1992.

"I see myself as Scottish. I always have," he says. "But because I came from outside at first — when I returned from Nigeria — identity was something I had to learn rather than simply experience.

"I always felt a little outside of the culture and I put that feeling into reading Scottish poetry and novels, traveling the country, learning history, etc. I'm Scottish but I am deeply aware of the contradictions, myths, silliness and oddity of all national identities; the Scottish one in particular."

This learning from the outside, the nature of questioning and consciousness of the "Scottish identity" have made him a daring and creative writer, as well as a strong promoter of Scotland's pro-independence movement.

"Scotland will always be small and England will always be large," he says. "The question is 'How do we live together?' In the past there has been war, then union ... now I personally think a friendly relationship between two independent countries would be the best way for the two countries to get along."

His inspiration for "Dunsinane" came partially after seeing Macbeth and realizing he knew places like Burnham Wood and Dunsinane, where Shakespeare had never been.

"So that great Scottish play was written by someone who wasn't Scottish and hadn't been to Scotland, yet he reduced the great King Macbeth. Now we know a lot more about him and have realized he was a good king, that interested me into writing a response," he said shortly after the play premiered in the UK in 2010.

Greig began writing the play not long after the 2003 invasion of Iraq had started and the response is not solely to Shakespeare's great tragedy. The tension between 11th-century Scotland and the invading English army in the play makes it likely that viewers will think about modern wars like in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I was interested in the idea 'What happens next,' after you overthrow a king," says Greig. "I was thinking about Scottish history and about Afghanistan and Iraq. But, of course, war is an eternal theme and so there will always be moments when it returns and seems relevant in a new way."

The English soldiers, who saw Scotland as a horrible foreign land, are not described as bad invaders. Instead, their commander, Siward, is a brave and honest man. He forbids his men from stealing or robbing.

He travels to every clan to ask their opinions. All he wants is peace in Scotland. But such virtue and a simple goal seem to work against him.

In "Dunsinane," Gruach suggests there would have been less blood if Siward were not a good man.

"I'm interested in the way that integrity can be a mixed gift for a politician," Greig says. "There are circumstances where relentless pursuit of 'the right thing' and 'uncorruptability' can lead you to be blind to the reality of the world you are operating in. This in turn can lead to terrible violence.

"Sometimes 'good intentions' are a comfort blanket which politicians hold to themselves to take away the pain of responsibility. Egham is a venal coward. Siward is a noble and brave man. If Siward had been more like Egham, there would have been less blood. What does this mean for the world? I don't know. Do I think this means politicians should be corrupt? I don't think so. Does it mean politicians should be wary of invading other countries for 'noble' reasons ... perhaps."

Greig has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and the Edinburgh International Festival, among others. His works have been staged around the world. A Chinese version of his "Midsummer," a sad and comical love story between two lonely souls in Edinburgh, will be shown by the Shanghai Drama Arts Center from April 17 to May 4.

"The Events," his latest Edinburgh play, was inspired by Anders Breivik's 2011 Norway Attacks. A new local community choir group is put on stage every night to see the events surrounding them for the first time just like the audience. And their response becomes an important part of what the audience sees on the stage.

"I am rooted in Scotland as the place I work from," he says. "Every writer has to have a platform on which they stand in order to get a look at the world. The platform for me is Scotland. For now."

òDunsinaneó in Shanghai

Date: April 26-27, 7:15pm

Venue: Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 PeopleÕs Ave

Tickets: 180-880 yuan

Tel: 962-388