“They think me Macbeth,” sings Reuben Joseph in the West End production of Hamilton, quoting the Scottish king’s famous line “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” in the song Take a Break. Now, Joseph is set to go straight from playing the lead in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical to the title character of Shakespeare’s tragedy in his RSC debut this summer.
Reuben’s final performance as Alexander Hamilton will take place this weekend and in two months he takes to the stage as Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
“I don’t think there’s a single Scottish actor who hasn’t dreamt of getting their hands on the part of Macbeth,” said Joseph, who trained at Glasgow Clyde College and graduated in 2018. He was playing Angus in the Almeida’s 2021 production The Tragedy of Macbeth when he was approached to audition for Hamilton.
“Playing Alexander Hamilton has me well-versed in the disastrous consequences of ambition,” Joseph continued. “Not to mention Hamilton’s own self-comparison to Macbeth in the show. They share a driving force, though one of them with far bloodier methods. I’m fascinated by the question of ‘how far can a person compromise their moral code, before they compromise their soul?’ It’s a notion that resonates deeply with audiences who, after 400 years, keep coming back to this story.”
Wils Wilson will direct the new production, which also stars Valene Kane as Lady Macbeth. Both are also making their debuts for the RSC. Kane said she was “fascinated by the interplay of the feminine and masculine, both within her and within the play. The complexities of relationship dynamics, and the investigation of a woman’s power in her marriage and in society, are so fertile here … As the only Irish actor in an otherwise all-Scottish company, there’s an added dynamic to the Macbeth’s relationship which I’m looking forward to exploring in rehearsals; the idea of Lady Macbeth as other, as an outsider.”
Wilson said the production would be set in an imagined near-future: “the climate is more extreme, there’s scarcity of resources and war. It’s a play about choices, the choices the Macbeths make, the choices all the characters make, and it asks us to look at our own choices and where they might lead.”
Macbeth runs at the Royal Shakespeare theatre from 19 August to 14 October. The production will be designed by Georgia McGuinness, one of Wilson’s regular collaborators, and choreographed by Julia Cheng, whose credits include the current West End hit Cabaret.
In November, Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma will play the lead roles in Simon Godwin’s tour of Macbeth, which opens in Liverpool. This winter, David Tennant and Cush Jumbo also play the Macbeths in a Donmar Warehouse production.
