Playwright David Greig's Dunsinane is a sequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth

DUNSINANE
The Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Scotland

David Greig is backpedalling. The celebrated Scottish playwright has been credited for writing a dramatic sequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth in everything from the promotional materials to the press reviews of Dunsinane. But when he's reminded of this audacious feat, Grieg can't help but state his side of the story.

"It's not really a sequel," he says of the 2010 play, which has a five-performance run at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium this weekend. "The story of Macbeth existed before Shakespeare. Macbeth was a real king, so was Malcolm, and Siward was a real English general. I am just telling my version of the story."

Directed by Roxana Silbert, this production by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Scotland surveys the chaotic scenes after the death of Macbeth, when warlords are circling, and the occupying English troops are only thinking about going home. Macbeth is never named in the play because, says Greig, "It is a little joke on how it is bad luck to name him in a theatre."

Instead, the focus is on Gruach, the real wife of King Macbeth. "Little is known about her except that she was a very high-ranking woman," the playwright explains. "Her first husband was murdered by Macbeth. Then she and he ruled for many years. After he was deposed and killed, she went to a nunnery."

Greig was inspired to write the play when he watched a production of Macbeth near his home in Scotland. "I realised that all the place names were Scottish," he recalls. "The play deals with Scottish history, but the playwright had never been to Scotland. I thought that was interesting."