Two of Britain's greatest actors recently sat down for a cup of tea and a long chat, and the internet is better for it. Ian McKellen and Judi Dench — now Sir and Dame, though they were simply Ian and Judy back in 1979 — spent the conversation reminiscing about the Royal Shakespeare Company production that defined both their careers: Trevor Nunn's stark, prop-light staging of Macbeth.
The 1979 production is the stuff of theatre legend. Nunn stripped everything back: the cast sat on plain blocks around a dark circle, and the drama carried entirely on the words and the two leads. That version was filmed for television, and for many viewers it did exactly what Shakespeare is supposed to do — make four-hundred-year-old text feel urgent. One writer behind the piece credits it with converting them from a bored schoolkid who'd struggled through the play to a lifelong Shakespeare fan, realising that the Bard wrote scripts to be performed, not dissected in a classroom without even a video player.
Here's the news worth knowing: that television production has been remastered this year, and the full two-hour film is available to watch. Paired with the fresh video of McKellen and Dench laughing over old memories, it's a genuinely good way in for anyone who has ever felt shut out by Shakespeare.
For travellers, this ties neatly to Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC's home town. The company still stages Shakespeare (and new work) at its riverside theatres, and the town leans fully into its most famous son — you can visit his birthplace, his grave at Holy Trinity Church, and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre itself. If the remastered Macbeth sparks something, seeing the plays performed live in the town where the RSC is based is the natural next step, and it's a reason the story matters to people who plan trips around culture, not just beaches.
Even if a trip isn't on the cards, the pairing works as an evening in: watch two old friends trade stories over tea, then queue up the production that made them legends. It's a reminder that the best cultural tourism often starts on a screen — a single performance can plant the idea for a whole trip.
Story first reported by Kuriositas.