Guardian to livestream Polish Macbeth from Edinburgh Festival

Macbeth: photo - edinburghfestival.list.co.uk

The acclaimed version of the Scottish Play, directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna is currently on a run of six performances at the Lowland Hall after opening on Sunday night.

‘Macbeth’, set in the modern-day Middle East, was premiered in Warsaw in 2005 and was presented to rave reviews in the United States in 2008 and is a production – in Polish with English subtitles - that the Guardian says, “captures the edgy, nightmarish quality of the play rather brilliantly.”

“Sex, power and violence are intimately connected […] not just in the relationship between Macbeth (Cezary Kosinski) and his wife (Aleksandra Konieczna), but in the brutal behaviour of the soldiers towards each other, which brings to mind the abuse of Abu Ghraib,” writes the newspaper.

The livestreaming of the play direct from the Edinburgh Festival can be seen at the Guardian web site (here) from 20.30 CET.

180 Polish events

Poland's culture minister, Bogdan Zdrojewski, who attended the opening night of the play last night, says the Polish presence at all the Edinburgh International Festival venues this year is by far the largest in the history of the event.

Some 180 Polish events are in the programme.

The London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Giergiev will perform all of Karol Szymanowski’s four symphonies, while the Cleveland Orchestra is billed with the Concerto for Orchestra and the Piano Concerto by Witold Lutosławski.

The motto of the Polish presence in Edinburgh is 'Polska Arts – Listen, See and Touch'.

Minister Zdrojewski is among more than 30 ministers of culture from around the world attending a conference at the Scottish Parliament, today and tomorrow, devoted to the place and importance of culture in the global society.

The conference is organized by the International Edinburgh Festival and the British Council. (pg/mk)