8th October 2001
Bean Back for ‘The Scottish Play’???
Sean Bean is strongly expected to make a West End return next summer in the lead role of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Although Bean is familiar to audiences via the TV drama series Lady Chatterley's Lover, and films such as When Saturday Comes and GoldenEye, his career began in theatre. He trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Bean's stage debut was for the acclaimed Newbury Watermill Theatre, playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. Macbeth is often superstitiously referred to as ‘The Scottish Play' on account of the many mishaps which tend to accompany rehearsals of the devilish drama. The first recorded performance was in 1611, though it is generally thought to have first been performed in 1606.