“Screen-life thriller” of Macbeth set in modern day Iran.
The game, a collaboration with developer iNK Stories,is called Lili and is set in contemporary Iran.
Here, the title character is inspired by Lady Macbeth and played by Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir.
It was such rich material to be able to draw from."
So how exactly will Lili play?
This takes place through live-action sequences to maintain the theatricality of the original play.
How do we unpack her today?"
“The question of gender is something that’s becoming globally challenging right now, not just within Iran.
Macbeth’s infamous witches also became an entry point for the game’s parallels with the play.
“That, for us, became this really beautiful parallel of the witches and Macbeth.
They control the flow of information and within our world they’re the forecasters of chaos.
They’re agents of destabilisation.
They’re both supernatural and sort of digital in their omnipresence.”
Through making the game, the pair say they have considered the intersection between theatre and games.
“Particularly during Shakespearean times… that open forum of back and forth took place.
Adds Vassiliki: “It’s very important to us to preserve the thematic strength of these stories.
They’ve endured for so long for a reason.
How do we check that we’re honouring that?
Really, Lili is proving the timelessness and universality of Shakespeare’s plays.
Vassiliki extends this idea.
Lili is still in development and is due for release later this year.
It follows therelease of Grand Theft Hamlet, a documentary film about staging Shakespeare insideGTA Online.
Perhaps, then, this could be the start of a Shakespearean renaissance in video games.
