Alan Cumming Brings One-Man Performance of MACBETH to Audio With 7/3 Release

Simon & Schuster Audio today announced the publication of MACBETH, a new audio program based on William Shakespeare's timeless work, interpreted and performed by Tony Award-winning and Emmy nominated actor Alan Cumming. The program will be published on July 3, 2012 to coincide with the limited engagement of Cumming's one-man performance of MACBETH at New York's Lincoln Center Festival. The audio program will be available in both CD and download formats.

The audio program, like the stage show, is directed by Tony Award winner John Tiffany (Best Direction of a Musical for Once) and Emmy Award winner Andrew Goldberg (A Yiddish World Remembered), who are also directing the show's first performances at The National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow in June.

Cumming, who first performed MACBETH shortly after graduating drama school, said, "I've been interested in creating a unique perspective on MACBETH for years. With the help of John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg, we were able to craft a really original and exciting interpretation of this classic play. I've narrated many audiobooks and I have great respect for them as a form of acting, so I'm very pleased to have this performance available as an audio program."

This radical reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most deeply psychological plays is set in a psychiatric unit in which Cumming is the lone patient. Channeling the story of Macbeth, he is inhabited in turn by each of the characters of the drama, including some of Shakespeare's most complex and troubled creations.

"We are thrilled to bring Alan's amazing performance to the audio medium," says Chris Lynch, Executive Vice President & Publisher of Simon & Schuster Audio. "Anyone who isn't fortunate enough to see Alan perform MACBETH in person will now be able to share in the experience."