Psyched-Up Shakespeare

Psyched-Up Shakespeare is a creative performance and research strand that explores Shakespeare’s characters and stories through the lens of contemporary psychology.

Designed to engage audiences in ideas about emotion, identity, mental health, and human complexity, the work uses theatre as a public space for psychological insight and conversation.

Each project within this strand uses ACT, parts work, and narrative approaches to uncover the stuck loops, conflicting drives, and deep dilemmas that make Shakespeare’s characters so enduring—and so recognisable.

Combining Shakespearean verse with contemporary text and dynamic physical storytelling, Lady M is an exhilarating solo performance that peels back the masks of social identity and delves into the psyche of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy. As the pilot project for Psyched-Up Shakespeare, the piece exemplifies our aims of using contemporary psychology as the catalyst for developing new perspectives on well-known characters and of engaging audiences in evidence-based discussions of mental health and well-being.

For many, Lady Macbeth is an archetypal villain: a cold-hearted killer, an evil manipulator, and a chastening depiction of ruthless ambition. In this radical, one-woman adaptation of Macbeth, we challenge these preconceptions, presenting a complex and compelling portrait of a character whose psychological struggles are unnervingly familiar and whose inhuman actions are driven by human suffering. Reimagined through the prism of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), the story of her tragic descent becomes a mirror reflecting the anxieties, societal pressures, and experiences of psychological rigidity that many of us face today.