Macbeth-inspired video game to preserve play’s original text

Sacerdoti, whose work in his home country includes directing 2018 immersive production Roseline in Milan, admitted the "RSC news was a bit of a surprise", but said there was room for more than one adaptation.

He told The Stage: "I think there’s some meaning behind the coincidence... Macbeth is resonating. There have been multiple productions in London just last year."

"There’s a reason why we speak about it 400 years later, it exposes something more about the storyteller than just the text. You can have 100 people telling the story of Macbeth, and it will be different in 100 different ways," Sacerdoti said.

Sacerdoti also suggested live performance had more in common with video gaming than people might expect. He said: "There’s a deep sense of presence [about playing a video game], which is what we chase in theatre and which is crucial to any kind of interactive experience."

He said what underpinned his video game’s connection to his experience directing was that "our core is still the story".

"I think that is where the theatre background comes in. Hopefully, this opens new conversations about games as art," he said.

Sacerdoti began developing Hail Macbeth in May last year.

The team behind the game comprises designers, concept artists, composers and motion capture specialists behind games including The Last of Us and Horizon Forbidden West.

The project is to be Milan-based Specto Studio’s debut video game, with the product to be released across the world.