Thai censors ban film based on 'Macbeth'

Fair is foul, and foul is fair for a Thai filmmaker after censors banned a film based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, fearing divisions in the southeast Asian nation riven by years of bloody upheaval.

Ing Kanjanavanits’s Shakespeare Must Die tells of a theatre group in a fictional country, similar to Thailand, staging a production of Macbeth. But the censor has branded it “divisive”. Ambition, greed and hunger for power are difficult subjects in Thailand, which has been divided since a 2006 coup that toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

“I feel like we are heading to a very dark, dark place right now – a place full of fears and everyone has to be extra careful about what they say,” said Ms Ing.