How Saoirse Ronan Channeled Kim & Kanye For Her Latest Role

Saoirse Ronan is soon set to make her UK stage debut in The Tragedy Of Macbeth, a modern re-telling of Shakespeare’s famous play in which the relationship between the Macbeths takes centre stage. Directed by Yaël Farber and starring alongside Mare Of Easttown star James McArdle, it appears that not only the names of the lead characters and premise of the Bard’s famous work that have been updated for modern times.

Speaking to the BBC, Ronan revealed that she and McArdle took inspiration from a very famous contemporary couple to fuel the renamed lead characters of the play, Susan and Neil Macbeth: none other than Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. “We keep thinking about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as like a Kim and Kanye situation, where there have been stages to their success and real kind of highs and lows,” she said.

This may make sense, given that the characters have been dubbed a “modern power couple” by the two lead actors, given their tendency to attract intense public speculation, despite relatively little being actually known about them.

"The tragedy is that these two people who are soul mates and peers and very much partners in every way... when that starts to come apart, what we would hope is that, when people come to see it, that is when the sadness seeps in," added Ronan. Kardashian and West filed their divorce in early 2021.

McArdle, who shared the screen with the Oscar-winning actor in the period dramas Mary Queen of Scots and Ammonite prior, added: "The thing that we wanted more than anything was a functional marriage. A love story."

The play has been described as “an elemental production about a world in transformation, the shadows in all of us, and one couple’s spine-chilling quest for power.”

Ronan and McArdle also recently spoke to Vogue about how the couple will be represented in a new, fresh way. “The play is about the tragedy of the Macbeths, not Macbeth alone,” said McArdle.

Ronan added: “You’re rooting for them,” agrees Ronan. “They’re both kind of terrible, but you’re fascinated by their incredibly modern, liberated relationship.”

The Tragedy of Macbeth will open on Oct. 1 and will be playing at the Almeida Theatre in London. You can find tickets online now.