28-02-2025
The real Macbeth – and the unsung Scottish county he called home
'Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him,' proclaimed Shakespeare in his famously Scottish play. Given the otherworldly and horrifically bloody plot, surely Macbeth didn't actually exist? Not only was Macbeth a real king, but you can still descend on Dunsinane, Birnam and a bubbling pot of other locations as interest in Macbeth this year bubbles over with a new exhibition in his Perthshire heartland, a film and a play adaptation at The Globe.
The real-life Macbeth behind Shakespeare's 1606 creation was the King of Alba, Mac Beathad Mac Fhindlaích, a monarch who ruled from 1040 until his death in 1057, who was associated with many of the locations that inspired the Bard. Chief amongst them is the heartland for centuries where Scotland's monarchs were crowned – Perthshire. Scotland's only landlocked region is often overlooked by tourists bashing further north into the Highlands, but it brims with Macbeth.
Shakespeare's play swirls in mystery; his inspiration is much clearer. Raphael Holinshed's 1577 history of England, Scotland and Ireland evokes that trio of witches three decades before Shakespeare. Hector Boece's early 16th-century History of Scotland also features the terrible trio; plus Perthshire's Dunsinane Hill, Birnam Wood and Scone.
JP Reid, Exhibitions and Interpretation Manager at the Perth Museum, where Macbeth: An Exhibition, opens this spring, places Perthshire centre stage: 'We are at the heart of Macbeth. For first-timers there is something surprising and enchanting about discovering that familiar literary settings like Birnam and Dunsinane are real places.'
The first stop on my own Macbeth odyssey is on the tree-shrouded banks of the mighty Tay, Scotland's longest river, once a dividing line between the Lowlands seat of power and the more lawless Highlands. Ancient Birnam Wood is mentioned by the witches who prophesied Macbeth's downfall, with witches long connected with Scottish monarchs.
James VI of Scotland (James I of Britain) was on the throne when Macbeth was published and not only believed in witchcraft but feared regicide too having survived the Gunpowder Plot. Most of the vast forest has vanished, but the gnarly Birnam Oak and Birnam Sycamore are remnants from the ancient woodland, harking back to when Shakespeare came here in 1589 with a troupe of actors to perform a play.
Just a few hours march further north, David Lapsley, manager at the recently reborn Pine Trees Hotel, a Pitlochry retreat fit for a monarch, tells me I'm not alone. 'We get a lot of visitors coming to Perthshire with Macbeth in mind,' smiles David. 'And with the new exhibition I expect to see more.'
Further south rises the sight of Macbeth's fated demise. I ascend Dunsinane Hill and trace the old ramparts of an Iron Age redoubt. Intriguingly it was marked on a 1783 map as 'Macbeth's Castle' and in an 1818 excavation a subterranean vault was unearthed where the 'real' Stone of Destiny (Scotland's cherished coronation stone) was supposedly deposited by the king before his disastrous defeat in 1054.
On the Macbeth trail, fact constantly intertwines with fiction. I yomp across tougher heather-clad ground in search of the 'King's Seat'. It's a deeply dramatic spot and it's easy to see why the 'Big Tree Country' of Perthshire, a wildscape riven by mountain, glen, forest and loch, set Shakespeare's creative juices flowing.
On the outskirts of Perth is the pivotal Scone Palace, where the real Macbeth was crowned King of Scotland in 1040, on the Stone of Destiny. Fittingly the stone – original or not, and pinched by Edward I in 1296 – now lies in Perth Museum too after being repatriated.
In the play both Macbeth and his eventual successor, Malcolm, are crowned kings of Scotland. Macbeth's real-life successor and stepson, Lulach, was crowned at Scone around 1057, but was killed in battle against Malcolm a few months later.
On the very southern fringes of Perthshire, Macbeth continues to resonate. The experience is cinematic as you ease out on a wee boat to the island in the middle of Loch Leven, home to a castle swimming with tales of Robert the Bruce and Mary Queen of Scots.
A Viking-style arrowhead was excavated from the ruins of St Serf's Priory here, which arrived after the Macbeths granted property to the island monks. A sign that the scheming Macbeths enlisted the help of the marauding Vikings to help secure their power?
My final stop is Perth Museum, where Macbeth is the star of a new exhibition. Spokesperson Olivia Rickman explains the appeal: 'The exhibition draws on the history, myth, and artistry behind Shakespeare's character.
It features rare objects spanning 1,000 years of history – including Shakespeare's First Folio where the tragedy of Macbeth was first printed. There is also a rare 11th-century sword from the time of the real Macbeth.'
The exhibition explores the remarkable influence Macbeth has had on the worlds of theatre, music, art and film, from Orson Welles to Kurosawa, on to The Globe this year and the new film starring David Tennant. For real purists, however, the biggest joy lies in rambling around Perthshire's world of marching forests and ancient myths in search of kings, real and gloriously imagined.
How to do it
Macbeth: An Exhibition runs at the Perth Museum from April 25 to August 31. Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank runs at The Globe from March 6 to April 2. David Tennant and Cush Jumbo star in a new production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, which was filmed live at London's Donmar Warehouse and is screening now.
