Star Wars: Macbeth

Surfing around for images and information to use in the school visit talk I'm building around my Shakespeare-inspired YA mysteries Something Rotten and Something Wicked, I came across this gem: a Star Wars/Macbeth mash-up some kids did for a high school English class project ten years ago. (And for ten years ago, the lightsaber effects are pretty incredible.) The guys are grown up now (and a couple of them are teaching school now--as smart, creative people often do!) but they've preserved their masterpiece for posterity. Check it out here.

For the record, I think staging Macbeth in the Star Wars galaxy is brilliant. Both are stories about men going over to the Dark Side, after all. Imagine Anakin Skywalker saying, "Bring me my armor!" and being outfitted in his Darth Vader costume for the first time. Or Darth Vader squaring off against Obi-Wan Kenobi and crying, "Lay on, Kenobi!"

I am seriously going to e-mail some people I know with Knoxville's Shakespeare in the Square and pitch this idea. It would kill. With lightsabers.