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The King Macbeth Project Cameron Taylor, partner, Seabridge This paper was presented as part of The Vital Spark interpretation conference held in Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland from 30 September to 3 October 2007. Published by the Association for Heritage Interpretation and Interpret Scotland. Conference papers are available from the AHI website www.ahi.org.uk The Vital Spark conference was supported by the following organisations
The King Macbeth Project Cameron Taylor, partner, Seabridge Summary King Macbeth was one of three winners of Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s ‘THT Challenge’. The project uses a range of media to tell the story of the real Macbeth. Background King Macbeth
Macbeth, but not as Shakespeare would have us believe For some time, a number of us involved in heritage and tourism had been considering new ways of interpreting our heritage and linking it more strongly with tourism. In late 2006, Highlands and Islands Enterprise launched its Tourism, Heritage and Technology (THT) Challenge Fund. Initiated by Bill Taylor, the fund was created to: …encourage innovative and collaborative working between sectors across the Highlands and Islands, and encouraged applications for projects in the use of technology to connect tourism and heritage. 1 The fund offered awards of up to £40,000 for three groups to develop their ideas and we were delighted to be one of those selected from the total of 53 applications. Led by Seabridge, our group also included colleagues from Zolk Ltd, the Waterford Institute of Technology and the Elgin Museum. 1 www.hie.co.uk/tht­challenge The King Macbeth project 2 Cameron Taylor There were five main drivers in our thinking; a series of linked ideas that underpinned our approach to the King Macbeth project. Firstly – and it is a statement of the obvious – cultural tourism depends on our heritage. Secondly, a lot of what is done in the name of heritage is very worthy but, if we are honest, actually quite dull and uninspiring. Thirdly, our strong belief is that narrative, in particular imaginative narrative, is crucial in developing understanding. It follows, therefore, that plot and the interaction of narrative character and real­life customer are of vital importance. Finally, our view of technology is that it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. So why Macbeth? Shakespeare’s Macbeth is an iconic character and probably one of the best known in the English language. While many people have heard of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, few people know that he was a real person and fewer still know much about the factual story of his life. Macbeth was not the monstrous caricature created by Shakespeare; he was a real man. He was Mormaer – Earl – of the Province of Moray and defeated King Duncan in battle near Elgin, thus clearing the way for him to become King Macbeth of Alba from 1040 to 1057. This was a critical time in the formation of the country we now know as Scotland and Macbeth can be described accurately as a successful king. The King Macbeth project So we determined to tell the story of the real King Macbeth, using peoples’ knowledge of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as a way of drawing them into our story. In doing this we adopted a trans­media storytelling approach whereby a coherent, consistent narrative was developed across a range of media. Elements of the King Macbeth trans­media project
The King Macbeth project 3 Cameron Taylor The elements of the King Macbeth service can be described logically from a customer experience viewpoint:
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Poster Creates awareness of the service and invites customers to dial a telephone number (0870 977 0535) to hear a message from King Macbeth. The short audio recording invites customers to pick up a leaflet or visit the www.kingmacbeth.com web site
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Leaflet Provides information about three locations in Moray – Sueno’s Stone in Forres, Pitgaveney near Elgin and the Elgin Museum in the town itself – where customers can follow the three parts of a distributed audio narrative. The leaflet includes artist’s impressions, photographs and a map
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Audio narrative Macbeth tells the story of one momentous day in August 1040; the day on which he cleared the way to become King of Alba. The narrative consists of three two minute audio recordings and the final recording ends with the suggestion that customers go into Elgin Museum to find out more about Macbeth and Moray’s history
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Web site The web site www.kingmacbeth.com tells the story of Macbeth’s life and times and provides the broader context for the audio narrative. The web site includes a forum and the facility for customers to submit their own content material
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Rich media The web site also includes a flash movie treatment of parts of Macbeth’s story, focusing in particular on the differences between Shakespeare’s version of events and the historical evidence
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Zimbie Zimbie is an instant messenger application included on the web site, giving customers the opportunity to have Macbeth as their ‘buddy’ and receive broadcast updates
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Display Stand Located in the Elgin Museum, the display stand provides additional information about Macbeth’s life. A computer placed nearby provides Internet access so that customers can visit the www.kingmacbeth.com web site.
The King Macbeth project 4 Cameron Taylor Project Aims We had several aims in undertaking the King Macbeth pilot project. Firstly we wanted to shift perceptions of Moray, Macbeth and the so­called Dark Age of Alba and Scotland. Artist’s impression of Sueno’s Stone. Forres Secondly, we wanted to pilot a trans­media storytelling approach in which our narrative would be manifested across a range of media. In doing this we used a historical character as the voice, bridging the distance between ‘then’ and ‘now’ And finally we wanted to motivate and move visitors, both emotionally and physically, with Macbeth himself therefore playing an active part in visitor management. Artist’s impression of Pitgaveney. Elgin
The King Macbeth project 5 Cameron Taylor What have we achieved? The project is in its early stages, of course. The King Macbeth service is now live and we look forward to getting feedback from customers and evolving the service as a result. We like to think that we have achieved a lot already, including:
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One of Scotland’s most famous historical figures is now telling his own story, having escaped from Shakespeare’s fertile imagination;
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The story is accessible via a range of media but the underlying vision is coherent and consistent;
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The project brought together a number of different disciplines eg writers, artists, designers and IT specialists. In line with the philosophy of the THT Challenge Fund, it also brought the interests of the tourism, heritage and technology sectors together;
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Macbeth’s story is told at multiple sites but is not dependent on any physical infrastructure. The project is therefore environmentally sustainable;
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The project has a commercial ethos and although the pilot has been funded by the THT Challenge Fund – and we are deeply grateful for the support ­ we will seek to be commercially sustainable in the future. A young customer clearly enjoying the King Macbeth experience
The King Macbeth project 6 Cameron Taylor The Future The immediate priorities for the project team are the evaluation of the King Macbeth service and the construction of a robust commercial model on which to base further development. We intend to extend the audio story element of the project beyond the single day it focuses on at the moment, and beyond the three physical locations. We also hope to add the voices of additional characters into the mix. What must it have been like, for example, to be Lady Macbeth, or Gruoch as she was called? She was not the crazed manipulative woman of Shakespeare’s play. On one day in August 1040 her husband, Macbeth, left their home to confront King Duncan. She knew that he would either return home as King of Alba, or not return at all. Gruoch, with her own story to tell Beyond King Macbeth lies the rest of Scotland’s history and we believe that the approach we have taken in the King Macbeth project is transferable and scalable. The support of HIE’s THT Challenge Fund, initiated and managed by Bill Taylor, has enabled us to turn our own vital spark into a small glowing ember. The challenge for us now is to keep that fire burning. Cameron Taylor is a partner in Seabridge Consultants. He is based in Forres, in Moray, where the ghost of King Macbeth still haunts the region’s history. [email protected] www.seabridge.org The King Macbeth project www.kingmacbeth.com
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