The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is making an audacious leap into the world of video gaming, announcing a collaboration with New York-based indie game studio iNK Stories. Its latest project, Lili, is an interactive reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, set in contemporary Iran.
This cross-industry partnership promises to bring one of literature’s most enigmatic female characters, Lady Macbeth, to life in an unprecedented, immersive format.
Marking the RSC’s first foray into gaming, Lili puts a contemporary twist on the timeless tale of ambition, power, and moral corruption. With Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir cast as Lady Macbeth, the game takes inspiration from her personal experiences as an Iranian woman in exile.
The RSC is no stranger to high-tech innovation. In 2021, it staged a VR performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, rendered in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
With Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir cast as Lady Macbeth, the game takes inspiration from her personal experiences as an Iranian woman in exile…
The game is designed as a screen-life thriller, providing players access to Lady Macbeth’s personal devices. We’re told this unique narrative approach blends theatre and film techniques within an interactive framework, allowing players to explore a stylised, neo-noir vision of modern Iran where surveillance and authoritarian control shape daily life.
Lili invites players to navigate an intricate web of choices that impact Lady Macbeth’s fate, making them active participants in Shakespeare’s dark narrative.
Cutting-edge features and technical innovations
In a radical reinterpretation of Macbeth’s witches, Lili replaces the supernatural trio with hackers who manipulate surveillance systems and infiltrate digital spaces. This modernised take on the play’s central themes delves into issues of technological dominance, information manipulation, and systemic oppression. The game utilises live-action cinematic storytelling, seamlessly blending it with player-driven decision-making to create an experience that is both visually arresting and narratively complex.
With an emphasis on immersive realism, players are encouraged to engage with a richly detailed world that reacts and evolves based on their choices.
“This partnership with the RSC is a landmark moment, bringing together the artistry of theatre and the interactivity of gaming to explore Shakespeare’s masterpiece in a way that has never been done before,” says Vassiliki Khonsari, Co-Founder of iNK Stories.
One of the most striking aspects of Lili is its decision to centre the narrative around Lady Macbeth rather than her husband, offering a transformative perspective on the classic story.
RSC Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey highlight the significance of this shift: “Gaming today is what theatre has always been; a chance to explore worlds, inhabit stories, and experience something both personal and communal. By focusing on Lady Macbeth, we are re-examining gender, identity, and power in ways that are profoundly relevant to modern audiences.”
Emma Smith, an RSC board member and a renowned Shakespeare scholar, describes Lili as both “utterly Shakespearean and radically defamiliarized.” She says that the game brings Shakespeare’s exploration of political ambition and personal compromise into a contemporary context with striking resonance.
The development of Lili builds on iNK Stories’ legacy of creating compelling, socially conscious interactive experiences. Its previous title, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, earned numerous awards, including a BAFTA nomination and the Indiecade Grand Jury Prize.
Showcased at major cultural events such as the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, iNK Stories has established itself as a leader in blending narrative depth with innovative gameplay.
Slated for release in late 2025, Lili promises to be a landmark in the evolution of video game storytelling, offering both Shakespeare enthusiasts and gaming aficionados a bold new way to engage with the Bard’s work. As the worlds of theatre and gaming collide, Lili stands poised to redefine what interactive storytelling can achieve.
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Pinball wizardry meets pop culture, in Stern Pinball’s Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye, a high-tech pinball machine celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary table top role-playing game. Making its debut at CES 2025 this week in Las Vegas, the cutting-edge pinball adventure hopes to captivate gaming enthusiasts and D&D fans alike with its…
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The Luxe Review 
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is making an audacious leap into the world of video gaming, announcing a collaboration with New York-based indie game studio iNK Stories. Its latest project, Lili, is an interactive reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, set in contemporary Iran.
This cross-industry partnership promises to bring one of literature’s most enigmatic female characters, Lady Macbeth, to life in an unprecedented, immersive format.
Marking the RSC’s first foray into gaming, Lili puts a contemporary twist on the timeless tale of ambition, power, and moral corruption. With Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir cast as Lady Macbeth, the game takes inspiration from her personal experiences as an Iranian woman in exile.
The RSC is no stranger to high-tech innovation. In 2021, it staged a VR performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, rendered in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
The game is designed as a screen-life thriller, providing players access to Lady Macbeth’s personal devices. We’re told this unique narrative approach blends theatre and film techniques within an interactive framework, allowing players to explore a stylised, neo-noir vision of modern Iran where surveillance and authoritarian control shape daily life.
Lili invites players to navigate an intricate web of choices that impact Lady Macbeth’s fate, making them active participants in Shakespeare’s dark narrative.
Cutting-edge features and technical innovations
In a radical reinterpretation of Macbeth’s witches, Lili replaces the supernatural trio with hackers who manipulate surveillance systems and infiltrate digital spaces. This modernised take on the play’s central themes delves into issues of technological dominance, information manipulation, and systemic oppression. The game utilises live-action cinematic storytelling, seamlessly blending it with player-driven decision-making to create an experience that is both visually arresting and narratively complex.
With an emphasis on immersive realism, players are encouraged to engage with a richly detailed world that reacts and evolves based on their choices.
“This partnership with the RSC is a landmark moment, bringing together the artistry of theatre and the interactivity of gaming to explore Shakespeare’s masterpiece in a way that has never been done before,” says Vassiliki Khonsari, Co-Founder of iNK Stories.
One of the most striking aspects of Lili is its decision to centre the narrative around Lady Macbeth rather than her husband, offering a transformative perspective on the classic story.
RSC Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey highlight the significance of this shift: “Gaming today is what theatre has always been; a chance to explore worlds, inhabit stories, and experience something both personal and communal. By focusing on Lady Macbeth, we are re-examining gender, identity, and power in ways that are profoundly relevant to modern audiences.”
Emma Smith, an RSC board member and a renowned Shakespeare scholar, describes Lili as both “utterly Shakespearean and radically defamiliarized.” She says that the game brings Shakespeare’s exploration of political ambition and personal compromise into a contemporary context with striking resonance.
The development of Lili builds on iNK Stories’ legacy of creating compelling, socially conscious interactive experiences. Its previous title, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, earned numerous awards, including a BAFTA nomination and the Indiecade Grand Jury Prize.
Showcased at major cultural events such as the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, iNK Stories has established itself as a leader in blending narrative depth with innovative gameplay.
Slated for release in late 2025, Lili promises to be a landmark in the evolution of video game storytelling, offering both Shakespeare enthusiasts and gaming aficionados a bold new way to engage with the Bard’s work. As the worlds of theatre and gaming collide, Lili stands poised to redefine what interactive storytelling can achieve.
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Paris, the City of Light, became the City of Bright HDR this week, as TCL unveiled its 2025 QD-Mini LED TV line-up, featuring screen sizes from a modest 50-inches to a surprisingly affordable, super-large 115-inch giant. The location at the Espace Bailly, Galerie Joseph, seemed fitting, given that France is the birthplace of cinema. TCL…
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Philips chose world renowned Abbey Road Studios to unveil the OLED+959, its latest flagship 4k TV. In studio Two, the very space where landmark recordings by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Kate Bush were made, owner TP Vision showcased a television it hopes will become equally legendary. The set, available only in a 65-inch screen…
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