Is this an adaptation I see before me?

Check there are no budding thespians cavorting in the vicinity before mentioning the name of the latest literary work to be adapted by Hollywood.

No thesps around, ok. Well Macbeth, Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and one of his most popular plays, is going to be adapted again, this time by John Maybury, director of The Jacket.

The Scottish Play - for the theatrically superstitious - has been a favourite for many film-makers looking to build on the bard's work.

The archetypal anti-hero has attracted the likes of film luminaries such as Orson Welles, Roman Polanski and Akira Kurosawa, who retold the Thane of Cawdor's story as Throne Of Blood.

And the adaptations don't stop there, Macbeth has been re-incarnated in film noir, 1955's Joe Macbeth, and has even been resurrected for the Hindi film Maqbool in 2004.

The latest adaptation is to be based on Vincent Regan's script Come Like Shadows, with Sean Bean taking on the role of Macbeth while Tilda Swinton (Young Adam, Vanilla Sky, The Beach) will play his vituperative Lady wife.

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