Thailand bans film adaptation of ‘Macbeth’

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” saying it could inflame political passions in the country where it is taboo to criticize the monarchy.

The Thai-language film “Shakespeare Must Die” is about a theater group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a production of “Macbeth,” in which an ambitious general murders his way to the Scottish throne.

Director Ing K. said Wednesday that censors felt politically violent scenes in the film “could cause divisiveness among the people of the nation.”

Thailand is known to be heavy-handed with censorship, from banning anti-monarchy criticism to blurring pictures of cigarettes and alcohol on television.