10 Things You Need To Know About Michael Fassbender's Macbeth

6. Relax, Macbeth Is Shakespeare's Shortest Tragedy

Before heading to see a Shakespeare movie, you might be forgiven for thinking you legs are going to cease up and DVT will have set in by the time it's finished. Some theatrical versions of Hamlet last nearly five hours and often film adaptations go over three - even if the film is made unintelligible by cuts. More oblique adaptations such as 10 Things I Hate About You are not beholden to Shakespeare's script, and therefore come in with less daunting run times. You needn't fear about Macbeth though. It comes in at a trim 113 minutes, which is perhaps to be expected since Macbeth is actually among Shakespeare's shortest plays - about half the length of Hamlet. At the same time, the story is faithful to the original, so proper literature fans needn't worry about too much creative license being taken.