esc films grew from a love of Shakespeare and a passion for seeing his truths translated for a modern audience. Our first feature was a world-first – Macbeth created in a maximum security prison in Northern Ireland. So far, Shakespeare sets the tone for our feature films.

We believe, with Michael Bogdanov, that Shakespeare’s work should reflect our own times back to us, so we update and translate the themes to make them relevant to us today.

We want to use our feature films to explore pressing questions and issues in our own lives. To test our lived experience in practice. To reflect upon our own condition, circumstances and challenges. To become active performers in the rehearsal for change in our own lives, as Augusto Boal wrote.

We have learned from Brené Brown that “When we deny the story, it defines us. When we own the story, we can write a brave new ending”. We want to reflect upon our collective lived experience in fictional form in order to change the ending.