Teller - he is really called just 'Teller' - of magician duo Penn & Teller is working on a production of Macbeth. A Macbeth with stage magic, and Grand Guignol effects, and the intended aim of scaring the audience witless. I haven't been this excited about a play since I heard about the theater version of His Dark Materials (which I sadly never got to see).

Here Teller talks about the origin and goals of the Macbeth project. But here he talks about the first design meeting. Two things about it struck me:

There is nothing in the world that I love more than creative collaboration. And to be in the presence of these amazing artists, all joyfully planning how to scare the pee out of an audience with a four hundred year old horror story, well, the only word I can think of is ecstasy. Plain and simple. Ecstasy.

To work together with other creative people on planning and designing a great project, on creating an experience for an audience, that is an amazing feeling. When everyone's goals align and obstacles fall away and there is a chance - even a tiny one - that this project might become reality... that is a wonderful feeling. Moments like that make it all worth it, together with rare moments of praise for something you worked on (like when I met someone recently who happened to be a big fan of a game I worked on).

I bounded back to my hotel in the chilly air and couldn't fall asleep for the next four hours. I'd been looking forward to this meeting for forty years.

This is kind of depressing. Or isn't it?

(Via Neil Gaiman.)