If We Were Villains (2017) by M.L. Rio is a contemporary novel that explores themes of ambition, betrayal, and identity within a group of young theatre students whose lives begin to mirror the tragedies they perform. This paper analyses how Rio draws from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1623) and Julius Caesar (1599) to shape her characters’ motivations and moral conflicts, using these works to deepen themes of power, loyalty, and self-destruction. By examining the blurred boundaries between performance and reality, this article highlights how the novel reinterprets Shakespearean tragedy to reflect modern struggles with identity, ethical compromise, and the consequences of ambition, demonstrating the influence of Shakespeare on contemporary storytelling.