Macbeth

Synopsis

The Scottish Play - theatrical types consider saying its name to be unlucky! Thrust into power by his overwhelming desires and an over ambitious wife, Macbeth finds his only security is to murder and murder again. From "When shall we three meet again" to "is this a dagger I see before me" this is a powerful Shakespearean drama.

Our Review:

21 January 2005

Simon Russell Beale’s appearance in Macbeth has been eagerly awaited. Not least because he’s not the first actor one thinks of in the role of a man of action, a soldier consumed, and ultimately destroyed by it. But this is a very different Macbeth.

John Caird’s slow-moving production, full of silences, gives us Macbeth as a philosopher-warrior. The fearsome Macbeth that we’re introduced to in the second scene has long gone, in fact. One couldn’t imagine him even lifting a sword, let alone brandishing it.

Instead, we have a disenchanted nobleman. Russell Beale's Macbeth claims the crown with little enthusiasm, as if he’s aware that it’s the first step to the grave – but he seizes the opportunity anyway. Emma Fielding’s hard-faced Lady Macbeth looks as if she’s made of sterner stuff - but her mask falls away while sleepwalking. Never have I seen this played with so much anguish. She exits the scene clutching the hand of an ...

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Latest User Review

81.135.215.49) - 23 February 2005:

This is 'Designer Macbeth' - too slick for its own good. Brilliant minimalist set enabling quick and effective scene changes. Great verse speaking. Atmospheric lighting. Get the picture? Only once in the first 100 minutes was there any real passion and by the interval I was bored rigid. Give me the ragged edges but thrilling ride of Out of Joint at Wiltons any day of the week....

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