Make It So, Macbeth!
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So you think not getting paid this year is a tragedy? Just imagine you come home from work, bump into three witches who promise that you will become king, and tell your wife - who immediately starts sharpening the daggers for your next big career move.
Ever since Leonardo DiCaprio turned into Romeo and Verona became a Mexican seaside town, we all know that Shakespeare can still receive entertaining big-screen treatment. The fact that no one less than Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart for those not in the know) is honouring the West End with an appearance as Macbeth is therefore a welcome opportunity to find out whether the same is still possible for theatre adaptations.
The director chooses to set the classic tragedy about the prophecy that leads Macbeth into murdering the king in order to take his place and then triggers a downward spiral of violence and death in a basement kitchen. Actors enter through an rusty service elevator, not unlike the elevator into hell straight out of Angel Heart.
And hell is where the main characters are going in a setting full of inventive ideas: The Witches as nurses with distorted voices, convening in the midst of body bags, the entire background turning bloody red when Macbeth is haunted by his friend whom he had just murdered. The main character's ruthless pursuit of power is regularly set against a backdrop of grainy video imagery resembling Soviet style military parades.
Whilst one could think that casting Stewart in the lead could be the usual West End strategy of hiring big Hollywood names to lure audiences, one shall not forget that he did get his blockbuster career due to the fact that he is a classically trained Shakespearean actor, unlike quite a few other big names showing up around town 'to prove themselves on stage' (and quite regularly fail on this task). His stage presence is remarkable and he delivers his classic monologues with a sometimes frightening intensity.
He is clearly the star of the show but the rest of the cast, particularly Kate Fleetwood as his manipulative, power-hungry wife, deserve credit in bringing to the stage a version of Macbeth which is surprising and creepy. Even more you appreciate that after more than 400 years the central topics have not lost any of their bite.
Who would have thought that the old play has still so much blood in it?
The director chooses to set the classic tragedy about the prophecy that leads Macbeth into murdering the king in order to take his place and then triggers a downward spiral of violence and death in a basement kitchen. Actors enter through an rusty service elevator, not unlike the elevator into hell straight out of Angel Heart.
And hell is where the main characters are going in a setting full of inventive ideas: The Witches as nurses with distorted voices, convening in the midst of body bags, the entire background turning bloody red when Macbeth is haunted by his friend whom he had just murdered. The main character's ruthless pursuit of power is regularly set against a backdrop of grainy video imagery resembling Soviet style military parades.
Whilst one could think that casting Stewart in the lead could be the usual West End strategy of hiring big Hollywood names to lure audiences, one shall not forget that he did get his blockbuster career due to the fact that he is a classically trained Shakespearean actor, unlike quite a few other big names showing up around town 'to prove themselves on stage' (and quite regularly fail on this task). His stage presence is remarkable and he delivers his classic monologues with a sometimes frightening intensity.
He is clearly the star of the show but the rest of the cast, particularly Kate Fleetwood as his manipulative, power-hungry wife, deserve credit in bringing to the stage a version of Macbeth which is surprising and creepy. Even more you appreciate that after more than 400 years the central topics have not lost any of their bite.
Who would have thought that the old play has still so much blood in it?
Here Is The Writer : Billy No Box
Billy No Box has worked in the city for six years, and currently works in Derivatives for a North American bank. He enjoys playing golf, reading books by Umberto Eco, singing "Copacabana" in the shower and at karaoke bars, and occasionally updating his blog about London and everything else.
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