Con’s Score:3.5 Damned spots
The London National Theatre Live have gone with an old favourite of Shakespeare’s, with the Great Scottish play, as they say in theatre.
Like anybody over the age of 30, I seen Macbeth performed more times than I want to remember. Many of us have been dragged to amateur shows, high schools, or even to a professional performance. So it needs to have a good reason to see it again.
Director Rufus Norris has set this in a modern post-apocalyptic time. Think Mad Max meets Willy. He’s taken a more realistic view of the participants. They’ve been engaged in a bloody civil war, and they’re all suffering some measure of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s interesting seeing Macbeth (Rory Kinnear) as a highly strung warrior, but this takes away his introspection and dimension. His role is one-beat.
Anne-Marie Duff plays Lady Macbeth as the ambitious temptress really very well. She’s also wound as tight as piano wire and I’ll avoid any puns about a note perfect performance. In fact, there isn’t a weak link amongst the large cast. The performances are excellent all round and Patrick O’Kane as Macduff, a standout.
The set design is impressive, with a large walkway dominating the stage, and reversible boxes as rooms. The set changes keep the action flowing but dwarfs the actors.
Where the real fans of Macbeth will be annoyed is in the edits made. Characters are lost, great scenes and lines are cut, and any humour squashed. He has made PTSD his character’s motivation, which detracts from the original. It’s obvious the director isn’t a student of Shakespeare.
The two and a half hour length includes two intermissions, with the last two acts flying by.
Theatre critics panned this production, mainly due to its set. Fortunately, on film we get close-ups. The script changes detract and purists will be annoyed by Norris’ changes. This is still a powerful production, mainly due to the acting. Kinnear, Duff and the cast carry the director. As much as I enjoyed this, please don’t ever ask me to see another Macbeth again.
Con Nats – Theatre Now’s On The Screen
