• Showing at: RST - Stratford Upon Avon, UK.
• Season: March - June 2004
• Buy Tickets
• Entertainment Rating: 60%
• Drama Rating: 55%

Macbeth's structurally perfect plot (as with most Shakespearean plays) makes it undoubtedly one of the most important and famous of the Shakespeare tragedies. Macbeth's courageous and modest image is slowly twisted into one of deceit, cruelty, and greed. Impatient, insecure and with a manipulating and seductive wife, Macbeth experiences a turnaround in character whilst turning on his friends and self-inflicting mental torture. His tragic downfall is unwrapped and revealed for all to witness in Shakespeare's truly dramatic and tense play.

The most impressive part of the RSC's production was the magnificent stage effects that made some of the specific scenes particularly dark and haunting. The excellent use of visuals including incredible lighting effects, stage props, and projections made the play justifiably graphic and added a sense of graphic realism to the witch scenes.

Unfortunately the brilliant use of visuals didn't reflect the performance. Although key characters, in particular the witches, Banquo, and Duncan, were played very well, the performance faltered with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth:

Lady Macbeth lacked the seductive, shrewd, and manipulative appeal that is demanded of such a key role. She unfortunately let me down by performing some of Shakespeare's most famous and imaginatively seductive speeches without much manipulative tone at all. It is her role that so many people go to see Macbeth to see and didn't deliver at all.

Macbeth himself was even less impressive and failed to communicate the insecurity that Shakespeare was so creative with when writing it. It was almost as if he failed to do Shakespeare justice (indeed, the man would have been rolling in his grave). His voice not only lacked the correct tone, but actually featured a truly annoying tone instead! His physical features failed to portray a great warrior of Gawdar (I actually mistook Banquo for Macbeth at the beginning) and instead was cast as a small, weak man. The downward sprial that Macbeth is meant to take only led to a downward spiral of the play, ending it in an unfortunate unsatisfactory anti-climax.

Having said this though, Macbeth features some of the greatest speeches that Shakespeare put together. It may be worth coming to see this play just to hear such lines as "Here's the sweet smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." But be warned, the delivery will disappoint you, and the way you had imagined it when reading it on paper will be far superior to this portrayal on stage.

If you know Macbeth well enough, or see his plays often enough, it may be worth seeing this production simply to witness the innovative methods used to transfer Shakespeare's writing and atmosphere to visually incredible scenes. However, if you are thinking of seeing this as a first-time Shakespeare play, don't bother - it's not worth the money and will only put you off from seeing any others. An unfortunately poor production of a truly magnificent play.

Review by Richard J Turner (05th May 2004)

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