Gayle and I went to see a very good production of Macbeth this afternoon at the Shakespeare Theatre. The play gave rise to several observations:
- The play shows clearly that the question is not whether you will die, but how. Very few people have a chance to make a "good death," most are butchered when they least expect it.
- Even if the play was written for a Scottish king, it is clear that it was written by an English playwright. Who else would pen a drama in which the rightful Scottish king is restored to power by the English army?
- Of course, the play is all about getting even, not just revenge by individuals, but also the attempt to bring the state back into equilibrium.
- Women are always judged more harshly than men.
- In an unusual decision, the play did not show the murdered Banquo at the feast to which he returns after being murdered by MacBeth. The effect is to emphasize Macbeth's madness rather than the supernatural element in the play.
- Macbeth seals his pact with the devil by exchanging blood with the weird sisters. (The actors who plays the weird sisters double as servants at the feast.)
- The murder of Lady MacDuff and the children takes place on stage, and is particularly horrifying and pitiful.
- Ted van Griethuysen (who also plays Duncan) gives a bravura performance as the porter, whose shadow, thrown in relief against the wall, looms over him in dumbshow as he clowns on his way to answer the door.
- Patrick Page is a cunning and diabolical Macbeth, Andrew Long a solid MacDuff, and Kelly McGillis, as Lady MacBeth, is Kelly McGillis.
- The set, which consisted mainly of a metal frame with patterned screens and a few trees, was everything a Shakespearian set should be, spare and minimal, yet flexible and evocative.