Macbeth – Almeida Theatre

I enjoyed this quite a lot, but didn't love it. In a nutshell, I wanted more moral and mental demise, less action, and this is very action-packed. 
I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so will put the remaining comments in as a spoiler, even though we all know the plot.



Overall, it was enjoyable, and I am really glad I got to see it, but it's not a production I will remember for long. Part of me felt that Farber was "ticking the boxes" to provide the kind of spectacle she may have thought the audience would be expecting due to the starry cast, which was fine, but perhaps lacked a bit of "character" for me. 

I watched it tonight and I quite enjoyed it. It was better than I expected and much much better than all the three productions we got in 2018.

**Spoiler alert **

It's pretty much a revival of two halves, with the first act (ending with Banquo's assassination) struggling to find pacing and style, while the second act is much tighter and more cohesive. Generally, I think that Yael Faber's bag of tricks works only the first time you watch one of her shows and then gets very tiring. Some of her usual gimmicks are still here (I'm thinking of the wailing woman), but on the whole the direction, although a bit heavy-handed, works quite well, especially in act 2.

The "feminist" turn we heard about in interviews is not a real thing, and the gender and power dynamics are pretty much the same as any other Macbeth – James McArdle might be full of remorse, but he's not particularly submissive. They gave an interesting tiny twist to Lady M in act 2, in which she tries to prevent Lady Macduff & the kids' murder. It might not be the most coherent decision, but from an emotional point of view it is quite striking: the blood she cannot wash from her hands is not that of the people she wanted to die, but of those she failed to save. This decision makes sense within the production because it quietly drives attention to the Macbeths' childlessness. This is done tastefully and it is a very nice touch imho.

The second act works mostly really well: the banquet scene is easily the highlight of the evening, and that is followed by the witches' masque & the Macduff family murder. Then it drags a little in the scene in which Macduff Sr is reunited with Malcolm (which could be easily cut), but then finds again pacing as it rushes towards the end. I thought the final duel was a bit long, but not noticeably so. Also, I really liked the witches and the final image is quite striking (although borrowed from the 2015 movie). On the whole, the acting is good without being extraordinary, but the Macbeths have great chemistry and work well together.

If you look at this revival as an event with a sold-out run and a four-time Oscar-nominated star you might find it slightly disappointing, but in itself it's a fine production that surpassed my expectations. Atm it's a 3 and a half star production that with some tweaking could become 4 by opening night.

Just seen I the office and realising don't have bank card with me. I wonder if they're limiting live stream tickets and price. Any members who'll get on earlier please feel free to share.

I saw this last night and it was the first (of three) Macbeths that I have got any enjoyment from. I loved the cello music throughout (much less so the singing) and, in contrast to couldileaveyou, I loved the first half and found that a fair bit of the second half dragged a little bit.

One thing that is a little niche, is that I'm not very good at recognising people and each male actor had at least one other man who looked almost identical to him (to me, anyway), shaggy hair and a beard being the order of the day. This made it very difficult for me to remember/recognise who everyone was!

I agree that I didn't notice any difference in Macbeth's/Lady Macbeth's roles that would make this a feminist retelling.

All in all, very pleased that I saw it and that I now have hope that Macbeth might actually be a play for me!

Generally, any thoughts on the clothes rail on wheels/occasional mirror?

At its core there is a decent Macbeth with strong performance from the Macbeth’s.

It is let down by the pacing which is way too slow, 1hr 20m to the banquet even though a significant part of the murderous night was cut, there were a few times where it added tension but on the whole my attention started to drift as the pace more or less crawled to a halt in places.

The closing montage for me was the most strikingly different aspect of the production as it acknowledges the Banquo prophecy which sits unresolved as Malcolm takes the throne.

On the glass screens, my interpretation was that they indicated the wall Macbeth built between himself and the other characters as he plotted or acknowledged their demise until they were no longer required once the monster had consumed him and his conscience was no more.

On the whole glad I got to see it only tinged with the disappointment that it was good and not great production, it could be if the pacing was just that little bit faster and for me the removal of the scene hinted above is something I hope other productions do as for me it spoils the flow and is maybe one of the most of its time Shakespeare scenes.

Hope they use warm water as one of the characters spends a long time wet.

For anyone who hasn't seen them yet, Marc Brenner's photos of the production really make it look even a tiny bit prettier than it actually is, gorgeous! (And I did think it was pretty...)

http://instagr.am/p/CVC2Zd3IWiH

2 front row tickets for Monday 18 October available at their website right now.

Ah, well perhaps a transfer to the Harold Pinter then...

Sam Gold

Oh for the RSC to bring in leading directors…..

Or leading actors - their last Macbeth had to approach them himself to get things moving, I think the director came with him too. 

Oh no, sorry to hear that. At least it's happened before the rest of the tickets go on sale tomorrow, so hope they can exchange.