Word: macbeths
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Finally, with his entire world crumbled about him and without the slightest glimmer of hope left, Macbeth still insists on summoning up his transcendent courage to meet his death with honor. Fine enough, but Houseman carries the idea too far, and the result elicits smiles. Shakespeare specified that Macduff was to kill Macbeth off stage and then enter with the tyrant's head. Instead, we see the entire duel. Macbeth even picks Macduff up and swings him on his shoulders. Macduff while up there pulls out a dagger and stabs Macbeth in the back. But Macbeth is too strong...
Colicos speaks clearly and resonantly throughout the play. Only when he pushes his fortissimo does he occasionally skirt unintelligibility. Of all Shakespeare's great tragic heroes, Macbeth most needs an actor as opposed to a reciter. Colicos meets this demand impressively. His movements are as convincing as his voice. And he says an unusual amount with his eyes, which happen to be exceptionally penetrating. At present Colicos falls short of an ideal Macbeth in only one respect: his performance lacks sufficient size. Very probably his portrayal will acquire the desired largeness as he continues to play the part in coming...
...somewhat at a loss to explain why Carrie Nye's Lady Macbeth is so unsatisfactory. In a half dozen roles--including major ones--during previous seasons of the Festival, she never turned in anything but a praise-worthy job. Miss Nye is young and beautiful--and Lady Macbeth may properly be the same. But Miss Nye is just not Lady Macbeth. For one thing, her vocal tempo is absurdly slow. She is constantly given to internal pauses, often between every two words of a sentence. As a result we hear each sound she makes (though "Out, damned spot!" requires four...
Unlike her husband, Lady Macbeth lacks imagination. But she does not lack will. Yet Miss Nye repeatedly lets her strong will go slack. Or take the small but vital moment that trips up so many actresses. Macbeth is reluctant to choose the path of murder and says, "If we should fail--," to which Lady Macbeth replies, "We fail"--two tiny words. The Folio punctuation is no clear guide here. The words admit three groups of interpretation, depending on whether they are regarded as being followed by a question mark, an exclamation point, or a period. Mrs. Siddons, history's most...
...wondrous sleepwalking scene, of which every phrase refers to some earlier line, Miss Nye does not get much below the surface. And we know from the Nurse that Lady Macbeth is so affected by the dread deeds she has done in darkness that she insists on having a light by her all the time. Miss Nye enters with a lamp, but she leaves it behind when she exits, whereas Lady Macbeth would never go back to her bed without her light. Miss Nye clearly needs to rethink the whole part from scratch...