Word: macbeths
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...HAVE TO ADMIT THAT MACBETH might have something to do, these days, with electronic sound apparati, but there's no need to push the point. The relevant equipment is certainly not the stuff they use backstage at the Loeb, although those toys would tempt anyone to tyranny, and I sometimes think, have put the electricians in charge over there. But I only mention this as a warning: Director Emily Mann seems to have kept the play mostly honest, except for a few damned spots like the prophetic mike in the witches's cauldron or wherever the hell the unintelligible thing...
...especially those direct commander's hands--while the struggle of conscience and denial goes on beneath his bald pate. Then the crown covers that spot and all sign of the saint is gone. Fear itself takes over the command, but with no less skill or strength than made Macbeth a hero in suppressing the revolt against Duncan. Especially fine is the scene where the king persuades and instructs the two murderers concerning the death of Banquo and his son whose end is needed, he explains, "Masking the business from the common eye for sundry weighty reasons." The two identically costumed...
There is the essence of a very fine interpretation of Macbeth's relation to Lady M. here, but it tends to get trampled underfoot as the play progresses, largely due to lack of clarity in Marianna Houston's over-strident presentation of the queen's role. The returning soldier clasps his wife passionately to him, and we have a fairly good idea how she might be persuasive with him, but too many chances to confirm this in the dialogue are missed. There is a power in such moments as when Macbeth roughly rubs his lady's belly with the words...
...progresses, in the deft handling of the interludes, especially that of the wonderfully bawdy drunken doorkeeper, who might however try to get his lines out from under his intoxication more cleanly, and in the elaborate staging. The setting is not particularly inspired, but it works, in such scenes as Macbeth's slow progress up the stairs which enclose the stage front to Duncan's chamber, or the massing of figures in the several group scenes. And the special effects people do very well with difficult material: Banquo is as ghostly as anyone could ask in a green light, posed behind...
...MACBETH, by William Shakesphere. Papadopaulos lasted longer and Nixon killed more people, but neither of them can match the old Cawdorian style. word is it's a gimmmickless production, and how bad can that be? Opens tonight at 8 at the Loeb...