Word: macduff
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...inspires in a playgoer is that of watching a voracious bird of prey. Sworn in honor to be a trusted host to Duncan, the King, Macbeth swoops on his sleeping sovereign and murders him. As the new King, he wheels on his best friend, Banquo. When a mettlesome foe, Macduff, threatens him, Macbeth's talons are unsheathed to mortally savage Macduff s wife and her entire brood. Finally, all Scotland falls bleeding prey to his gashing beak...
...command. When he looks down at his bloodied hands, he resembles an apprehensive boy caught with spilled jam. However, he grows in authority as his kingship dwindles and seems most regal when his deeds are most evil. The cast does good ensemble work, and in the role of Macduff, Stephen Russell displays a riveting stillness of presence and a limpid delivery of the Shakespearean line that mark him for further distinction...
...With Birnam Wood, alas, all we get are a few streaky branches being figurative on the backdrop screen, and I do have to quarrel with the wild but unconvincing head that attends the witches in their first scene, gets bubbled in the cauldron, and then shows up again in Macduff's arms as that of the damned usurper...
...whose performances as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth I most regretted missing. I extrapolated that I would have most admired the Macbeths of Laurence Olivier and Ian Keith, and the Lady Macbeths of Florence Reed and Dame Sybil Thorndike. Well, there will be more productions of Macbeth; and, unlike Macduff in the just-cited scene, I have not lost my hopes...
...unsurpassed abundance in the text. The only scene placed in England, which comes well towards the end, is the single instance where its three main participants show a full feeling for the melody and rhythm of their lines as well as the sense. Praise, then, for Michael Levin's Macduff, Alvah Stanley's Ross, and, above all, Philip Kerr's Malcolm. In this colloquy these three men talk to each other, listen to each other, and demonstrate their musicality. But it is a long, long time before we get to this beautifully spoken scene...