MacBeth - Royal Shakespeare Company (1979)

I recently was in a production of the Scottish Play produced by Arts Garden, and performed in a storefront at Maplewood Mall. Though the play is known to be one of Shakespeare's shorter plays, it was cut and adapted down to play in less than two hours. In fact, play time usually ended up being about 90 min. I played the role of Duncan, the king who is killed so that MacBeth can ascend to be king, so my stage time was limited. I first performed in this play back in college where I played one of the witches, as well as Seyton, and a few other roles. The thought, for the college production, was that a witch would be somewhere on stage through out. I believe I may have also seen a production of this play back when I was in High School, but can't be sure as it was so long ago.

The point is that I have done the show twice, have seen it, and it is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays to see. Because of that I have quite a few filmed versions. While I didn't watch any of these during blocking, or prepping for Duncan, I did start watching them late in rehearsal just for fun. With a cast that includes Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Roger Rees, and Ian McDiarmid (Sith Lord Palpatine from Star Wars), you know it is going to be a good performance. It is based on a staged production from 1976 that was directed by Trevor Nunn for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was done, originally, in the round in the black box space named The Other Place. It was later filmed for TV and the filmed version is directed by Philip Casson. 

Because it was in the round, and filmed for TV, there are many moments that look like 4th wall breaks. The actor looks directly at the camera, though on stage they would have just been looking out at the audience which makes sense as it was in the round. It opens with the three witches, who sing their chants (double double, toil and trouble, etc). When you first see the witches it is very disconcerting as two of them are made-up to be quite old, and the third is younger - however played in a way that makes them seem unwell mentally, or possibly physically as they drool.  In fact there is a lot of spittle in this production. Beyond the one witch, McB's vision of the dead Banquo is a moment where McKellen does not take time to swallow and so he ends up spitting quite a bit towards the end of his monologue and it just hangs from his chin. Duncan is played very old, almost infirm to the point that he needs help standing and moving. While this works, there is a part of me that feels it takes away some of the power of the murder as Duncan is old and close to death anyways. 

The production is quite dark, with low lighting and fog effects. There is some double casting, along with music that is based on an organ, and a male chorus. The acting is top-notch, as you would expect. McKellen is fantastic as MacBeth. The choice was made during the second witches scene (where he demands to hear more), to have the apparitions be dolls - wooden dolls with no faces. It is clear in this scene that MacBeth is drugged, and at the end of it he takes the dolls with him. It is a really interesting choice. The other moment I want to call out is the sleepwalking scene. Obviously Dame Judi Dench is going to act the hell out of it. However there is a moment after her line "All the perfumes of arabia..." where she does this extended vocalization that is a mix of a scream and a sigh that just amazes me every time I watch this production. Absolutely brilliant.