Macbeth ( NT 2018)

If anyone is dying for a ticket (what? you might be?) I just returned 2 for Sat 5th May...(Matinee)

Yes I would agree. One advantage of seeing it later in its run is at least they've got the running time down to 2:30 (still 3:00 is mentioned in the programme). 

What killed it for me was the concept. Setting it in a Mad Max post-apocalyptic future in which society and law have broken down goes directly against the text. If Duncan is not really the King of Scotland but just some local warlord with a red suit and half-a-dozen followers it doesn't explain Macbeth's deep allegiance to him or why they should be so bothered about killing him - as presumably millions have already died what's the problem with one more ? Also the Scottish "nobles" weren't any such thing - the Banquo's ghost banquet was comical, it looked more like a Momentum branch meeting in Islington, assorted oddballs - hard to see why Macbeth would want (or need) to impress that lot. 

Some good things. I liked how the Porter was integrated into the rest of the play. Also I've always wanted to see Duncan say ironically when he arrives at the Macbeths' "This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses" and here he certainly had cause to. 

Note to directors: Having severed heads brought on in clear plastic bags is now a chiche and should be avoided. 

Oh, and in the unlikely event of anyone having seen this twice can you comment on whether Kinnear’s performance has changed ? Earlier in this thread there are comments about his odd accent but last night he played it with his standard middle-class RP voice (ie his own voice)

I was expecting his (unconvincing) Othello voice but it was his Hamlet voice instead - perfectly acceptable in this role given the random mix of accents from the supporting cast.

The amplification was appallingly heavy-handed - no matter where anyone moved on stage or which way they were facing their voices boomed out from centre stage at a fixed volume. Terrible.

Well, my friend thought it was South African - I didn't hear that, but now I see it as Afrikaans indeed. I detected a sort of Jewish Fagin accent mixed with Estuary English. It was as odd as the mix of Geordie, Scottish, English and Irish accents.

Yay, I was quoted by a legendary poster. Glad I have stopped lurking!

The 'severed head in a carrier bag' cliche is also appearing in Lady Macbeth of Mtensk at the ROH. Any other sightings?

I spotted one in 1978 at the Young Vic in Richard The Third. Does that count as the first sighting?

I could lie and say I was a spotty teenager when I went, but when I was a spotty teenage I was seeing Wendy Hiller in Ghosts. Didn't see Shakespeare until my early twenties.

Don't know the answer to your question. Is there a prize? Is it a ticket to the NT Macbeth, if so I don't want to win, so I will not hazard a guess.

I don't have much to add to what everyone else has said; I can't even remember that much about it. I think fundamentally I just didn't get the point - why did Macbeth kill Duncan? He didn't have anything to gain from it so the whole thing was pointless from the start. The witches were comical and even the killing of Lady Macduff and her child didn't do anything, and that's usually a chilling moment in the most blah productions. There were some lovely moments - Macduff was excellent and I believed the relationship between AM Duff and R Kinnear (despite RK's weird staccato delivery). It was basically poorly thought out - a directionless production dumped in a concept that didn't work.

On a whim I went to the Rufus Norris talk this afternoon, having been to the SRB one immediately before it. It's the first time I've really heard him talk and I was struck by what a genuinely nice, modest guy he seems to be. I was also unfortunately struck by how uneloquent and pedestrian he came across - especially after hearing from SRB right before, who is always so lucid and warm and intimate when he talks about Shakespeare. I've previously been to a few Hytner Shakespeare platforms and he also was hugely fluent and insightful. Both of them barely needed a question before they were off, whereas the interviewer for RN had to work quite hard, it seemed to me, and he didn't give out a lot of enthusiasm.

It seemed like a really warm, supportive audience this afternoon though and the people asking questions were at pains to tell him how much they enjoyed the production (he tackled the bad reviews very directly in response to a slightly tentative question from the interviewer).

Good luck!   (Make sure you give yourself a treat of some sort so it isn't all punishment - a glass of pinot grigio?  some wine gums? a walk along the Thames?)  Can you please report back if the bobble hat sparkly dress person is still in it?  And the kid in the box?  

That is in my opinion a perfect summary of the man, his personal qualities and his weaknesses as a cultural leader. 

Kid is still in the box. Didn’t get far enough for the other one I don’t think.