Macbeth - RSC

I'm honestly not sure that I understand what you're hinting at. My feeling is that (other than in a few extreme cases), art should be judged on its own merits, rather than on the personality of the creators. Especially in such a collaborative artform like the theatre.

I understand that some feel that he's not good at running the National, or that he's a poor director, but I don't really get why that would mean that anyone should be happy when his plays do poorly. If you're suggesting that he deserves to be treated differently due to his behaviour (rather than due to the quality of his work) then I'm not aware of anything.

I can understand thinking that Norris isn't doing well, or that he isn't good at his job. But that doesn't really explain the undercurrent of schadenfreude. After all, if people simply wanted the quality at the NT to improve (rather than having some weird problem with him as an individual), then why would it be preferable for the critical flops to continue (presumably leading to his eventual ousting), rather than for him to turn things around?

I've not previously had issues getting a front row £10 seat for the RSC at the Barbican on public booking day. I suspect Macbeth may prove a little trickier but I'm still going to try anyway. I'd guess they're like the NT - some are sold to members, and some are kept for public. Wouldn't want to say if day seats are in the front row or not, but at least the Barbican has a long enough front row that it's entirely possible.

Saw this the other night.

Solid (mostly) relatively traditional production. The few modern elements didn't work. Water cooler on stage, why? Countdown added nothing and was distracting and the cast need a lot more practise timing their performance to it. The interval was timed to start when the clock hit one hour, but was off by a few seconds. The ending was timed so Macbeth died when the clock hit zero but the actors were about 45 seconds off so we had a long pause while the actors faffed on stage while overtly sneaking glances at the clock, and you could see them thinking, "Can't die yet, can't die yet, nearly, not yet, okay five, four, three, two, one, DIE." Utterly pointless. Those poor actors. What chance does any actor have of being in the moment and in the character if they are preoccupied with monitoring a huge clock behind them to ensure their movements sync up with the timer? An obvious attempt to copy Icke's Oresteia, but without the precision. Reminded us more of the infamous Troilus and Cressida, copying movements off a monitor. Not sure about the glitter. He's being crowned King of Scotland not the winner of Ru Paul's Drag Race. Having children as the witches works well and the child actors are fantastic, except the last time I saw the RSC do Macbeth they also had children playing the witches.

The cast are uniformly excellent. Ed Bennet brilliant as always. Cusack beautifully layered. Eccleston appeared to struggle with the lines in some places but a powerful emotional simplicity in the final monologue when he spoke from the heart and lost the "OMG I'm doing Shakespeare" vibe.

oh fab, thanks for that!

Just called and swapped my tickets with no exchange fee - spoke to a very apologetic woman in the box office who asked if I'd called this morning as she'd told someone the front row was being held off for day seats, so I guess this is the person you spoke to


As I'm in the front row I'll make sure to wear my long scarf and bring along my sonic screwdriver, he loves it when people do that

You mean Macbeth II ? Maybe Rufus can commission David Hare to write it. 

Close - David Grieg wrote Macbeth II: Dunsinane




Yes, 10:00 tomorrow morning. But worth checking from 9:30 as they sometimes open booking early on the Barbican site. Loads of availability at the moment including the £10 front row.

Barbican still had plenty of £10 front row seats on sale for Macbeth today(first day of public booking) so I bought some. What’s the view like from there ? Must be good.

Just in case I also have ticket for Nov 9th, same seat. Last year when I saw Andrew Scott's Hamlet I was really wishing I could see it again so I'm taking a chance I'll feel that way about this Macbeth.

Thanks for the tip off for booking - although some mixed reviews (and I am seeing the NT version), easily bagged £10 front row seats when public booking opened yesterday.

It’ll be interesting to hear your thoughts Being Alive.

Seen it twice, in preview and the understudy performance and will be seeing it again in August.

Think you can surmise I love this production, found the mixed reviews perplexing.


On the understudy performance, well worth going to one if you get the opportunity, very little reduction in the quality of the production , the camaraderie shines through, Niamh became an extra for the afternoon whilst Christopher watched on from the stalls. A surprise was Simon Russell Beale in the audience, had a chance to catch up on how the Lehman Trilogy was progressing.

Well that was an absolute mess of a production. (I have to preface this saying I’m not trying to be horrible or disrespectful, but I’m really cheesed off)

I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a show and feel like I’ve had my time wasted more than I do today. I literally only stayed for the second half because my bus home isn’t for another hour.

I hope me and Polly Findlay don’t meet ever, because I have so many questions for her that I’d probably just end up yelling. I think my main issue ultimately is that countdown timer (which ended up doing the last 90 seconds in 16 seconds because the actors were way in front of it). It made an already dreary production drag even more than it already was - it was like they were torturing us, that we had at least another two hours of this to sit through.

Eccleston is way out of his depth I thought. He forgot his lines 3 times, and went round in a circle with one of them until he could find his way back in for about 10 seconds. I felt like applauding his death because it meant it was finally over.
Niamh Cusack was slightly better, but not much. I was constantly thinking ‘she’s going to fall over’ as she’s not good in heels. But she also just feels totally lost in the middle of this play. She came in to her own slightly in Act 2, but I just think they are both utterly miscast in this.
I thought the rest of the cast were poor, with edward bennett as Macduff being the best of a bad bunch. And let’s not get me started on the witches. I cannot for the life of me work out where the idea of children in onesies and ugg slippers was a good idea - they made the text sound lifeless, when they should be sinister.

I’m dreading seeing the National’s production now, because everyone is saying it’s worse. But I fail to see how it could be worse than what I just sat through.
1 star - and I’ve never given a production one star in my life before. Ever.

(Please don’t hate me - I really went in wanting to like it)