*This video can be found on YouTube: Then key in–Macbeth de William Shakespeare- Teatro con Kenneth Branagh (Ingles)
One of the main components in this fantastic product co-directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh is the venue–a deconsecrated Manchester church which has a challenging very narrow (approx. 5-6 yds.), long (about 25-30 yds.) playing area in the middle with half-wall dirty boarding on two sides around it, and the audience behind it, mostly in darkness. For those language purists, only some key minor characters (the doctor, Macduff) speak with Scottish accents which helps to contextualize the plot and to contrast with the less distracting English accents of the main characters. But there is, overall, a great reverence for the words of the play, notably in the soliloquies and main scenes.
Music and, especially, sound effects are strongly and effectively used throughout the production. Lighting helps to focus scenes as the characters often whiz by each other in this fast-moving drama. At one end is a bank of candles and a slightly elevated platform with grates through which the witches appear one time. And the floor, otherwise, is covered in a thick layer of dirt which becomes a bit muddy in the dramatic opening fight scene, reminiscent of the fight scenes in Branagh’s first hit Henry V.
Amazingly, mounted cameras move around easily never catching sight of one another. There are interesting overhead shots and there is an upper gallery used in the Banquo-Fleance-Macbeth evening scene, in another witch scene, and in Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene. The blocking is tremendous with all parts of the playing area and run-off exits on the sides and ends used effectively throughout. I particularly appreciated the great distances between characters sometimes as much as 25-30 yards, which were then quickly ‘closed’. Too, the characters moving past each other in the closing battle scenes, for instance. And it all works, repeatedly and memorably!
Onto the show and various scenes. The dagger scene was well-lit. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both presented as crazed, intense people of deluded depths. The brutal killing of Duncan is done by the candles at one end. Banquo is older than usual and looks quite the horrid mess when he returns to haunt the feast. The porter scene is quite elaborate and funny, with the use of other actors’ body parts! Duncan is carried through the playing area on a bier. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth keep ‘losing it’ in their various speeches before and after the regicide.
In the feast scene, Macbeth crawls across the banquet table and eventually stands up when Banquo’s ghost reappears in the upper gallery. The witches’ return scene is splendidly imaginative with a constantly moving sheet used as the bubbling cauldron with apparitions standing up and walking off. The murder of Lady Macduff and her son is a nasty bit of stage business, to say the least. Macduff’s best moments are from the point he hears the news of his family’s murders; his part is exceptionally well-played by the only black actor in the production.
The sleepwalking scene is nerve-wracking showing that the actress playing Lady Macbeth is as strong as Branagh as Macbeth. Branagh perfectly captures the nuances and anguish of the “Tomorrow” speech. The final attack works as well as the opening scene with loud percussion and a pell-mell quality of realistic battle chaos. The flow of the characters moving quickly through the last scenes is well-choreographed. And the head of Macbeth receives an inglorious, but a just-deserts treatment at the end.
What can I say? This is, hands-down, the best, fastest Macbeth I’ve ever seen, including the controversial Polanski/Playboy movie spectacle. The production values are top-notch. There is nary a let-down as the play moves post-haste to its appointed end. The acting by all is superb and totally convincing and powerful across the board. It’s not very often that I give a 10/10 to anything, but I have no hesitation in raising both thumbs way up for the best Macbeth one is ever likely to be lucky to see.
