Macbeth (1998)

Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, but even so I couldn't imagine it could be done in 87 minutes, but here it is, a British television production from 1998 that does just that, and doesn't seem to leave much out.

Directed by Michael Bogdanov for Channel Four films, it's a modern-dress interpretation that proceeds at hell-bent pace, but still takes time to appreciate the words.

The production is low-budget, and has the spirit of community theater, as it often looks like the actors are wearing their own clothes. Inverness, Macbeth's castle, is an industrial park. But the performances are solid, with none to quibble about, even if Lorcan Cranitch as Macduff looks like an accountant.

Michael Pertwee plays the title role, and he eloquently captures the ambivalence of the man, pushed to his bloody deeds by his wife (Greta Scacchi, the only performer I recognized). His monologues are sometimes recorded voice overs, which is fine, especially his "Is this a dagger I see before me speech."

Almost everything is done off stage, as it is in Shakespeare: the killing of Duncan, the murder of Lady Macduff and her children, and the death of Lady Macbeth. And Macbeth is not beheaded in this production, his body simply dumped in a garbage heap, where the three witches remove him of his valuables. That seems like a fitting end.