Macbeth (2010)

This version of Macbeth, aired by the BBC and PBS, and based on a production that began in Chichester, England and ended up on Broadway, was directed by Rupert Goold and starred Patrick Stewart as the Thane of Cawdor. It was a modern-dress adaptation that seems to have been filmed in a hospital or asylum, and has many trappings of fascism.

That Stewart was too old (he was almost seventy) to play Macbeth is obvious, but at least the actors who play Banquo and Macduff are also older than usual to at least make it look a little more reasonable. Kate Fleetwood is not, but she does make a very wicked Lady Macbeth.

What's interesting about this production is the use of the witches. They appear variously throughout the play, as nurses to the bleeding sergeant in Act I or as kitchen maids before the banquet in Act III, as if they are always around, making mischief. The scene in which Macbeth visits them to ask questions about his fate, which seems to be the place where directors really stretch their legs, is filmed with strobe lights, and the weird sisters chant their incantation while herking and jerking.

Stewart, with his push-broom mustache and gleaming, bullet-shaped head, is terrific, of course. You start with the voice, which is majestic and booming. Macbeth, through the first part of the play, is something of a sap, and Stewart, though a possessing figure, is able to express that uncertainty that the part requires. Then, when he gets his taste of blood and becomes completely mad, Stewart lets out all the stops, without being a ham.

Goold makes some interesting choices. Banquo, when he appears at the banquet, does not take Macbeth's seat, as he does in the play--usurping the usurper. Instead he stands on the table. The banquet scene is played as absurd, with the guests dancing. Ross, a character who is always giving bad news, is made to be a figure of fun, laughing when he shouldn't, a kind of flunky who is always worried he's going to be executed for saying the wrong thing.

I found this version of Macbeth to be interesting, but not completely satisfying. I wonder if I'll come across an adaptation that succeeds on all levels.