I was fortunate enough to join the livestream of The Tragedy of MacBeth with Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle. Directed by Yael Farber, this was a real production of the imagination though set in a contemporary setting. The aged King Duncan was in a wheelchair, the court was suitably gloomy. Uniquely in this production, musicians are part of the action - a cellist, and the witches are present throughout, watching....
Lady MacBeth appears to be hospitable and convivial (or is she?).... Whole play was intriguingly modernised without losing any of its power and language.
Children were a big theme of this production - very much present and spoken to during the feast, as MacBeth and his lady decide to do in King Duncan.
Lady MacBeth and her husband are very much in this plot together; but she is horrified by her blood covered hands when she tries to hide her husband's murder weapons.
But it all begins to go wrong as the MacBeths gain the Thaneship and power.
In true politician style, MacBeth has a microphone, having danced with his wife - which shocks him when he sees the ghost of the man he's murdered. He takes to drinking to escape it, but can't - it is relentless. This was a truly terrifying moment as no-one but us the audience can see what MacBeth can see sat at the banqueting table. Even the cellist gets interrupted by a crazed MacBeth.
Weirdly, a ghost (or is it a demon?) tormented MacBeth seeks comfort and solace from the wyrd sisters, all shown as motherly types. Again the witches were uniquely portrayed.
The murder of Macduff's children is truly horrible as we see actual children being 'murdered' infront of us on stage. The mother's pain and grief at not being able to stop this is almost too much to bear watching. Strangely Lady MacBeth turns up to try to warn the family before this terrible event happens.
We see the wandering Lady MacBeth trying to escape her guilt by cleaning her hands - she turns on a tap to scrub her hands and floods part of the stage - like a staining of her guilt. She then dies infront of us.
We then see MacBeth's end in the same gloomy water,
Well done to the cast for braving this watery stage to take a bow!
I like how the website avoids star names - the cast are shown in order of family name (and the cast bow is the same)....
Cast Michael Abubakar Ross Anderson Aoife Burke Emun Elliott Diane Fletcher William Gaunt Myles Grant Akiya Henry Maureen Hibbert Reuben Joseph Gareth Kennerley Valerie Lilley Jamie-Lee Martin James McArdle Adam McNamara Henry Meredith Dereke Oladele Richard Rankin Saoirse Ronan Emet Yah Khai K-ets Yah Khai
For more production images, see here - https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-tragedy-of-macbeth-live-stream/27-oct-2021-30-oct-2021#open-calendar
Photos are the author's own from the livestream production of the Almeida Theatre's The Tragedy of MacBeth.
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