Review: Macbeth

I was not really enthusiastic about the performance. I mean, I wanted to see how a play in a park would turn out, and having read Macbeth for an assignment the previous year, I was quite familiar with the story and wanted to see how it turned out on stage. However, the thought that they would be speaking long Shakespearean verses for the entire two-hour duration of the play was rather unattractive. Unfortunately, I cannot say that the play turned out surprisingly pleasant to watch. It was not. If I had not read the play before, I would not even have understood what was happening in the story, and in fact, some portions left me confused. Also, being a Shakespearean play, it was rather long and dreary, the period between Macbeth’s assassinations of the King to the standoff with Macduff occupying nearly an hour. The plot was also rather simple when compared to other Shakespearean plays, with only one main antagonist, unlike say, King Lear, which has several antagonists and has a rather complex plot. However, I believe that the simplicity of Macbeth also contributes to its popularity, as the audience would be better able to understand the play.

Macbeth is a tragedy, about how the main character and antagonist, Macbeth, after being prophesized by three witches that he would be promoted from Thane of Glamis to the Thane of Cawdor and finally become King of Scotland. Soon after, he learns that he has been promoted to the Thane of Cawdor, thus feeding his greed and ambition, ultimately assassinating the King of Scotland and ascending to the throne. However, under his tyrannical rule of killing of anyone opposing him, the other thanes defect to join the Thane of Fife, Macduff, and the King’s son Malcolm in gathering an army to overthrow Macbeth’s regime. Macbeth, having received another prophecy from the three witches that he was safe as “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”. Thinking that no one could be not born from woman, Macbeth had confidently fought against Macduff’s forces, only to realize that Macduff was born by Caesarian section and was thus, not of woman born, and in the end, was defeated by Macduff.

I thought that the acting was quite good, which is to be expected since it was performed by a professional theatre company, however, due to the nature of the placing of the audience and the stage, with the audience being close to the stage and able to view it from many different angles, the backs of the actors was occasionally facing my direction, as a result obscuring the actor’s actions. The set was rather interesting, as it was quite large and one wonders how it was transported. The set served quite a number of purposes, and the props the actors used were rather realistic, such as the guns, however, those were not enough to save the show. In fact, I found the guns too loud and winced whenever they were fired, contributing to my negative impression of the performance.

Macbeth’s most obvious theme is that of greed for power which results in corruption. It has shown that a person who has been exposed to a little power will be corrupted by it and keep seeking more, ultimately ruining the person. However, the play of course does not only hope to show people the evil that power and greed can do, if not, Shakespeare would not have had Macduff defeating Macbeth, though of course, that was necessary in order to have a resolution. The play also shows the difference between kingship and tyranny, as can be evident from the fact that the King of Scotland, King Duncan, was always referred to as “king” and had the loyalty of his many subjects, whereas Macbeth was referred to as “tyrant” and portrayed as a maniac who loses respect from all his subjects, only managing to keep them there through fear.

I think that these themes are still extremely relevant in today’s society. Even though the situation may not be that extreme, yet they are in essence the same. Take for example, Marxism in the U.S.S.R. Power corrupted, and absolute power corrupted absolutely, with Stanlin using the KGB to kill off opposition, and ruling the Soviet Union with tyranny. Even now, we hear of how people with power are misusing them, for example, the phone hacking scandals of News of The World, or the various scandals which many celebrities are caught up in. Therefore, although this play may have been written quite long ago, but it is evident that Shakespeare’s themes and messages can still be applied in today’s context.