Mar
10thJean-Luc Macbeth – BAM 2008
We went out to see Patrick Stewart as Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It’s been so popular that they’re actually moving it to Broadway. Who could resist? Jean-Luc Piccard playing Macbeth!? A lot of people that I’ve spoken with have complained about the fact that this is yet another Shakespeare play with a contemporary setting. People like their traditional Renaissance settings, and their swords and funnypuffy velvet pants. Honestly, it’s not ever a change that keeps me from the Shakespeare itself. Shakespeare is about words, and the words are what’s important, not the setting. And if the “hip” setting and costumes brings a new audience? Sure! I’m all for it! Trick those tweens into appreciating some Shakespeare! Fo’ Sho’. (It does, sometimes, pull away from the story, which I’ll mention later.) I’ll start off by saying that Patrick Stewart was everything I’d hoped. His presence is amazing, and his acting is superb and never once did I expect him to say “ENGAGE!” Very in character, and very consuming as that character. For me, the real heart of the story of Macbeth is the interplay between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They have, in my opinion, a very dark, seductive relationship where Macbeth is entwined by her lust (for power as much as for him) and he is thereby seduced into killing Duncan to seize the throne. The text between them is rife with double entendres. She implies that he’s less manly, or impotent if he doesn’t kill Duncan. But it’s still […]