A television adaptation of the classical Shakespeare play.
Credited cast: | |||
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Jeff Alexander | ... | Soldier / Murderer |
Richard Armitage | ... | Angus | |
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Diane Beck | ... | Lady Macduff / Witch |
Ken Bones | ... | Banquo | |
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Glenn Chapman | ... | Macbeth's servant |
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Nigel Cooke | ... | Macduff |
Noma Dumezweni | ... | Witch | |
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Graeme Flynn | ... | Young Macduff |
Polly Kemp | ... | Witch / Gentlewoman | |
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Stephen Noonan | ... | Porter |
Antony Sher | ... | Macbeth | |
Harriet Walter | ... | Lady Macbeth | |
Robert Whitelock | ... | Donalbain / Young Seyward |
A television adaptation of the classical Shakespeare play.
This might have been a 'must see' show but on this production it has too many flaws.
Here are some of the weaknesses.
The play is cut by about 35 minutes and is too truncated. That is a real weakness. Cutting the text is not a good decision.
The diction and articulation of the leads is lost in the frenzy.
The reality TV style is jarring. The sound and location create an unclear sound and the text is often lost.
The performances tend to overacting as in the porter's speech about equivocation and with Sher's performance, where in the memorable 'tomorrow' speech he is uninvolved and its meaning is discarded.
This may gave worked well on stage but the TV performance is quite bad. Real shame as Sher and Walter are very good.