One wonders what could have happened had MacBeth been a less superstitious
men and a less ambitious one how his life might have gone. He achieves his
ambition and becomes King of Scotland in medieval days, but it all sure comes
crashing around him. He could have used a less shrewish wife as well. Might
have lived a long life as the Thane of Cawdor.
Nicol Williamson stars as the ambitious and brooding Scot's nobleman who thinks he could do a far better job as king than Duncan the current king who trusts MacBeth implicitly heaping all kinds of honors on him. But Jane Lapotaire as Lady MacBeth thinks it's all not enough. She's the really ambitious one and she goads her hubby into some serious action.
Not only does Williamson kill Duncan, he pushes his sons Malcolm and Donalbain aside and kills former friend Banquo whom he sees as a threat. A curious thing happens though. Lapotaire gets increasingly frightened and unhinged as she sees how her husband has changed. As for Williamson he now has a thirst for blood.
Williamson is a tall and regal MacBeth and while he's not Maurice Evans who is considered at least by many to have been the MacBeth of the last century Williamson gives a good account of himself. My favorite scenes are with the three witches whose counsel MacBeth seeks and who give him some enigmatic answers to questions that blow up in his face by the end of the play. Lapotaire isn't Judith Anderson who was Maurice Evans's Lady MacBeth, still she does well by the part.
Irish actor Tony Doyle plays MacDuff and gets the acting honors for the supporting cast. I always like how Bill Shakespeare liked in his plays to settle accounts in an almost Corleone like style. MacDuff is his agent here, just like Mark Antony in Julius Caesar or Laertes in Hamlet. These guys have a mission and there's no stopping them when they get started.
This MacBeth was part of the BBC series of all the Shakespeare plays. It's as good a production that you'll see.
Nicol Williamson stars as the ambitious and brooding Scot's nobleman who thinks he could do a far better job as king than Duncan the current king who trusts MacBeth implicitly heaping all kinds of honors on him. But Jane Lapotaire as Lady MacBeth thinks it's all not enough. She's the really ambitious one and she goads her hubby into some serious action.
Not only does Williamson kill Duncan, he pushes his sons Malcolm and Donalbain aside and kills former friend Banquo whom he sees as a threat. A curious thing happens though. Lapotaire gets increasingly frightened and unhinged as she sees how her husband has changed. As for Williamson he now has a thirst for blood.
Williamson is a tall and regal MacBeth and while he's not Maurice Evans who is considered at least by many to have been the MacBeth of the last century Williamson gives a good account of himself. My favorite scenes are with the three witches whose counsel MacBeth seeks and who give him some enigmatic answers to questions that blow up in his face by the end of the play. Lapotaire isn't Judith Anderson who was Maurice Evans's Lady MacBeth, still she does well by the part.
Irish actor Tony Doyle plays MacDuff and gets the acting honors for the supporting cast. I always like how Bill Shakespeare liked in his plays to settle accounts in an almost Corleone like style. MacDuff is his agent here, just like Mark Antony in Julius Caesar or Laertes in Hamlet. These guys have a mission and there's no stopping them when they get started.
This MacBeth was part of the BBC series of all the Shakespeare plays. It's as good a production that you'll see.