ksmacbeth


 * "Macbeth" Analysis and Review **

"Macbeth" is known as Shakespeare’s darkest tragedies, and has intrigued audiences for hundreds of years. Director David Z Saltz, did not fail to portray the extreme conflict within the play. Using LEDs and a moving set, this performance of "Macbeth" definitely entertained the audience.

The theme of the play was power and authority. When the three witches persuaded Macbeth to believe that he would soon by king, Macbeth quickly set forth to make this prediction a reality. The production used the different levels on the stage to establish the idea of power. The witches would often stand above Macbeth and control him like a puppet. Later Macbeth would share with his wife what the witches told him, and she too became infected with the craving for power. For one to be truly powerful, they must be the only ones with power. So to solve this issue, Macbeth eliminates all he sees to pose a threat on his power. But having too much power over others eliminated Macbeth’s power over his own sanity, which eventually leaves him vulnerable for Macduff to kill him.

The set definitely played a large role in making this production very intruging. The set consisted of three large parts, which held up different levels of projected stage. These three parts could move back and forth and had doors for the actors to go through. The different pieces could be moved to establish different rooms and scenes. At the end of the play, the set actually came out into the audience a little bit, which made the final scene of Macbeth’s death more intimate. And in order to emphasize the set, lighting was skillfully used.

The lights were an interesting aspect of the play. First, the light designer did a fantastic job of using the lights to emphasize different areas of the action and the different scenes. Sometimes when the mood of the characters would change, the lights would change to emphasize it. Second, the use of LED lights on banners that fell from the sky was a great way to portray the ghost of Banquo. These banners created pictures on them, and greatly sparked interest from the audience. Finally more LEDs were used in some of the character’s costumes. The witches, in particular had dresses that lit up green when they were putting a spell on someone. These same colored LED lights would then light up on the character under the spell. Although it was evident that there were many technical difficulties with the lights, it was a great way to portray the characters becoming “infected” with the witches’ spells.

The idea of infection was key to the different costume designs. A few of the characters, especially Lady Macbeth, were wearing pieces of hospital gear. This was intended to come across to the audience to symbolize the “infection” aspect of the play, but I believe that the meaning did not come across. Honestly, the hospital gear seemed out of place and confusing. But, the costume designer chose to make the witches’ costume resemble an old- fashioned nurse outfit. I thought this was great and played into the eeriness of the characters. By far, the witches’ costumes were my favorite overall.

Overall I think that this play was skillfully done. I thought that the use of technology made this play different than other Shakespeare plays I had seen before. However, I did not feel like much of the acting was outstanding or memorable. This I feel did take away from the overall production. But, if one is looking for a new and interesting interpretation of this Shakespeare play, I would definitely recommend this performance.