London : MACBETH - Featuring Patrick Stewart!

London : MACBETH - Featuring Patrick Stewart!

On Saturday (the 29th September), Steve and I decided to increase our cultural experiences a little more and head out for a traditional and cliche dinner and a show! We actually purchased tickets for this show before we went to France, just after I dragged Steve to 'We Will Rock You'. We were wandering down Shaftsbury Avenue and saw that Macbeth was opening at the Gielgud Theatre. Steve being a dedicated Star Trek series watcher and a fan of Captain Pickard.. LOL.. INSISTED that we get some tickets. I figured it was a fair trade - I got to see 'We will Rock You' and he gets 'MACBETH' with Patrick Stewart. I also thought that I should go and get myself informed and see what MACBETH was all about. I only ever did Romeo & Juliet in high school, so I figured I should experience this as well.

Just a little history on the Theatre itself, it first opened on December 27th in 1906 as the Hicks Theatre. In what named the Hicks Theatre after the actor, manager and playwright for whom it was built. The Theatre was designed by W.G.R Sprague in Louis XVI style and it originally had 970 seats. The Gielgud Theatre over the years has been renamed to the Globe Theatre in 1909 after the demolition of the one on Newcastle St (to make way for the Aldwych Theatre. In 1994 it was renamed to The Gielgud Theatre in honour of British Actor Sir John Gielgud. It has in its history had many notable shows running, the most recent being Macbeth. Prior to Macbeth they had a show called 'Equus' - starring Daniel Radcliffe (the guy from the Harry Potter films) and THAT nude scene.

Macbeth, was one of Shakespeare's best known plays as well as his shortest surviving tragedy. It was written somewhere between 1603 and 1606. The play plot essentially begins with 'The Witches' prophesising Macbeth becoming King of Scotland. Macbeth writes to his wife about the prophecy of the witches and when Duncan (The King of Scotland) comes to stay with them - Lady Macbeth hatches a plan to murder Duncan in order to secure the throne for her husband.

On the night of the visit, Macbeth murders Duncan and returns shaken from what he has done. Lady Macbeth then plants the bloody daggers in the sleeping servants hands in order to frame them for the bloody murder. The next day, Macbeth leads Macduff to the corpse of Duncan and slaughters the servants in fury before they can protest their innocence, but Macduff is already suspicious. After that Duncan sons fear for their safety and Malcolm flees to England while Donalbain flees to Ireland. Macbeth then takes the throne as the new King of Scotland.

Feeling insecure about his throne, Macbeth invites Banquo to a Royal feast and learns that Banquo and his son Fleance will be riding that night, so he organises for them to be killed. Fleance is however fortunate enough to escape and Macbeth is haunted by Banquo's ghost (which he can only see)...disturbed by his behaviour Lady Macbeth orders the guests to leave. With Macduff in exile in England, Macbeth massacres everyone in Macduff's castle including his wife and children. In England Malcolm and Macduff plan an invasion in Scotland. Macbeth also learns of the death of his wife Lady Macbeth by the implication of suicide.

Macbeth is eventually confronted by Macduff and is slain...

Of course this is just the short interpretation of the plot, but it covers the general jist of the story. I went in blindly never had read Macbeth at school and had to ask for a quit update of the plot at intermission which was at the point where Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo at the table. Up to speed, I was able to continue watching the rest of the play. It was an interesting production, and slightly modernised to suit our modern times. Steve thought it was a great production, but he of course had read the play before so was much more informed that I was of the progression of the plot, the development of the characters and the times in which it was set. Still, I did enjoy it and found it very interesting to watch Patrick Stewart in a completely different role and environment. He was actually very good and he is an amazing theatre man... he is very expressive and portrayed Macbeth very well.. But for some, he will always be Captain Pickard...

For some interesting trivia notes on Patrick Stewart : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart

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