Macbeth
2017: Antoni Cimolino, Shelagh O'Brien; Barry Avrich

This is filmed from the Canadian Stratford Festival version of the play from 2017. As such it is stage presentation, but it is done with considerable attention to cinematic presentation as well.

Like most of the Stratford productions, this one retains a genuine respect for the original material, and presents the play with conventional costumes and props, very little by way of sets, and using North American accents.

The dynamic of the chief characters here is intriguing. Macbeth himself seems more subject to Lady Macbeth, and more resentful of what he’s been required to do, even long after the fact, than in most other productions. There is no doubt that he’s reticent from the outset, but at some point he seems to overcome that and to claim his own misdeeds for himself, even as Lady Macbeth, originally the motivator of the murder, falls apart. That point is deferred longer than in most other productions. This is certainly a plausible way to handle the character, and it shows the range of possibilities inherent in the play, but the sustained frantic note in his diction becomes (to my ears, at least) rather wearying after a while.

That much is only my own take on things, however, and certainly falls within the scope of reasonable production. The acting is solid throughout. There are no roles that fall out of sympathy with the whole performance. Such things as the apparitions in the middle witch scenes are arrestingly plausible; nothing seems overly artificial. The brief exposition of the relationship between Lady Macduff and her son is charming and (in context) moving. More is preserved here, too, of the interview between Macduff and Malcolm than is sometimes shown, and this is a distinct advantage.

Unlike some versions of the play, the ghost of Banquo makes an actual appearance at the banquet scene; I personally think that this is important for several reasons, but many renditions of the play present it completely as a psychological aberration of Macbeth himself. Unlike any other version I can recall, at the second appearance of Banquo, Duncan also appears, walking down the middle of the table. He does not provoke a similar reaction from Macbeth, though, and the reason for his inclusion (other than as a kind of footnote to the extent of Macbeth’s crimes) is not clear to me.

In sum, this is one of the best versions I have seen of this treacherously simple but subtle play. It does not attempt any high concept other than pursuing the increasingly rare notion that one can reasonably trust the play as it is written. It holds together quite well. I can recommend it without any parental reservations, save for the blood and violence that are the core of the play itself.

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