The Scottish Play...

I just got back from seeing Macbeth at the National Arts Centre.

I'd heard various conflicting reports about it. Some people loved it, some hated it, some were indifferent.

Well, I loved it.

It was just the kind of production I like: minimalist and evocative. Costumes were (mostly) World War II-type military - Macduff had a spiffy kilt and (in commodorified's phrase) an "unfortunate sporan". Staging was brilliant, with a backdrop of grubby glass panes that could be, as needed, a forest, a castle wall, a portcullis, or a barrier to the netherworld - it handled shadows well. Benedict Campbell was a Macbeth with a stunning and powerful voice, who wore braces and military gear like Captain Jack Harkness and delivered his "she should have died hereafter" speech lying on his back under a desk, with a candle between his knees.

There were many oddities, most of them delightful and imaginative, some of them perplexing. I liked the Three Witches as creepy schoolchildren, making giant pomegranates rain down; and Banquo at the feast was the spookiest ghost I've seen in a long time. (His hands!) He kept slipping under the table, an image both grotesque and funny.

Diane D'Aquila was fine and powerful as Lady Macbeth, though I did wonder why she changed after the murders from a dress of a style circa 1942 to one from circa 1888, black with a magnificent bustle. To show the time was out of joint? For the curtain call, she wore scarlet elbow-length satin gloves, a nice touch.