I was at Richmond last night. This was my
4th performance of Macbeth and Hayley accompanied me.
The play started and by now, you'd think I'd be used to the abrupt
start, but it still made me jump!
The only noticeable differences were the
following:
During the scene when Macbeth calls Lady Macbeth "dearest
chook", Sean touches Samantha's breasts (hadn't noticed this
before); at the beginning of the banquet scene, Sean walked down
the stairs. At the last performance in MK, Macbeth climbed on
to the table in this scene,
which was new. This continued to occur in last night's performance
(I expect they have been toying around with stage directions throughout
the run in MK).
Hayley giggled when she first saw Sean (I think it was because
of all that had happened when we met him in MK). When he got to
the "is this
a dagger" line, she responded "no it's a blade!".
I think that the play is now a well cogged machine and that the
cast and crew have got everything running as smoothly as possible.
Sean seems to appear more confident and in his stride, as does
Samantha Bond. I think she is proving to be a strong, fiesty leading
lady, which is
what is needed when being cast opposite someone like Sean.