What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I won’t go into the details of the play because that has been done so eloquently by others, but what I will hopefully do is put a few of my thoughts, etc. on to paper.
I was there, on the front row, on the opening night. After stilling my pounding heart (because a sudden crash came out of the speaker right into my ear) we were treated to the most amazing swordplay. Of course we have all seen the sword fights from Sharpe and again in LOTR, etc., but to see this in all its glory is something - not only amazing but quite thrilling and frightening at the same time. One slip and who knows what might have been “chopped off”. (I will leave that to your imaginations!)
My opinion of Sean’s hair: I have never liked the “shorn Sean” look, I didn’t like it in Patriot Games and I didn’t like it in the publicity photos for Macbeth. Now I have to eat my words and say that in “real life” it looked just right. It gave Sean that extra dimension to the persona of Macbeth and fit the part perfectly and I came to like the look.
As the play progressed I kept feeling as if it was drizzling and it was only later we realised that occasionally when an actor (including Sean) was facing in our direction and shouting or projecting their voice we would get showered with spittle. I am reliably informed that this is a side effect from projecting their voices and who am I to argue, all I know is it was rather wet at times!
All of the cast were excellent, I couldn’t fault them at all.
In conclusion, all you who will have the
good fortune of seeing Macbeth are in for a wonderful treat, well
worth the effort. Me, I am awaiting my second performance with
great anticipation.