A tale of malice, matrimony and murder, MACBETH tells the story of one couple’s obsession with power—and their guilt after doing the unthinkable. For 15 weeks only, this thrilling new production will capture the passion and ferocity of Shakespeare’s most haunting text like never before.
Almost tenderly, then, the production drifting around Craig touches him only lightly. It's an unusually bare staging for Broadway, stuffed with ideas but stripped clean of folderol. For the majority of the company, director Sam Gold has settled on a kind of still-in-rehearsal vibe, with big events whirling up out of an empty theater lit dimly by ghost light. Who is a witch and who is a laird in any single moment seems fluid - appropriately for a cast hamstrung repeatedly by COVID setbacks, anyone might play anyone. In contrast, Craig and Ruth Negga, as Lady Macbeth, are incontrovertibly stars, gliding across the space like slow, gleaming peacocks.
Fair warning for anyone bothered by the sight of blood shooting across the stage: You might want to cover your eyes. This production certainly goes for the gore. A curious choice, considering the dramaturgical note in the program (it prepares the audience for 'minimal scenery,' 'no major scene changes,' and double- and triple-casting): 'This simplicity and flexibility, in which the play's language carries most of the narrative and expressive weight, enables a high level of imaginative participation.' Yet Gold-who previously helmed King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet-turns Duncan's stabbing, usually an offstage moment, into something out of Psycho, complete with horror-movie lighting and chilling sound effects.
1870 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2018 | West End |
Royal Shakespeare Company London Production West End |
2022 | Broadway |
Limited Engagement Broadway |
West End |
West End |
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West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Ruth Negga |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jane Cox |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Ruth Negga |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Mikaal Sulaiman |
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