Actually, it doesn’t really matter what seats you get at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London, just as long as you get seats. When I saw Macbeth with my friends JJ and Sam in 2013, I was standing throughout.
Towards the end, I was pleased that Lady Macbeth had done the decent thing and died quickly, but was egging on Macduff to get on with killing the King so I could sit down…
It might be wrong for a participant in Rose Hancock Porteous’ reality TV show to criticise the most popular playwright of all time, but in one scene, Lady Macbeth was all cold, controlled evil, and the next time we saw her, she was deluded and remorseful. I wondered – how about a more realistic progression? A bit of foreshadowing, maybe? If the play was called Macbeth, why didn’t we see much of him (or her) for a lot of Act Two? And Macduff’s Caesarian birth was a bit of a cop-out, really.
Was I uncivilised? Un-Shakespeare? A vulgar Western Australian? Or had something kicked in? The raspberry daiquiri I’d bought at Leicester Square’s Häagen-Dazs ice cream café? Who can say?
The University Dramatic Society production I saw as a Perth schoolboy was more interesting, though that could be because half the cast took their clothes off.
William Shakespeare. Was he really that good? Mae West didn’t think so. I once saw Mamma Mia! shortly after King Lear, and thought the way they introduced the characters was much better in the ABBA musical. Just saying…
I love ‘Shakespeare’. Especially because her writing stands the test of time. You just choose the wrong play.
The Globe looks awesome. I’m so envious of your most glamorous lifestyle. X
I probably was stirring a little bit when I wrote this post…