We interpreted Macbeth
as an in-depth study of fear and tyranny and as one of Shakespeare’s most brutal and savage plays. Our Macbeth does
not enter from battle as a finely-robed, unmarked general who has the sophisticated soul of a poet, but rather as a bloodied,
scarred, intrepid, unsurpassed gladiator. Macbeth’s imagery expresses his subconscious mind but that
in no way makes him a poet. Neither is he a victim of circumstances or a man whose fate is determined by
supernatural influences or an overbearing wife. He is one of those people who would love to enjoy the fruits
of treachery without having had to commit the treachery, thereby retaining a clean conscience even as he reaps the results
of evil. Macbeth knows what he wants and what he must do to get it.
The idea of killing Duncan occurs to him before he is confronted
by the three sisters. He tells his wife of his desires because he knows that she will give him the emotional
and moral support he most desperately needs in order to achieve them. Macbeth has no predisposition to
murder, merely an inordinate ambition and a lust for power that make murder itself seem a lesser evil than a failure to secure
the crown. After he commits the murder it is fear, not guilt that infects Macbeth’s dreams and causes
his intense paranoia.
Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth are devoid of pathos and tenderness. They are not innocent sufferers but self-corrupted
and guilty workers of horror. They do not command our affection or our sympathy, but we should be riveted,
astounded and overwhelmed by their passion, brutality and determination. Above all they are human beings
and not unreal monsters or evil incarnate. In Macbeth there are no neutral characters. Every
person opposes, allows or encourages the tyranny unleashed by Macbeth. We do not treat the witches as supernatural
beings but as the outward manifestation of Macbeth’s inner struggles and desires. Macbeth’s
inner struggle and turmoil are expressed literally and theatrically.
I trained the company not to treat poetry as a strange, peculiar or awkward form of
speech but as an absolutely natural and necessary way of expressing the highest and most profound thoughts in the most precise
and perfect way possible. We tried to combine the perfect blending of the cerebral and the emotional; the
thinking heart as Victor Hugo called it. This, plus a reverence for clarity and form, overcame much of
the language barrier we encountered.
Our goal was not to perform
only once in a city but to return year after year with the purpose of enriching all our lives. I firmly
believe that there is a universal language that can be expressed through the correct combination and execution of text, mind,
voice and body.
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