Salisbury Cathedral – Saturday 5 June 2021 – then touring until September 2021
Reviewed by Jo Gordon
5*****
To say I was beside myself with absolute joy, when asked if I was free to review Macbeth, in my home town, within the Cathedral grounds on a summer’s afternoon would be an understatement…. what a way to break my sixteen month theatre fast! Watching Macbeth performed by The Lord Chamberlains Men, the very company William himself would have tread the boards with some 400 years ago was a pure treat. A cast of seven, play twenty-two characters, and they play them perfectly.
Returning from battle, Macbeth and Banquo happen across three weird and magical sisters out on the Scottish moorlands. The three sisters prophecy that Macbeth, will one day become King of Scotland. With the help of his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, the prophecy comes to fruition but not without betrayal and blood upon their hands. Part of the prophecy was that Macbeth could not be killed by any man born to a woman, however, life sometimes finds a way of putting you back in your place as he eventually finds out.
The stage, despite being small provides enough magic to transport you to the misty lands of large stone castles and the Elizabethan costumes stay true to how the play would have first appeared to the masses, with an all male cast also playing the female characters, again just how it would have been. What more could you desire than some classical, outdoor theatre full of tragedy, the supernatural and a moral to give us all little warning about our actions. Book up to see it at your local venue, grab a camping chair and indulge in ninety-five minutes of superb outdoors theatre like Bill himself meant it to be.