a Scottish play and no mention of Brigadoon

Watching Saturday night's performance of Macbeth was incredibly similar to watching a foreign film with only a slight grasp on the conversational language. I desperately longed for subtitles. Every so often I'd be able to pick out a word or phrase, make a connection, and grasp that someone was dead and someone wanted revenge or felt remorse about murder and so on. Mostly I just liked the sword fighting.

There were some things that already biased me against the play, that is true. One was that I have a dislike of Shakespeare's tragedies and much prefer the comedies, and even if people laughed at points during the performance, I have a feeling that it wasn't at any intended comedic moments. Another was that the play lasted for two and a half hours without even the shortest intermission. In the age of 140 characters, sound bites, and "multi-tasking" - it's a bit difficult to keep up the attention span. It would have been much easier accomplished if I understood half of what was occurring at any given moment.

The worst was when the guy seated behind me started reciting a monologue of Macbeth's loudly and at a different pace than the actor. I appreciate a theater enthusiast but that was a bit much. Eventually someone shushed him, but how rude!

For all my complaining, I could appreciate the quality and the effort that went into the performance itself. I loved that they stayed true to what would be a Shakespearean performance - minimalistic sets but with big energy, music that suited the time period, even the language and mannerisms were carefully thought out and executed. It was also a great way to look back on what was the birth of so many common expressions we have today. OUT DAMN SPOT! and something wicked this way comes, just to name a few.

CULTURAL EVENT 02