Shakespeare Study: The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra

This is the third year of my Shakespeare study. I read one play each month, and then watch as many film versions as I can get my hands on, and read as many books about the play as I'm able. July, 2012 was The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra.

Related Books:

- A Reading Of Shakespeare's Antony And Cleopatra  by A.P. Riemer  -  This book has three main sections: a bit of the background of the play, an interpretation of the play (going through the entire thing), and a section about other interpretations by various critics. In the third section, Riemer writes (about Cleopatra), "indeed, what evidence there is suggests that it is her vulgarity and vivacity that make her so irresistible. She is not the perfumed siren but one in whom the vilest things are becoming" (page 107). Published in 1968.

- Shakespeare: Antony And Cleopatra: A Casebook  - Revised Edition  edited by John Russell Brown  -  This collection includes a sections titled "Critical Reactions before 1900," "The Play in Performance" and "Twentieth-century Criticsm."  In the third section, A.C. Bradley writes, "Plutarch says that Octavius was reported to love his sister dearly; and Shakespeare's Octavius several times expresses such love. When, then, he proposed the marriage with Antony (for of course it was he who spoke through Agrippa), was he honest, or was he laying a trap and, in doing so, sacrificing his sister? Did he hope the marriage would really unite him with his brother-in-law; or did he merely mean it to be a source of future differences; or did he calculate that, whether it secured peace or dissension, it would in either case bring him great advantage?" (page 72). Later in that same essay, A.C. Bradley writes, about Antony, "He contends fitfully, and is prone to take the step that is easiest at the moment. This is the reason why he consents to marry Octavia. It seems the shortest way out of an awkward situation. He does not intend even to try to be true to her. He will not think of the distant consequences" (page 77).  The first edition was published in 1968. This revised edition was published in 1991.

- Antony And Cleopatra: Text And Performance  by Michael Scott  -  This is a volume in the Text And Performance series, and focuses on sections of the play (particularly Cleopatra's death), and then on a few productions.  Regarding the "shirt of Nessus" reference in Act IV, Michael Scott writes, "Shakespeare's second allusion to Hercules is more specific. In order to keep her love faithful, Hercules's wife, Deianira, sent Lichas to him with a shirt dipped in the blood of the centaur, Nessus. Hercules had previously killed Nessus with a poisoned arrow when the centaur had attacked Deianira. As Nessus died he had told Deianira that his blood would preserve her husband's love - thus the gift. Hercules in wearing the shirt was poisoned. In his rage he threw Lichas high into the air and to the sea and tore his shirt from his own body pulling with it his flesh. Deianira, seeing what she had done, killed herself and Hercules built a fire on which he sacrificed himself. Ironically therefore, in Deinaira's attempt to keep love secure, the Nessus shirt destroyed both wife and husband. The parallel with Antony is plain. When Cleopatra's fleet surrenders to Octavius, all Antony can see is her betrayal and the cruel irony that in loving her he has destroyed himself: 'Eros, ho!/The shirt of Nessus is upon me...'" (pages 23-24).  But if Antony knows the story, and refers to it, then he must know that it wasn't completely Deianira's fault, that she was duped. So by making the comparison, wouldn't he really be saying it's actually not Cleopatra's fault?  Published in 1983.

- Antony And Cleopatra On The English Stage  by Margaret Lamb  -  As its title suggests, this book is a study of English productions of Antony And Cleopatra from the earliest known stagings to the present. However, one of the most interesting bits for me was the appendix on the problem of lifting Antony into the monument in Act IV.  Samuel Daniel's 1607 revised Cleopatra includes a scene in which Antony is pulled up, but is stopped twice. It is thought that his description came directly from watching a production of Shakespeare's play in which the two pauses of the hoisting of Antony came as accients. Margaret Lamb writes, "Possibly, however, the dramatic pauses were deliberate, and the boy Cleopatra left Antony dangling in midair for a moment or two" (page 183). "Furthermore, the hitches in Daniel's narrative correspond to a similar jump in Shakespeare's text" (page 184). Margaret Lamb continues, "The Folio question concerns an apparent redundancy in lines and action. Cleopatra asks her attendants above and the guards below to help 'draw him hither' (IV.xv.12-13). Yet ten lines later she is telling Antony she 'dare not' kiss him 'Lest I be taken' (21, 23). At line 30 Cleopatra decides that 'we must draw thee up' - which seems to be a repetition of the earlier 'let's draw him hither.' The famous line 'I am dying, Egypt, dying' occurs twice (18, 41). It has been assumed that the apparent repetition is a false start (12-29), uncanceled in the foul papers from which the Folio text was printed; or that both a shortened performance version and the uncut text were inadvertently run together in the First Folio. If, however, the Folio repetitions are intentional, the stops in the hoisting are cued to particular lines in Shakespeare's text. Cleopatra pulls, then stops" (page 184) on "I dare not, dear."  Then Cleopatra continues hoisting him up on "but come, come, Antony."  Cleopatra then stops again, finding her burden heavy, and says, "Here's sport indeed! how heavy weighs my lord!"  She then pulls him again on "Yet come a little."  Published in 1980.

- The Pillar Of The World: Antony And Cleopatra In Shakespeare's Development  by Julian Markels  -  In this critical look at the play, Julian Markels that instead of choosing between the values represented by Cleopatra and those represented by Octavius, "he resolves the conflict by striving equally toward both values and rhythmically making each one a measure and condition of the other" (page 9). Markels writes, "Our question is not whether the reasons he finally enumerates are sufficient to justify Antony's departure for Rome. Our question is rather when, where, how, and why did Antony decide not to 'Let Rome in Tiber melt'? And on that question Antony, and behind him Shakespeare, is dazzingly silent. Antony's last words before his exit at I.i.55 are these to the messengers: 'Speak not to us.' At his next entrance, at I.ii.85, he is accompanied by a messenger who is in the midst of giving him the news from Rome" (page 21). Because the book deals with this play's place in Shakespeare's development, Markels ends up discussing several other of Shakespeare's plays, and actually makes some interesting points regarding Hamlet and King Lear. About Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be speech," Markels says it's not exclusively about suicide: "In Hamlet's very next lines the pair of alternatives for being is followed by a pair of alternatives for conduct; and the syntactical parallelism of the two pairs suggests that at least for his moment, Hamlet, and Shakespeare, are defining 'to be' as 'to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune,' and are defining 'not to be' as 'to take arms against a sea of troubles/And by opposing end them'" (page 92). Markels also talks about how Lear's folly is not in dividing his kingdom, but in his rejection of those who love him: "Before the first scene has ended, Cordelia, Kent, France, Goneril, and Regan - fully half the number of people on the stage besides Lear himself - have separately called our attention to Lear's folly in judging his daughters by their speeches and therefore rejecting Cordelia and Kent. But nobody has said a critical word about Lear's decision to resign the throne and divide the kingom. Kent, who is now ready to risk his life in order to convince Lear that he has misjudged Cordelia, originally had the opportunity to confess privately to Gloucester, without risking Lear's displeasure, whatever misgivings he might have had over Lear's decision to divide the kingdom. Instead, he only voiced surprise that in the division Lear did not favor Albany over Cornwall, a favoritism that, according to standard doctrine, would have compounded the evil of dividing the kingdom in the first place. Shakespeare's whole procedure in the first scene not only ignores but implicitly rejects the possibility that Lear's mistake was the division of the kingdom" (page 99).  Back to Antony And Cleopatra, Markels writes, "And for every mistake he makes, we are told repeatedly by Antony as well as others, there is only one reason: Antony has violated his own identity. From moment to moment he gains and loses and regains himself, always wrestling with his own nature, full of unalterable propensities for folly as well as heroism" (page 123).  About Antony's choice to fight at sea, Markels writes, "If he was eager to challenge Octavius to single combat in the knowledge that he is the better swordsman, it is only appropriate that he accept Octavius' dare and risk a fight at sea where he has reason to think his opponent the better naval tactician. Antony not only accepts in Egypt his continuing obligation of Roman honor, he enhances that honor by investing it with a final meaning" (page 129).  Published in 1968.

- William Shakespeare's Antony And Cleopatra - New Edition  edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom - This is a volume in the Modern Critical Interpretations series, and features essays by J. Leeds Barroll, Michael Goldman, Northrop Frye, Jonathan Gil Harris, Susan Snyder, Thomas M. Greee, Patricia Parker and Alan Stewart.  Northrop Frye writes, "We may still wonder why she insisted on entering the battle in the first place: the reason seems to be that Caesar was shrewd enough to declare the war personally on her, putting her in the spotlight of attention. So, although Antony could have won handily on land, she insists on a seafight, because there would be nowhere to see her in a land operation" (page 70).  Later in that same essay, Frye writes, about Enobarbus, "What he discovers in that moment is that his identity consisted of being a part of Antony's cause, and that he is now nothing, just as a hand severed from the body is no longer a hand. It's significant, I think, that he does not commit suicide: he simply lies down in a ditch and stays there, because he's already dead" (page 75).  Alan Stewart writes, "The letter-writing scene is unique to Shakespeare's play, without parallel in any of the possible sources. So why does Shakespeare make Eros a letter-writing secretary? I suggest that the scene is a deliberate foreshadowing of the moment when Antony will demand Eros's hand to perform another task on his behalf - his suicide. The link between these two secretarial, manual functions, writing and self-killing, is made explicit in Decretas's report: Antony is killed, he claims, by 'that selfe-hand/Which writ his Honor in the Acts it did.' By turning to the trope of a handwritten honor, Decretas unconsciously draws attention to the fact that Antony does not do his own writing, and perhaps he did not write his own honor. Antony's hand is shown not to be his own. Here, the contrast with Caesar is vivid: Octavius's focus on writing is entirely personal - he reads, gathers 'sentences' from the great authors, writes on tables to prepare his speeches, and writes his own letters. Antony's writing, his very hand, conversely, is the joint work of himself and Eros, and therefore his self-killing cannot be the work of his hand alone" (page 190).  Published in 2011.


Film Versions:

- Antony & Cleopatra  (1981) with Colin Blakely, Jane Lapotaire, Ian Charleson, Emrys James, Janet Key; directed by Jonathan Miller.  Some uneven performances, bad lighting and odd choices for shots mar this production.  It picks up toward the end, mainly because the last section of the play is so great.  Ian Charleson as Caesar in his first scene gives a strange, labored delivery (made even worse in relation to the natural deliveries of the others in the scene). (For example, listen to his delivery of "This common body,/Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,/Goes to and back, lackying the varying tide,/To rot itself with motion." But his performance improves in later scenes. And Jane Lapotaire is fairly weak as Cleopatra. When Cleopatra is missing Antony, she is lying about on her bed, giving a sleepy reading of "That I might sleep out this great gap of time/My Antony is away" and the following lines. It seems a poor choice to me, because she is asking for a drink to make her tired, to make her sleep - so she shouldn't be basically asleep already.  And the humor is mostly drained from what should be a funny moment with the eunuch.  Cleopatra seems so weak moving around on the bed. Lapotaire's performance in this scene is really bad. 
Colin Blakely has some excellent moments as Antony, but also makes some poor choices.  In the scene with Caesar and Lepidus, he angrily shouts the line, "Neglected, rather:/And then when poison'd hours had bound me up/From mine own knowledge."  I think Antony should be more in control at this early point in the play.  Emrys James as Enobarbus gives a long pause after "I will tell you" and before launching into his famous speech describing the moment when Cleopatra and Antony first met. It feels weird, like he knows he's about to deliver a famous speech and wants to draw out the anticipation.  The first scene with Cleopatra and the Messenger starts off well.  She starts to strangle him on "fie upon 'but yet.'" The scene falls apart when Cleopatra gets really angry, because Jane Lapotaire whines.  She should be scary then to the Messenger, not a whiny school girl. It seems when she gets loud, she loses control (the actor, not the character). And then the Messenger raises his voice to her on "Take no offense that I would not offend you;/To punish me for what you make me do/Seems much unequal; he's married to Octavia."  He even uses his hand, pointing angrily at Cleopatra on "he's married to Octavia."  This is completely unbelievable.  There is no way a Messenger would shout at the queen; at least, there is no way he'd get away with it.  A terrible acting (or possibly directing) choice.
Enobarbus is the only character who directly addresses the audience. Oddly, the first time this happens is the line "Then, world, thou hast a pair of chaps, no more," a line which is said to Eros in the middle of their conversation. In this production, that line ends the scene, and is spoken directly to the camera.  One of the strangest choices of this production is that after Antony says, "We may the number of the ships behold/And so proceed accordingly," it goes to a short scene where Caesar says, "Strike not by land."  And then there is a still of a panting of a sea battle, while words scroll up the screen: "The Battle was of even hand & the victory doubtful, when suddenly they saw the threescore ships of Cleopatra busily about their yardmasts, and hoisting sail to fly. So they fled through the middest of them that were in fight, & did marvellously disorder the other ships. There Antonius shewed plainly that he had not only lost the courage & heart of an emperor, but also of a valiant man."  These lines are from the North translation of Plutarch's Lives.  This is in place of the scene with Enobarbus, Scarus and Canidius, in which they talk of the battle and Scarus says that Antony followed Cleopatra's boat from the battle (which is important information). A bad choice in a production full of questionable choices. Enobarbus delivers his "Mine honesty and I begin to square" speech directly to the camera.  The same goes for his "Sir, sir, thou are so leaky" speech.  And of course he delivers his "Now he'll outstare the lightning" speech directly to us.
Colin Blakely is great as Antony in the scene when he learns Enobarbus has left him, especially when he asks, "Is he gone?" That is a wonderful moment. Then the next scene begins with a closeup of Enobarbus as we hear Caesar's line - a nice choice.  The Sentry and his company are cut, so that Enobarbus delivers his lines alone, in a close-up.  Blakely is also really good during Antony's "cloud" speech.  There is some truly awful lighting in the scene following Antony's suicide attempt when he asks the others to finish what he's begun. You can't see much of anything because the light is aimed at the camera.  Jane Lapotaire is bad when Antony dies - her speaking while crying just doesn't work.
But she's really good when she talks to Dolabella about her dream of Emperor Antony.  Seleucus is cut from the scene with the scroll listing Cleopatra's possessions, so all of that business about her holding back certain things is gone. It goes from her "Not petty things admitted" straight to Caesar's "still be't yours" (thus cutting approximately forty-five lines). The man who brings the snakes is wonderful, and that scene is great.  After Cleopatra applies the first snake, the camera goes in for an extreme closeup (obviously so that we don't see that the snake really isn't biting her). But it remains there, even for her line, "Nay, I will take thee too," so we don't see her take the second snake and apply it to her arm. So for those unfamiliar with the play, that line will be confusing.  We need to see her take the second snake.  We have a closeup on Charmian for her speech. She says, "Your crown's awry; I'll mend it," but she doesn't adjust the crown.  That's a shame, because that should be a really nice moment.  (time: 170 minutes)

- Antony And Cleopatra  (1972) with Charlton Heston, Hildegarde Neil, Eric Porter, John Castle, Jane Lapotaire, Julian Glover; directed by Charlton Heston.  Many of the scenes are re-arranged, and key characters are cut (most notably, Dolabella and the Clown). I'll never understand people who believe they can improve Shakespeare.  Note to everyone on the planet: you're not as good a writer as Shakespeare.  But that being said, there is quite a bit of good stuff in this film. The performances are decent, though John Castle plays Octavius as so serious throughout the film. The first lines are not Shakespeare's.  We don't get Philo's thoughts at the beginning. The first line from the play is Cleopatra's "If it be love, tell me how much." Cleopatra and Antony are lounging around by themselves, something that never happens in the play.  She's casually painting his lips, which is a really nice sort of reference to the famous crossdressing of those two.  Then we get Philo's lines, but spoken by Enobarbus (Eric Porter), an interesting choice. And Eros says the messenger's line, "News, my lord, from Rome."  After the scene with Caesar and Lepidus (I iv) it goes right to Pompey (II i), skipping Cleopatra's scene.  Pompey is on a boat, just off shore.
During Act II Scene ii, there is a gladiator fight, which Octavius, Lepidus and Antony occasionally pay attention to.  After the decision is made to wed Antony to Octavia, we go to Cleopatra's scene (I v) rather than into Enobarbus' famous speech.  The scene takes place on Cleopatra's barge, which is like a big floating bed.  Charmian slaps a naked Iras in the ass.  This scene is short, cut before Alexas enters.  Then it skips to Act II Scene vi, the scene with Pompey, which takes place on a beach.  We see the drinking on the boat, and the celebration.  The first line of the scene is Menas' "Pompey, a word."  Then it goes to II v, Cleopatra's scene.  The messenger is an older man. Cleopatra whips him, then goes to stab him with a dagger. It's a good scene, particularly Hildegarde Neil's performance as Cleopatra.  Charmian (Jane Lapotaire) doesn't move or even turn toward the messenger before saying, "He is afeard to come," which is an odd choice.
Then it goes right to Act III Scene ii, but begins that scene with Caesar, Antony and Octabia. Agrippa and Enobarbus come in after Caesar's "I have said."  In the second messenger scene, when Cleopatra asks, "Is she as tall as me," the messenger looks to Alexas, who subtly shakes his head no. He looks to him again when Cleopatra asks if her face is long or round. When she asks about Octavia's hair color, the messenger blurts out, "Blond," something Shakespeare did not write, then says, "Brown."  Then it goes back to Act II Scene iii with Antony and Octavia. And Antony steps outside to the Soothsayer.  Then Antony overhears the conversation of Maecenas and Enobarbus from Act II Scene ii, with Enobarbus' great speech. (But Agrippa is not there.)  The line is changed to "the holy priests/Bless her when she is wanton."  (I guess Heston didn't trust that the audience would understand the word "riggish.")  The scene ends there.  Next we see Antony on a boat heading back to Cleopatra, the idea being that hearing Enobarbus praise her convinced him to return.  And we have a scene where they reunite.  Then we go to III vi beginning with Octavia's entrance.  The problem with this is that III iv was cut entirely - which is the scene between Antony and Octavia where they talk about Caesar's new wars on Pompey and Octavia decides to visit her brother.  Octavia, not Caesar, says, "Where is he now?"  Then continues by asking, "My lord, in Athens?" rather than answer his question with that line.  A stupid change.  And her reaction at learning where Antony is comes across as weak.  Then the film goes to the beginning of the scene, which is odd, because Octavia is left standing there.  Cleopatra looks adorable in her warrior's uniform.  We see Cleopatra and Antony looking at each other from their respective boats.  And we see the sea battle, obviously something not in the play. And we actually see the moment when Antony sees Cleopatra's ship retreating, and he gives the order, "Retire. We have engaged ourselves too far."  In Act III Scene ix, Antony and Cleopatra are again alone (something which never occurs in the play), and in this scene we really see their love for one another.  The Ambassador's speech ends with "A private man in Athens," so he doesn't mention Cleopatra. Yet Caesar responds to him as if he did.  In Act III Scene xi, Enobarbus doesn't exit, but remains and watches everything between Cleopatra and Thidius.  Antony strikes Thidius, knocking him down a flight of stairs. He also slaps Cleopatra.  Many lines are cut, so the servants bring Thidius back in with not nearly enough time passing for him to have been whipped.  (You really can't cut any lines there.)  Antony does not mention Hipparchus. Also, Cleopatra's lines about it being her birthday are cut.
We see Thidius' whipped body when Caesar is handed the letter in the next scene.  Antony says, "He will not fight with me, old friend" rather than asking "He will not fight with me, Domitius?"  This scene has Antony and Enobarbus alone, rather than with servitors and Cleopatra. So he does not tell multiple people that they have served him well.  Instead he tells just Enobarbus, "You have served me well." It then goes to the next morning, and Antony says to Eros to call Enobarbus. Shockingly, the wonderful scene where Cleopatra helps arm Antony is cut.  Also cut is the scene with the soldiers just before that.  Then we have Cleopatra's lines, which in the play come before the bit about Enobarbus.  Enobarbus says the line about seeking out a ditch, and then we stay with him as he walks to a cliff and pulls out a sword. He then goes right to "Forgive me in thine own particular" from IV vii. The sentry and his company are cut.  After "a fugitive," he tosses his sword over the cliff.  Then he shouts "O Antony" and jumps. In the play he does not kill himself, but dies.  Then we see some of the land battle. And then suddenly the soldiers step aside, leading to Antony's "This foul Egyptian has betrayed me."  So the whole bit where he celebrates a battle won is cut, which is a shame. Also, he's supposed to be betrayed at sea, not on land.  There is an insane shot where Antony and his horse tumble down a hill, the shot needlessly marred by a voice over repetition of "This foul Egyptian has betrayed me."  And then somehow Antony escapes an entire army and rides to Cleopatra.  The great cloud speech is done while Antony and Eros are in a rowboat. When they go to shore, Mardian arrives to tell him Cleopatra is dead.  But where are they?  After Antony left her palace, he got in a boat. Mardian then left the palace and somehow walks exactly where their boat lands? I don't believe that. So he asks Eros to kill him there on the beach.  Antony balances his sword against a tree and pulls himself onto it.  And then the Soothsayer (not Diomedes) arrives (so the three guards are cut). He says, "Your star has fallen, sir. You may not live. Alas" (lines not in the play).  Then Antony miraculously stumbles all the way to the monument rather than being carried.  He bangs on it with a rock to alert those inside to his presence.  He climbs up Cleopatra's scarf.
Caesar comes upon the Soothsayer in the desert, and it is he - not Dercetas - who tells him Antony is dead.  The Soothsayer also has the lines about Cleopatra being confined in her monument.  Caesar, rather than giving comforting words, merely says, "She soon shall know."  Cleopatra tries to kill herself with the sword of Proculeius (Julian Glover). But then Proculeius speaks Dolabella's lines: "Most noble empress, you have heard of me" and "Assuredly you know me."  He introduces himself and she says Antony told her of him.  And then she tells him - not Dolabella - her dream of Antony. And it is he who tells her of Caesar's plan.  That's a bad change, because the idea was that Antony was wrong about who Cleopatra could trust.  And she hasn't heard of Dolabella, but has heard of Proculeius.  I like Cleopatra's reaction to Caesar's question about whicch is the queen.  Caesar doesn't threaten Cleopatra's children.  All the stuff about her list of possessions is cut, which is a problem because it is that ploy which convinces Caesar that she won't attempt suicide.  The worst cut, however, is the Clown.  Instead, Mardian brings her the asps, and all of the dialogue from that great scene is gone.  All Cleopatra says is "You bring me liberty."  But then the Soothsayer is suddenly there and he speaks some of the Clown's lines, but with a completely different tone.  And then he disappears, which is just stupid. Is he a magical being in this production?  Antony's body is there as Charmian and Iras dress Cleopatra.  Iras stabs herself - something not in the play.  Cleopatra doesn't take a second snake, just the one.  And when she says "O Antony," she actually reaches over to Antony's body.  Cleopatra lies down.  Most of the final lines are cut, including Caesar's line about how she pursued "conclusions infinite.Of easy ways to die."  (time: 148 minutes)

Related Films
- The Making Of Antony And Cleopatra  (2009) This short film is basically an interview with Fraser C. Heston (Charlton Heston's son), with some footage from the film, and some still photos. He talks about the production, about his father's love of Shakespeare, about the cast, about the score.  (time: 33 minutes)
- The Notorious Cleopatra  (1970) with Sonora, Johnny Rocco, Jay Edwards, Dixie Donovan, Mason Bakman; directed by A.P. Stootsberry.  This softcore film confuses Julius Caesar and Octavius, and somehow combines them into one person (at least until the end).  It begins with a slave auction for a hot nude chick. Marc Antony (Johnny Rocco) bids on her, but is outbid.  Caesar requests Marc Antony's precense to deliver a love message to Cleopatra. This production's Cleopatra (Sonora) is a dark-skinned beauty, who does a dance for Antony.  While he has his way with her, two of his men, Enobarbus and Demetrius, wait outside. Enobarbus (Mason Bakman) says, "Take note, I fear we shall see our lord, the pillar of the world, transformed into a strumpet's fool."  That of course is quite close to Philo's line at the beginning of the play, "Take but good note, and you shall see in him/The triple pillar of the world transform'd/Into a strumpet's fool."  Cleopatra tells Antony to stay with her in Egypt.  Enobarbus later tells Antony, "She is cunning past men's thoughts." In the play it is Antony who says, "She is cunning past man's thought" (Act I Scene ii). A messenger comes to tell Antony that his brother and wife have taken arms against Caesar. He then tells him that Fulvia is dead - not in battle, but in bed with Antony's brother.  Antony makes ready to go back to Rome.  We get the scene with Cleopatra in bed longing for Antony. Charmian (Dixie Donovan) tries to cheer her up by giving her a message, which of course leads to a love scene. Cleopatra decides to go to Rome in disguise to seek out Antony and destroy Caesar.  (But she says Julius Caesar, which makes no sense.)  Cleopatra then thinks there might be advantages to wedding (or at least bedding) Caesar, so she goes to him.  There is a weird shot of her shoving food in his mouth.  Antony tells Enobarbus that some of the senators are with him in opposing Caesar, and they will kill him tomorrow in the senate. Again, this film is clearly confused.  Antony tells Enobarbus to toss Cleopatra in the dungeon.  He does so, but Charmian rescues her by seducing the guard. Antony talks to Lepidus, Cassius and Brutus about Caesar, and the three of them kill him, Antony making the first stab.  And Caesar does say the line, "Et tu, Brute."  Then the others turn on Antony. He runs to Cleopatra and then asks to use her fleet to fight the Romans. Enobarbus has lines about how Antony shouldn't have met the Romans at sea, but on land.  Enobarbus then fucks Cleopatra, until Antony arrives and stabs him in the back.  He then stabs Cleopatra. Then a messenger comes in and says by order of Octavius Caesar Antony's to be brought back to Rome to stand trial for treason.  Antony instead stabs and kills himself.  And the film ends there.  So obviously quite different from the play, and quite different from historical records.  (time: 88 minutes)
- Cleopatra's Asp This short and stupid film is narrated. Antony and Cleopatra are in her castle, and they look out the window and see Roman soldiers (clearly footage from some other production). The narrator says, "What we see here is Roman soldiers coming down the escalator. They are coming to bury Antony, not to praise him" (a reference to Antony's line about Caesar in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar).  There is a silly Samuel Clemens reference in that scene too. Antony decides to leave.  The narrator says, "But he knows if the Romans catch him, they're going to cut Marc in twain."  But they're trapped. Cleopatra takes out as asp and offers it to Antony, but he pushes it away. So she applies it to her breast. But it doesn't take. She tries again, and dies. Antony then tries to take out his dagger. The Romans break in, but they don't find Antony.  And he's okay.

Miscellaneous Films
- The Hobart Shakespeareans  (2005) with Rafe Esquith; directed by Mel Stuart. This is an excellent documentary about a teacher at Hobart Elementary in Los Angeles who has his students perform works by Shakespeare.  His class puts on a performance of Hamlet, but the focus is not on the performance, but the process and the way Shakespeare affects the students.  Early on the teacher says it's a play about death, and we see a student read the "To be or not to be" speech.  Michael York and Ian McKellen each visit the classroom (Ian McKellen reads the "O what a rogue and peasant slave" speech, and it's incredible).  On the walls of the classroom are signs such as "The Play's The Thing," "As We Like It" and "Will Power."  The students also have T-shirts that say "Will Power."

Shakespeare Study: The Tragedy Of Macbeth (Part 1: Books)

This is the third year of my Shakespeare study. I read one play each month, and then watch as many film versions as I can get my hands on, and read as many books about the play as I'm able. June, 2012 was The Tragedy Of Macbeth. This blog entry has short blurbs about the books I read this month.  A separate blog entry will contain the film reviews.

Related Books:

- Macbeth edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom  -  This is a volume in the Major Literary Characters series, and includes critical essays by A.C. Bradley, Elizabeth Nielsen, Carolyn Asp and several others, as well as shorter bits by Samuel Johnson, Victor Hugo, Sigmund Freud and James L. Calderwood, among others.  Freud writes, regarding the connection between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, "namely, that the stirrings of fear which arise in Macbeth on the night of the murder, do not develop further in him, but in the Lady. It is he who has the hallucination of the dagger before the deed, but it is she who later succumbs to mental disorder; he, after the murder, hears the cry from the house: 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep...', and so 'Macbeth shall sleep no more', but we never hear that King Macbeth could not sleep, while we see that the Queen rises from her bed and betrays her guilt in somnambulistic wanderings" (page 34).  Michael Goldman writes, "What is particularly important is that Macbeth's imagination is a moral imagination. The images it registers most vividly have to do with the moral status of Macbeth's acts and desires. It is especially sensitive to evil, and it confronts Macbeth with vivid and terrible pictures that express the moral repulsiveness of what he is doing" (page 72).  Elizabeth Nielsen writes, "Macbeth ruled Scotland from around 1040 A.D. to 1058 A.D., when he was killed and at which time the law of tanistry, in effect from 843 A.D., ended. The practice of this law meant that no son of a king on the throne could succeed his father immediately; instead, the first ranking adult member of the nearest or junior branch of the family should, by election, succeed the enthroned king, acting, until his own succession, as military leader of all the king's forces (as Macbeth did in the play), and, in turn, that king's successor would be the first ranking adult member of the preceding senior branch of the family. In other words, the line of succession was not direct but alternating and elective between the branches of the 'blood royal.' Now, both Macbeth and the woman who became Lady Macbeth were of the royal family and had claim to the throne through this law" (pages 125-126).  Later in the same essay, she writes, "Macbeth pleads with Macduff to fight with someone else, even explaining the prophecy to Macduff in order to persuade Macduff to desist" (page 130).  Carolyn Asp writes, "When Macbeth appears after the murder she calls him 'my husband,' the only time in the play she addresses him by that familiar title that emphasizes the sexual bond between them. It connotes a certain desired reliance on his strength, indicating that she is not as independent as the stress of her role demands. The staccato rhythm of her speech preceding and just after her husband's entrance betrays an anxiety that not even the wine can mitigate. It is only when she realizes that her husband is losing control that she resumes the dominant role she would much rather he played" (page 204).

- Macbeth  by Richard Andersen; introduction by Joseph Sobran  -  This book is part of the Shakespeare Explained series aimed at children.  And as far as Shakespeare books for children, this one is pretty good.  It gives a bit of background on Shakespeare, then goes through the play, scene by scene, offering a description of each and then an analysis.  Andersen writes, "And why is Banquo planning to go riding with no destination mentioned on the day of the great banquet? Could he be thinking about following Macduff's lead in boycotting the feast and, at the same time, covering himself if he decides to show up after the party is over?" (page 62).  Later he writes, "As for those eight kings lined up 'to the crack of doom,' some of them carry the three balls and two scepters that make up part of the royal insignia of Great Britain. The realization of this prophecy is reinforced by the king who carries the mirror. He not only creates, through its reflection, an infinite number of descendants from Banquo, but he can also reflect in the mirror the image of James I sitting in the audience" (page 70).  And then, "And just to drive home the point of how little influence the witches have had on Macbeth's spiraling descent, Shakespeare has Macbeth commit an act that the sisters are not even aware of: the senseless murder of Macduff's family" (page 85).  Published in 2009.

- Shakespeare And Macbeth: The Story Behind The Play  by Stewart Ross; illustrated by Tony Karpinski and Victor Ambrus; foreword by Kenneth Branagh  -  This book, aimed at children, focuses on the court performance of Macbeth. It also discusses a few of the changes that Shakespeare made to the story from the Holinshed chronicles, and briefly describes The Globe.  Published in 1994.

- William Shakespeare's Macbeth  edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom  -  This volume in the Modern Critical Interpretations series includes critical essays by Harold C. Goddard, L.C. Knights, Maynard Mack Jr., Howard Felperin, Harry Levin and Robert N. Watson.  About the knocking scene, Harold C. Goddard writes, "At such performances of the play at least as I remember, the knocking is heard from the first as a clearly audible noise. This is an obvious mistake. What Macbeth hears is not Macduff and Lennox trying to awaken the Porter, but all the powers of hell and heaven knocking simultaneously at his heart. If the auditor is to feel it with Macbeth, he must hear it with him. His ear and heart, that is, must detect it before his mind. He must hear the sound in Macbeth's listening attitude, in the awe on his face, before the physical sound reaches his ear. He, like Macbeth, must be in doubt as to whether he has heard or only imagined" (pages 19-20).  He later writes, "Does Lady Macbeth faint, or only pretend to faint, following the discovery of the murder? The point has been much debateed. Everything she says or does in this scene is necessarily pretense. She is compelled by the situation to ape the symptoms of fear. But the acting by her body of an assumed fear is the surest way of opening a channel to the genuine fear she is trying to hide" (page 20).  Later in the same essay Goddard discusses the idea of Macbeth being the Third Murderer. One of the points he brings up is, "The Third Murderer's next speech is his longest. To the First Murderer's 'His horses go about,' he replies: 'Almost a mile; but he does usually -- /So all men do -- from hence to th' palace gate/Make it their walk.' Dashes, in place of the more usual commas, help bring out what is plainly a slip of the tongue on the Third Murderer's part. He has begun to reveal what in the circumstances is a suspicious familiarity with Banquo's habits, when, realizing his mistake, he hurriedly tries to cover it with his plainly parenthetical 'so all men do' an his consequently necessary substitution of 'their' for 'his.'" (page 25).  He also points out that "He is the first to recognize Banquo" (page 25) and "The Third Murderer is more perturbed than the others at the escape of Fleance" (page 25).  In relation to the Porter's scene (and specifically his line "I pray you remember the porter"), Howard Feperin writes, "That other play, which Wickham advances as Shakespeare's 'model for the particular form in which he chose to cast act 2, scene 3, of Macbeth, and possibly for the play as a whole,' is The Harrowing Of Hell in the medieval English mystery cycles...Between his crucifixion and resurrection, Christ comes to hell (represented as a castle on the medieval stage) and demands of Lucifer the release of the souls of the prophets and patriarchs. In all versions, the arrival of Christ is heralded by strange noises in the air and thunderous knocking at the castle gates. In the York and Towneley plays, the gate of hell has a porter appropriately named Rybald, a comic devil who breaks the news to Beelzebub of Christ's arrival and questions David and Christ himself as to his identity... the cyclic play of the Harrowing of Hell would have been easily evoked by the business of Macbeth, 2.3, in the minds of many in Shakespeare's audience who still remembered the porter. Moreover, the memory of the old play would strongly foreshadow the outcome of Macbeth as well, since Christ's entry into and deliverance of the castle of hell also looks forward to Macduff's second entry into Macbeth's castle and triumph over the demonic Macbeth at the end of the play" (pages 93-94).  About the end of the play, Howard Felperin writes, "Yet the scene is also an eerie and unsettling repetition of an earlier scene in the play. For Malcolm's language and gestures cannot help but recall those of Duncan after the victory over Cawdor and Macdonwald, a new era of freedom and love that proved only too fragile and temporary, anything but an apocalyptic triumph of good over evil" (page 105).  About Lady Macbeth, Robert N. Watson writes, "Her plea that the spirits 'unsex me,' according to a recent study, contains a specific request that her menstrual cycle be intermitted: 'Make thick my blood,/Stop up th' access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/Shake my fell purpose'" (page 154).  Published in 1987.

- Macbeth: A Guide  by Alistair McCallum  -  This is a volume in The Shakespeare Handbooks series. McCallum goes through the entire play, scene by scene, and also offers bits of other information here and there, as well as short passages on the play by other authors.  Regarding the Porter and the bit about "equivocation," McCallum offers this: "The Gunpowder Plot - the unsuccessful attempt to blow up King James I and Parliament, prevented at the last minute on November 5th, 1605 - was at the forefront of the public mind at the time of Macbeth. The religious activist on his way to Hell is almost certainly a topical reference to Father Garnet, an English Jesuit priest hanged in 1606 for complicity in the plot. At Father Garnet's trial, there had been lengthy argument about the permissibility of 'equivocation,' the use of ambiguous, misleading language in order to avoid outright lying. Most observers were outraged at the defendant's attempts to escape the charge of perjury by claiming the right to equivocate" (page 38).  And regarding the brief moment with the Doctor in the scene with Malcolm and Macduff, McCallum writes, "The 'King's Evil' was the name given to scrofula, a disfiguring disease of the lymph glands in the neck. The belief that the monarch's touch could cure it lasted from the reign of Edward the Confessor until well into the 18th Century. Many scholars believe that the brief episode mentioning King Edward's ability to heal the Evil was inserted specially, as an indirect compliment, for a performance of Macbeth given before King James I in 1606" (page 67).

- A Macbeth Production  by John Masefield  -  In this book, John Masefield offers advice to a hypothetical group of players on the staging of the play. Masefield is one of those who believes that Shakespeare's original text was much longer than the version we have now. He writes, "The text, as it came from him, must have been of a sublime excess, at least seven hundred lines longer than the play preserved to us" (page 8). I'm not sure where he came up with that figure, but he writes, "I suspect that a wonderful scene has gone from the beginning of Act III; to mark the division made by the murder between Macbeth and his Wife, each being ruined by it so differently. One can speculate upon its nature; and upon the reasons for its cutting. Burbage may not have liked it, as being a little too like madness. The appearance of the third murderer to deal with Banquo is a little odd. Then, beyond all doubt, a scene of Macduff has gone. The turning of Macduff against Macbeth is of the utmost importance to the play. Holinshed is clear upon the point; Shakespeare, who is usually sunlight upon his points, is not clear here" (page 16).  Masefield also omits Act III Scene v from this hypothetical production because it is, as he argues, "not by Shakespeare" (page 54).  Masefield makes some interesting points (though adds commas when they are not needed).  Such as, regarding the scene following Duncan's murder, "When they enter the scene, there are shall we say, from three to seven principal followers of Duncan on the stage. Each one of these knows, that Malcolm was named by Duncan, in Act One, Scene Four, as his heir. Not one of them, not even the loyal Banquo, makes any attempt whatsoever to hail him as King, now that Duncan is dead" (page 46). Regarding Macduff and Lady Macduff, he writes, "I do not doubt that in the full draft of the play, he debated with his wife the policy of going and had her full approval. Her outcry against him to Rosse, in the beginning of this scene, is surely to divert suspicion form herself. She knows, very well, the secret, bloody treachery of Macbeth; she knows that spies are everywhere and that Rosse may be one" (pages 56-57). Written in the forties, this book is clearly colored by World War II, as shown by the general tone, but also often in direct mention. For example, "You have lived through a time of atrocious, wholesale slaughterings, when a few criminal lunatics have made their once respected nations like themselves" (page 46).  And, "As your audience, like yourselves, will know something of war, the movements in these scenes must be soldierly" (page 60). Published in 1946.

- There Is Nothing Like A Thane: The Lighter Side Of Macbeth  Compiled and Illustrated by Clive Francis  -  This is a collection of anecdotes about various productions of Macbeth. Early in the book is mentioned the probable first performance, on August 7th, 1606 in Hampton Court, where "The evening started badly anyway when Hal Berridge, the boy playing Lady Macbeth, was taken ill and suddenly died backstage - according to James Aubrey Shakespeare had no choice but to take over the part himself. Thus the curse of Macbeth was born, and with it a whole portfolio of theatrical superstitions, many of which are sitll rigidly obeyed to this very day" (page 8).  Is this true? I've never heard that.  Published in 2001.

- Shakespeare In Performance: Macbeth  by Bernice W. Kliman  -  This book focuses on a few specific performances of Macbeth, both on stage and on screen. In the first chapter, Kliman writes, "Aside from familiarity with the actors, Shakespeare's audience would have had another advantage over modern audiences. At least some among them would have been aware, as few audiences can have been since, of the irony of Macbeth's fear of Banquo's progeny...Those familiar with broadsides of the Stuart Genealogy or with Holinshed's Chronicles would have known that many generations would pass before a descendant of Banquo (Robert Stuart, grandson of King Robert Bruce) was elected to the throne of Scotland in 1371... The audience's knowledge wuld have made ridiculous Macbeth's anxiety about Banquo's heirs who, it seems he imagines, will push him off the throne. The witches do not prophesy a fruitless crown for Macbeth; he simply assumes so" (page 10).  In the chapter on Trevor Nunn's production, Kliman writes, "In the scene of the revelation of Duncan's murder, Shakespeare has left directors with an interpretive crux about Malcolm's and Donalbain's decision to run away (II.iii.121). Unless the thanes immediately treat them with suspicion, their departure is strange. The sole clue that Shakespeare provides is that no one speaks anything comforting and no one hails Malcolm as king, though he had been named heir. Instead, the men are going to convene in the hall as if an election is to take place" (page 108).

- The Tragedy Of Macbeth Part II: The Seed Of Banquo  by Noah Lukeman  -  This is a serious attempt at a sequel to Shakespeare's play, not a parody or anything like that.  It takes place ten years after the events in Macbeth. The child that is hinted at by Lady Macbeth in Macbeth lives and is a grown woman, having never known her parents. Malcolm falls for her, and decides to marry her.  He says she'll be called "Lady Malcolm."  But isn't Malcolm his first name?  Syna, Seyton's daughter, plays a Lady Macbeth-type role, even speaking her lines. She says, "Never shall sun that morrow see!" (page 51), directly quoting Lady Macbeth from Act I Scene v. This sequel contains many direct references to lines from Macbeth.  The Nurse (yes, there is a nurse) says, "I am yet but young in deed" (page 66), echoing Macbeth's "We are yet but young in deed" from Act III Scene iv.  Lukeman even has the witches say, "By the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes," but they say it to Malcolm, and it's their last line of the scene.  And the scene in fact ends one line later, so it doesn't really make any sense.  Lukeman has the Porter make an appearance, and even the same Doctor.  The Doctor says, "And I, anywhere but here. Farewell, Dunsinane. Your walls I pray to never see again."  Ten years earlier he said, "Were I from Dunsinane away and clear/Profit again should hardly draw me here" (Act V Scene iii). So he's always deciding to leave, I guess.  This play is an interesting attempt and exercise, but is not much more.  Published in 2008.

- Twentieth Century Interpretations Of Macbeth  edited by Terence Hawkes  -  This book is a collection of critical essays on Macbeth. This volume seems to have a lot of critics disputing the work of previous critics, rather than offering their own original thoughts. But still, there are some interesting points.  J. Middleton Murry writes regarding the line "screw your courage to the sticking place," "When you turn the little wooden screw on a violin - in those days it was a lute or viol - to tighten a string, your fingers feel delicately for 'the sticking-place,' where the screw is tight and the string is taut; and you feel for it with a faint and subtle apprehension lest the string should snap. That is Shakespeare's figure and that is what Lady Macbeth has been doing to her soul, and by her example to her husband's" (page 24). Eugene M. Waith writes,, about Lady Macbeth's death, "Here we are confronted by the supreme irony that when she dies, tortured by the conscience she despised, Macbeth is so perfectly hardened, so completely the soldier that she wanted him to be, that he is neither frightened by the 'night-shriek' nor greatly moved by the news of her death" (page 66). R.S. Crane writes, "so that he acts in the end as the Macbeth whose praises we have heard in the second scene of the play. And I would suggest that the cathartic effect of these words and acts is reinforced indirectly, in the representation, by the analogy we can hardly help drawing between his conduct now and the earlier conduct of young Siward, for of Macbeth too it can be said that 'he parted well and paid his score'; the implication of this analogy is surely one of the functions, though not the only one, which the lines about Siward are intended to serve" (page 73). By the way, this may be the worst first sentence for a critical essay ever: "I propose to attempt to illustrate the view that Macbeth may be understood as 'the imitation of an action,' in approximately Aristotle's sense of this phrase" (page 67). It is certainly the weakest, with "propose," "attempt," "the view," "may," "approximately."  Geez, Francis Fergusson, make a bloody statement. Published in 1977.

- Macbeth Did It  by John Patrick  -  This play is a comedy about a community theatre putting on a production of Macbeth. It takes us through auditions, casting, rehearsals, and right up to opening night, focusing on all the problems of putting on community theatre.  There are also a couple of brief references to Hamlet.  The character Jill (the assistant to the theatre director) quotes from that play: "To be or not to be. That is the question."  And then again at the end: "Goodnight, Sweet Prince."  Published in 1972.

- Macbeth  by Ken Hoshine  -  This is a volume in the No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels series.  The illustrations are in black and white, and are pretty good. The problem is that the text is often changed from what Shakespeare wrote, presumably to make it easier for idiots to understand. But what that means is that most of the poetry is removed, and at times that the meaning is lost or changed.  Lines that could have several interpretations end up with only one if the writer rewrites the line.  For example in Act I Scene iii, after being named Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth says, "The greatest is behind."  In this graphic novel, Macbeth says, "And the best part of their prediction is still to come."  In Act I Scene v, Lady Macbeth's "unsex me" is changed to "take away my womanhood."  In Act I Scene vii, Lady Macbeth's line "But screw your courage to the sticking-place,/And we'll not fail" becomes "Just lock your courage to your crossbow, and we can't fail" (page 41), a very strange choice.  Rather than making the choice between "scotched" and "scorched," the line becomes "We have slashed the snake, not killed it" (page 90).  And Macbeth's most famous speech, in this book, becomes, "She shouldn't have died so soon - I should have heard this news some other time! Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... Our days creep by until the end of time, lighting the way to death like candles leading us to bed. Out, out, brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor actor that struts and worries during his hour on stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of noise and clamor but devoid of meaning" (page 178). Why the fuck would you change those lines?  And besides, choosing one interpretation of those first lines precludes the readers from interpreting it on their own.  Published in 2008.

- The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production Of Macbeth  by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr.  -  This play is a comedy about an amateur production of Macbeth. It begins just before the play is about to start, and ends just after it, so basically the entire play is people putting on Macbeth. Thus, we get a large amount of the text. But because of odd cuts, it's difficult to see how much the audience is intended to be able to follow the action of the play.  And how familiar with Macbeth does this assume its audience to be? For example after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says, "This is a sorry sight." Lady Macbeth takes his hand, and then says, "My hands are of your colour." So she gets blood simply from touching his hands, rather than the whole business with the daggers. But is the audience supposed to be aware of the cut?  And should the audience be paying more attention to the silliness in the wings, or to the action of Macbeth? You would think the former, except that they go through the entirety of Macbeth. However, the end of Macbeth comes abruptly, the last line from it being "Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" So after seeing so much of Macbeth, to not get the end seems frustrating. The comedy is the usual stuff of missed cues and the like that comes with the territory of amateur productions. No new ground is covered, and it doesn't really lead anywhere.  Published in 1984.

- Nightshriek  by Trisha Ward  -  This is a musical play based on Macbeth, and actually uses a surprising amount of the actual text.  The first scene combines the first two witch scenes, with lines directly from Shakespeare's play.  In this version, Macbeth requests Duncan's presence in his home.  In this adaptation, it's really entirely Lady Macbeth's idea to kill Duncan - Macbeth fights her on it repeatedly.  The dagger appears after Macbeth has killed Duncan, which doesn't really make sense. Lady Macbeth's line, "What, in our house?" is changed to "What, in this place?" - a weaker line. The Murderer does not come to tell Macbeth the outcome, that Banquo is dead, but Fleance escaped. So that makes it seem that Banquo's Ghost is real, since Macbeth doesn't know for sure that he's dead. There's a scene where Macduff tells his wife he has to leave, and Lady Macduff even gets a song (and later a second song with her son).  Oddly, the famous line is changed to "By the pricking of my thumbs something evil this way comes." Why change that one word?  Also odd is that this adaptation includes a reference to Hitler (Macduff sings, "He is like a mini-Hiter"). The sleepwalking scene leads to Lady Macbeth's song, at the end of which she dies. Macbeth's famous "tomorrow" speech is left completely intact, which is great. By the way, the play's title comes from a speech just a bit before the "tomorrow" speech: "The time has been, my senses would have cool'd/To hear a night-shriek" (Act V Scene v). However, that speech is not included in this musical. Published in 1988.

Shakespeare Study: The Tragedy Of Macbeth (Part 2: Films and Television Programs)

This is the third year of my Shakespeare study. I read one play each month, and then watch as many film versions as I can get my hands on, and read as many books about the play as I'm able. June, 2012 was The Tragedy Of Macbeth. This blog entry has reviews of the film versions, as well as a list of some films and television programs that contains references to Macbeth.

Blurbs about the books that I read about Macbeth are in a separate blog entry.

Film Versions:

- Macbeth (1983) with Nicol Williamson, Jane Lapotaire, Ian Hogg, Tony Doyle, Mark Dignam; directed by Jack Gold.  This painfully bad film version suffers the most from its cast.  Nicol Williamson as Macbeth and Jane Lapotaire as Lady Macbeth are particularly horrendous.  You remember in school when you were taught iambic pentameter, and the teacher made you read it like da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum?  And then it took a while to realize that while you keep the rhythm, you never actually speak the lines in such a pointed manner.  Well, someone should have told Nicol Williamson that.  There is a scene where he actually says the lines like da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.  It's ridiculous.  You can clap along to it if you'd like. He does it three separate times. As bad as his performance is, Jane Lapotaire's is worse.  When we first meet Lady Macbeth, she is reading the letter from her husband.  Jane Lapotaire's reading is so odd; it's like she has it partly memorized, though it's a letter she's just received.  Also, her breathy delivery becomes annoying very quickly.  And please tell Jane Lapotaire that "unsex me" does not mean "fuck me."  She lies on the bed on her back with her legs open on that line, taking a submissive pose, when really the line means that she wants to assume strength. Bitch, if you don't know what a word means, look it up. She is terrible. Macbeth's aside "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor/The greatest is behind" is done as voice over (which you would think would set a pattern, but no).  Macbeth faces us for the "dagger" speech, which places the phantom dagger in our hands, basically - an odd choice.  The bit where Lady Macbeth is pulling (and then pushing) Macbeth to get him to move after they hear the knocking is so laughable, you have to see it to believe it. It's Macbeth, the comedy. (And then she re-enacts that silliness during the sleepwalking scene - oh boy.) Macbeth's delivery of "To be thus is nothing" is so over the top, I burst out laughing. But it's not nearly as funny as the abrupt end of his speech when interrupted.  In this version, the third murderer murders the first and second after their botched attempt to murder Fleance, something that Shakespeare did not write (in fact, in the next scene it's supposed to be the first murderer that talks with Macbeth).  In this version, Banquo's Ghost does not appear, at least not to us. We see an empty chair, not what Macbeth sees (though Shakespeare fully intended us to see Banquo in that scene, as shown by the stage direction "Enter the Ghost of Banquo").  Heccat is cut from Act IV Scene i.  The Apparitions from that scene do not appear; instead they are simply voices that we hear while forced to watch a closeup of Macbeth trying to act. There are some good things in this production.  Not every performance is awful.  For example, Ian Hogg is good as Banquo, and John Woodnutt is good as Doctor. And the Witches are pretty good. The deaths of Lady Macduff and her son are done well. There are some nice shots. I like the shot of the portcullis coming down; it's a nice image. And there are some nice camera moves.  We don't see Macbeth's death.  And what's with the weird cliffhanger ending? Geez. (time: 148 minutes)

- The Tragedy Of Macbeth (1971) with Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler, Diane Fletcher, Ian Hogg; directed by Roman Polanksi.  This version of Macbeth is pretty wild, and suffers only from abundant use of voice over. In the opening scene, the three witches bury a noose and a severed hand with a dagger in the sand at a beach.  One of the witches is younger, which is cool.  There are sounds of battle over the opening credit sequence.  Act I Scene iii begins with Macbeth's line "So foul and fair a day I have not seen," thus cutting the witches' lines at the beginning.  One of the witches flashes Macbeth.  Macbeth's aside, "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor;/The greatest is behind" is done as voice over, as is his next aside, "This supernatural soliciting/Cannot be ill, cannot be good..."  We see the execution of Cawdor right before Malcolm's line, "Nothing in his life became him/Like the leaving of it."  After Lady Macbeth reads the letter, her lines are done as voice over. After that, we go back to Scene iv for the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo. We see Macbeth's household preparing for Duncan's arrival. Lady Macbeth's speech that starts "The raven himself is hoarse" is moved to just before Duncan's arrival, and is done as voice over as she watches his approach.  (As I said, there is so much voice over in this film.)  During the feast, Macbeth does his "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well/It were done quickly" speech as voice over as he's seated next to the king, up through "We'd jump the life to come." He continues it later, away from the table, but still most of it as voice voer.  Lady Macbeth's lines about dashing the brains out of the infant are surprisingly cut.  Macbeth's "Bring forth men-children only" is oddly done as voice over, while Lady Macbeth dances with the king.
Fleance is quite young in this production. After Macbeth asks, "Is this a dagger which I see before me," we see the dagger. Its point is embedded in a physical object, not in the air. But then it vanishes, and reappears in the air, and leads Macbeth a few steps.  In this production, we see the murder of Duncan, something performed off stage in the play.  Macbeth hesitates, and Duncan wakes.  And that's when he does the deed.  We see the grooms wake, and find themselves covered in blood, confused.
In Act III Scene i, Banquo's speech is done as voice over while Macbeth is being made king. After Banquo's death, there is a shot of bear-baiting (presumably so we'll understand the reference later). The first and second murderers are dispatched after the first gives Macbeth the news of Banquo's death and Fleance's escape.  The Ghost of Banquo is pretty cool, especially the momet he's first revealed.  Act III Scene v is cut.  Act III Scene vi is cut.
Act IV Scene i begins with "By the pricking of my thumbs/Something wicked this way comes." There are many witches this time, all naked.  After Macbeth's entrance they all chant the famous lines that should have started the scene ("Double, double, toil and trouble").  It is seriously creepy.  The death of Lady Macduff's son is done fairly well. And we see others slain, as Lady Macduff sees them.
It goes right from that to Act V Scene i. Lady Macbeth is naked during her sleepwalking scene. The film then goes back to Act IV Scene iii, beginning with "our country sinks beneath the yoke." This scene then leads to Act V Scene ii.  Then back again to Act V Scene iii, beginning with the entrance of the servant.  Macbeth's "I have liv'd long enough" speech is done as voice over.  Lady Macbeth takes out the letter and reads it again. That leads to Act V Scene v ("Hang out our banners"). The beginning and end of Macbeth's famous speech is spoken alound, but from "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" through "the way to dusty death" is done as voice over. Macbeth's line "But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd/With blood of thine already" is moved a bit later - he is about to kill Macduff, but says that line and stops.  There is a short scene at the witches' lair tacked onto the end for some reason.  (time: 140 minutes)

- Macbeth  (1979) with Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, John Brown, Ian McDiarmid, Roger Rees, John Woodvine; directed by Trevor Nunn.  This production boasts an obviously excellent cast.  In fact, the only somewhat weak performance is that by Griffith Jones as Duncan.  At the opening, the entire cast is in a large circle.  The witches the move to the center.  After that, there isn't really a set.  There is no scenery.  So the focus is on the performances, on the language. Apart from the actors, most everything is in darkness.  Macbeth's aside, "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor/The greatest is behind" is spoken to us, directly to the camera.  Lady Macbeth (Judi Dench) kneels on the floor when calling on the spirits.
In Act II Scene i, Macbeth puts his hand on Fleance's shoulder in a seemingly friendly gesture. Macbeth closes his eyes during the "dagger" speech just before "I see thee still."  An interesting choice.  Then he opens them againbefore "There's no such thing."  The Porter (Ian McDiarmid) does his routine directly to us.
Act III Scene i begins with Macbeth being crowned. After Macbeth dismisses everyone, Lady Macbeth approaches him lovingly, and he directs his line, "While then, God be with you" to her, effectively dismissing her too.  We don't see Banquo's Ghost; rather, the camera is between two guests, where Banquo would be, and Macbeth looks toward the camera.  Act III Scene v is cut.
In Act IV the "double, double" bit is sung almost like a holy song in a church - interesting.  The apparitions don't appear.  Instead, the witches themselves say the lines of the apparitions, which removes a great deal of the supernatural element.  Macbeth is blindfolded, and so we don't see the lines of kings.  They're simply in his imagination.  Lady Macduff's son says, "As birds do, mother," and then goes right to "My father is not dead, for all your saying."  Thus, several lines are cut - all the lines about birds.  So it's odd that the first line, "As birds do," is left in.  Lady Macduff's lines, "But I remember now..." are delivered directly to the camera.  The Doctor is cut from Scene iii.
In Act V, Lady Macbeth is heartbreaking during the sleepwalking scene.  Oddly, the bit with Macbeth and Young Siward is cut.  So we don't see Macbeth acting fearlessly.  It's the only really bad cut in this production. Macduff enters with a bloody dagger, but not with Macbeth's head, as indicated in the text.  (time: 146 minutes)

- Macbeth  (2010) with Patrick Stewart, Kate Fleetwood, Michael Feast, Martin Turner, Polly Frame; driected by Rupert Goold.  This is a truly interesting production with some excellent performance, especially by Patrick Stewart as Macbeth. It is a more modern setting. It opens with old war footage mixed in with shots of a hospital, and it's at the hospital that we get the first line: "What bloody man is that?" (which is from Scene ii).  It's an underground hospital, and the sounds of war are audible.  There is some deliberately shaky camera work.  The Captain speaks while nurses work on him.  The Captain then flatlines, and the nurses are revealed to be the three witches, and they then do the first scene.  It's pretty awesome. Then back to Scene ii, with the entrance of Ross and Angus. It's an underground bunker, and is wonderfully creepy.  Macbeth and Banquo go down in an elevator, where they discover the witches, still dressed as nurses.  Macbeth's lines "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor/The greatest is behind" are spoken to Banquo, not as an aside.  We see Cawdor executed. He is seated on a chair with a bag over his head, and his execution is quick - a bullet to the head.  So the next lines about "nothing in his life became him/Like the leaving of it" ring as lies, which is an interesting choice.  Lady Macbeth, in Scene v, is in an elevator. Her reading of the letter is done as voice over. When she begins to speak aloud, she seems very much the villain.  Macbeth's lair is introduced as another bunker, not a castle (though later it is shown to be a castle)  Scene vi takes place in the kitchen. Duncan enters while food is being prepared and still says, "This castle hath a pleasant seat." Banquo's lines, however, are cut.  Three of the kitchen workers are revealed to be the witches, so they are much more of a presence in this production.
An exterior night shot begins Act II - a surprise, but merely an establishing shot.  The first scene is in the kitchen.  Macbeth holds the diamond out in front of him, which then gives way to the "dagger" speech. He faces the camera during the sppech.  There is another exterior shot when the Porter is speaking - the same shot, but with a car driving away. And then an interior of the car, with Macduff and his family (which is odd, because isn't he outside knocking?).  It's a strange choice to include his family. Lennox is not there, so Lady Macduff has his lines. It works.  Actually, her son has one of the lines Lennox should speak.  But then Lennox enters, in time to look in on Duncan.  In this production, Lady Macbeth's faint is clearly a tactic, not a true faint.  Scene iv is actually outside.
At the beginning of Act III, Banquo's speech is done in a room with a large banner depicting Macbeth.  Then we have an exterior shot for the next part of the scene. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are on horseback. Macbeth delivers his line "While then, God be with you" directly to Lady Macbeth, dismissing her.  He says "are called all by the name of dogs" rather than "are clipt all."  In Scene ii, Lady Macbeth now seems frightened of Macbeth.  The murder of Banquo is done on a train, which doesn't really make any sense, as Banquo said he was going riding.  The Third Murderer shoots the Second. Banquo then gets up, now a Ghost.  The three witches serve at the banquet. When Lennox indicates the empty chair, Macbeth actually sits on it. And then Banquo's Ghost enters from behind Lady Macbeth and steps up onto the table.  There is an odd dance in this scene.  Act III Scene v is cut.  Scene vi is weird. The Lord is instead Ross, and he is seated on a chair in a hallway (as Cawdor was), as if about to be interrogated. Lennox punches him in the face, then aims a gun at him when asking "Sir, can you tell/Where he bestows himself?"  A strange interpretation of this speech, which seems to me full of sarcasm and odd humor.  This production ends the scene with Ross saying, "Lives in the English court." Lennox then rushes off, leaving Ross alone.
In Act IV, the witches do their scene almost like a rap song. They're once again in nurse's outfits and are sort of dancing around three bodies. But, oddly, there is no cauldron bubbling. As for the apparitions, they are the bodies on the tables, but it is the witches who speak for them. But the second isn't a child. And the first and third never are properly shown, so we don't get the hint of the child carrying a tree.  But we do get the line of eight kings, the children. And the eighth does hold the mirror, and the Ghost of Banquo follows.  All of Lady Macduff's children are present, so the girl is given the line, "Nay, what will you do for a husband?" (the actual line is "Nay, how will you do for a husband?").  Macbeth is there along with the murderers, but once they enter, the rest of the dialogue is cut, and we don't see the son killed.  Oddly, we do get a shot of Ross discovering the bodies (this gives his line "They were well at peace when I did leave 'em" a different connotation). The Doctor is cut from Scene iii.
In Act V, the sleepwalking scene is really good.  The role of Seyton is one of the weaker performances; his reading of "The queen, my lord, is dead" is awful. The Messenger starts his line "The wood began to move," but Macbeth actually says it in this production.  Young Siward has a knife with which he threatens Macbeth, but Macbeth simply shoots him rather than fight him.  Macbeth shoots Macduff, but doesn't kill him. He goes to shoot him again on "Yet I will try the last," but his gun is empty.. So they fight with daggers. Macbeth gets the best of Macduff, and is about to kill him, when the three witches enter. Macbeth sees them and says "Enough." And we hear Macduff kill Macbeth as the witches exit. Macduff does carry Macbeth's head, which is odd considering they didn't fight with swords but with small blades - it must have taken him a while to cut it off.  (time: 159 minutes)

- Shakespeare The Animated Tales: Macbeth (1992) with Brian Cox, Zoe Wanamaker, Patrick Brennan, Clive Merrison; screenplay by Leon Garfield; directed by Nikolai Serebryakov.  Voice over begins this production, giving a bit of brief back story. The witches are great. Act I Scene i is before the the title card. Then we see the battle scene, which goes right into Duncan's speech in which the Thane of Cawdor is sentenced to die. Scene iii begins with Banquo's lines. Macbeth's aside, "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor/The greatest is behind" is done as voice over, as is "The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap..."  When Lady Macbeth reads the letter, we actually hear Macbeth's voice in voice over. Her other lines are done as voice over. While Duncan eats, Lady Macbeth does her "unsex me" speech. And Macbeth does his speech, but the beginning is cut. It starts with, "He's here in double trust," and is done as voice over.
Act II begins with Macbeth's line to the servant, thus cutting Banquo and Fleance. We see the dagger during the "dagger" speech. It is like a shaft of light aimed down. The Porter is cut. Cut are the lines in which Macbeth says he killed the two grooms. Scene iv is cut.
Act III begins with Macbeth being crowned. Scene iii is cut, but we see it during Scene iv when the Murderer gives his news. The second time Macbeth sees Banquo's Ghost, it is in his wine glass. Scenes v and vi are cut.
Macbeth's line "I am in blood/Stepp'd in so far..." from Act III Scene iv is given at the beginning of Act IV as he goes to the witches.  The apparitions are basically as described in the text, rising from the cauldron. The line of kings, however, is cut. The murders of Lady Macduff and her children are shown briefly while we hear Macbeth give the order. Most of Scene iii is cut, the scene beginning with Macduff's line "My children too?"
Act V begins with Lady Macbeth's line "Out, damned spot!" The Doctor and Gentlewoman are cut, so it's not completely clear that Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking. Scene ii is cut. So is Scene iii.  The "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech is done as voice over, and ends with the line, "Out, out, brief candle" (thus cutting the most famous lines of the play).  Scene vi is cut.  The fight between Macbeth and Young Siward is cut. Oddly, the line "Out, out, brief candle" is spoken again as Macbeth's head is lifted on the sword. Then, also oddly, the production ends with the Old Man saying, "God's benison go with you, and with those/That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!" (from Act II Scene iv).  (time: 26 minutes)

- Throne Of Blood  (1957) with Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Akira Kubo; directed by Akira Kurosawa.  This adaptation obviously moves the location from Scotland.  It begins with messengers giving the king news of the battle, first dire, then good.  As Washizu (the Macbeth character in this production) and Miki (Banquo) make their way to the castle, they become lost and find a hovel. Inside is one witch (rather than three), singing. She tells Washizu he's Lord of the North Garrison, and one day will be Sovereign, and that Miki is commander of First Fortress and that one day his son will rule.  She then disappears.  When they arrives at the castle, Washizu is made Lord of the North Garrison and Miki is made commander of First Fortress.  In this version, when Washizu has decided not to pursue his evil dream, Asaji (the Lady Macbeth character) points out that Miki could tell the Lord of the spirit's prophecy. She warns him that the Great Lord will saly him if that happens.  Suddenly the Great Lord and his men approach. He will stay there in order to attack Inui, who betrayed him during the battle.  Asaji doesn't seem at all loving in this production. She is played bery still, and often looking forward, rather than connecting with Washizu (though she does face him at times).  She says she'll get the sake (with sleeping potion) to give the guards, and Washizu is silent - an excellent moment, in which he agrees through his silence. Asaji even hands Washizu the weapon with which to kill the Great Lord.  Then the camera remains on her while he is gone (another incredible moment). Suddenly she seems frighted, and Washizu returns with the spear. Without any dialogue, Asaji takes the spear and puts it by the guards. She then returns and washes her hands. It is Asaji who shouts that there are intruders. We then see Washizu stab the guard, while saying "Traitor."  The Prince immediately suspects Washizu (which is not in the play) and that is why he decides to flee, along with Noriyasu. They go to the castle where Miki is in charage and announce at the gate that Washizu is responsible for the Great Lord's death. But arrows come at them from within the castle, forcing them to leave.  Miki fears Inui will attack the castle. Interestingly, it is Asaji who says the line about having not bloodied her hands for the sake of Miki's son. Another twist is that Asaji announces she is pregnant. Washizu had decided to name Miki's son as heir at the banquet.  Then Miki and his son fail to show up.  Suddenly Miki's Ghost appears, and Washizu reacts angrily. Asaji has to speak on his behalf to the other guests. Then Miki is gone again. His Ghost returns, scaring Washizu, who says, "I'll slay you yet again." In the play, Lady Macbeth stops him before he can reveal anything so directly damning.  Oddly, it is after everyone leaes that the murderer enters with Miki's head and tells them that his son was wounded but escaped.  But we don't have the scene where the murderers are assigned the task, nor the scene when they attempt to carry it out.  Washizu kills the murderer.  Rumors abound in the castle that Miki's son has gone to Inui, and that Noriyasu and the Prince have done likewise.  Asaji's child is stillborn. Washizu rides forth to find the spirit again. The spirit tells him, "Until the very trees of Spider's Web Forest rise against Spider's Web Castle, you will not be defeated in battle."  But, unlike the play, he does not name the person that he has to fear, and there is nothing about no one born of woman.  We don't see Asaji sleepwalking, but we do have a scene in which Asaji scrubs her hands in a basin as if in a trance, and Washizu actually witnesses her do it.  And then of course the trees arrive. Washizu's own men shoot arrows at him inside the castle.  The shots of the arrows hitting around him is incredible.  And finally one goes through his neck. So it's a very different ending from the play (and he doesn't really die in battle).  There is no explanation of the trees being used to hide their numbers as there is in the play. And here it seems that they're to be used more as cover from arrows.  After Washizu is dead, the men with the trees are still advancing, not knowing of his death. And the film ends there.  So Asaji never kills herself.  (time: 109 minutes)

- Teenage Gang Debs  (1966) with Diane Conti, Joey Naudic, John Batis, Linda Gale, Sandra Kane; screenplay by Hy Cahl; directed by Sande N. Johnsen.  This incredibly loose adaptation stars Diane Conti as Terry (the Lady Macbeth character), a teenager who is new to town and wants to join a gang called The Rebels.  Nino introduces her to the gang, but when she learns that Johnny (the Duncan character) is the gang's leader, she attaches herself to him, despite the fact that Johnny already has a girl, Angel. So Terry and Angel have a cat fight, and Terry wins, so she becomes Johnny's girl.  They go have sex (under a handmade sign, "Rebels Forever") while everyone else dances.  Johnny wants to carve his initials on her shoulder, but she's not into it, so she flirts with Nino (the Macbeth character).  But he's having none of it. So she calls him a chicken (just as Lady Macbeth accused Macbeth of cowardice).  She tells him she wants him instead of Johnny because of the whole cutting thing. To prove he's not a chicken, Nino fucks Terry in Johnny's room, knowing he'll then have to fight Johnny.  Nino tells Johnny he's taking over the rebels. Terry hands Nino the knife that he'll use to kill Johnny (in the lamest knife fight ever in a film).  Terry also convinces Nino to let the other guys take turns with Annie, Nino's old girl.  Terry then urges Nino to attack other gangs so he'll be the leader of the toughest gang in the city. When a guy wants to quit the gang to get married, Terry convinces Nino to kill him before he can go to the cops (she tells Nino that he knows too much).  Because of Terry's influence, Nino becomes a tyrant, saying that no one can quit the gang (in the past, quitting was no big deal). Unlike Lady Macbeth, Terry never has trouble sleeping.  Finally the other girls turn on Terry and cut her up.  (time: 72 minutes)

- Macbeth  (2005) with James McAvoy, Keeley Hawes, Joseph Millson, Vincent Regan, Richard Armitage; directed by Mark Brozel. This adaptation of Macbeth, part of the Shakespeare Retold series, sets the play in a modern restaurant.  Joe Macbeth (James McAvoy) is the main chef in a restaurant owned and run by Duncan (Vincent Regan).  The film begins with the three witches, this time three bin men in a dump truck.  Ella Macbeth (Keeley Hawes) is the restaurant's hostess, and when we're introduced to her, she is measuring the space between silverware, making sure everything is precise.  In the kitchen, there is a bit of play regarding the title of the play, as those in the kitchen know not to say a certain chef's name, but to refer to him as "the Scottish chef."  Joe and Billy (the Banquo character) run into the three bin men in the alley. They tell them that the restaurant will get three stars, and that Joe will get everything, which then Billy's son will get. Immediately, it is revealed that the restaurant did get the rare three-star rating. Duncan owns the restaurant, and his son Malcolm will inherit it someday, but he needs Joe to train Malcolm. Duncan jokes with Joe that if he got run over by a bus tonight, Malcolm wouldn't be ready, and Joe would get the restaurant - a bit contrived, but okay.  Ella reminds Joe of how much work he's put into the restaurant, but that Joe will get all the glory.  She says, "You're too full of the milk of human kindness, Joe."  (This film uses the milk image quite a bit.)  As in the play, we don't see Duncan's murder. Joe tells Ella he can't go back in the room, so she takes the knife and does it herself (this is a second knife, one that they intend to be found).  We get a shot of the two of them washing their hands, and Ella says, "A little water, and we're clean."  Joe doesn't sleep that night.  There is no Porter, so it's Joe that goes to see who it is in the morning. Peter Macduff is one of the waiters, and he is there to see Duncan, because Duncan wants to go over the wine list before his press interviews.  This film oddly has a reference to The Merchant Of Venice.  A health inspector arrives unexpectedly and says he doesn't appreciate it when someone makes him "work for my pound of flesh, if you'll excuse my Shakespeare."  It's weird for him to actually say "Shakespeare," because if the people of this film's world are aware of Shakespeare, then wouldn't they be aware of Macbeth?  It's a detail that really doesn't work, and takes you out of the film for a bit. There is a scene in which Ella sings Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" as she applies makeup. An interesting choice, if the story of that song is true - that Janis said she had to record it that night because there was going to be no tomorrow.  Joe tells Ella he imagines terrible things. Ella says, "What's done is done."  Joe Macbeth waits all night for the three bin men to return. When they do, they tell him to watch out for Macduff. And in their speech they utter phrases from the play such as "the sound and the fury" (actually in the play it's just "sound and fury") and "all our yesterdays." Joe asks about Billy, then about himself.  One tells him, "Pigs will fly before anything happens to you." Another says, "Pigs will drop on your head before you're harmed." Billy tells Joe he's expecting another baby, which of course gets Joe to thinking about the bin men's prediction. Billy and his son Freddy go cycling together in the morning. Interestingly, Joe asks Billy, "Do you ever think about those bin men?" And Billy responds, "No. Never."  Which is a lie. And it's the reverse of the play.  Joe hires a guy to kill Billy and Freddy, but of course the murderer doesn't kill the boy. The banquet scene is done at breakfast. Billy hasn't arrived. At first, instead of his ghost, Joe gets a video message from Billy on his phone, which freaks him out. Ella tells everyone that Joe hasn't been himself. And then Billy's Ghost does appear. Joe begins to lose it, making mistakes in the kitchen, and then attacking a customer who complained. We see Peter Macduff at home briefly, with his wife and two daughters. He then goes to Malcolm with his suspicions about Joe. Joe tells the murderer to kill Peter Macduff.  Interestingly, this production mentions the child that Lady Macbeth alludes to in the play. Ella says it was prematurely born and died soon after (she says this to restaurant patrons).  The murderer kills Macduff's family, and it's a detective who tells him, not this film's version of Ross.  We actually see Ella's suicide (which is sort of combined with the sleepwalking scene).  Joe, when he's told, says he feels nothing.  Peter comes to kill Joe, and there is the sound of a helicopter landing on the building. "Pigs will fly," Joe realizes, which is a bit lame. Peter then kills him.  Malcolm runs the restaurant, and at the end he steps out for a cigarette and sees Freddy on his bicycle, hinting that Freddy will take over, probably violently.  (time: 87 minutes)

- Scotland, PA  (2002) with James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn, Amy Smart, Andy Dick; written and directed by Billy Morrissette.  This dark comedy adaptation of Macbeth sets it in a restaurant in the 1970s.  It opens with the three witches; however, in this version they are three hippies seated on a ferris wheel after the carnival has shut down for the night.  They're smoking pot and eating. One of them drops the bucket of chicken. One says, "It was foul." Another jokes, "The fowl was foul?"  The girl says, "And the fair was fair."  This is all play, of course, on the line, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" from Act I Scene i.  Duncan's is a restaurant owned by Norm Duncan (James Rebhorn). He plans to leave it to his son Malcolm, but Malcolm isn't interested - he wants to be in a rock band. And Norm's other son, Donald, is interested in theatre.  Joe and Pat McBeth (James LeGros and Maura Tierney) work at Duncan's, and of course are very interested in running it some day.  Douglas (the film's Macdonwald character) is the assistant manager, and Joe McBeth learns he's been stealing money, so he and Pat arrange for him to be fired. Duncan makes McBeth the new assistant manager.  Joe and Pat kill Duncan in the restaurant, and Pat gets a burn on her hand as a result.  Right after it's done, Pat says, "Mac, it's done. It can't be undone" - an interesting combination of her early line "What's done is done" (Act III Scene ii) and one of her last lines, "What's done cannot be undone" (Act V Scene i).  Lieutenant McDuff (Christopher Walken) arrives to solve the murder. Because Malcolm and Donald have no interest in the restaurant, they sell it to the McBeths for a low price.  The McBeths change the restaurant, add the drive-through, and it becomes a success. Things go well. But then McDuff returns, and McBeth begins to think that his friend Anthony "Banko" Banconi (Kevin Corrigan, in the Banquo role) is a problem. This is because Banko is asking a few questions, not because of a prophecy as in the play - in this version, Banko has no son. Meanwhile Pat keeps putting ointment on the burn on her hand, and running her hand under water, though the burn had healed long before.  McBeth kills Banko, and at a press conference for the restaurant, Banko's Ghost shows up. McBeth goes to find the three hippies. When he arrives, he discovers the carnival is gone. But suddenly it reappears. We don't see what they tell McBeth then, but later they call him up and he goes to them again, and they tell him he should kill McDuff's entire family. He doesn't do that, but instead lures McDuff to the restaurant in order to kill him. Meanwhile, Pat cuts off her hand in order to rid herself of the burn once and for all, and bleeds to death. McDuff kills McBeth in the fight. And at the end the restaurant becomes McDuff's.  This is a fun film, and Maura Tierney is particularly fantastic in it. (time: 104)

Related Films:
- "The Scottish Play": An Explanation  (2004) with Ian McKellen.  In this interview, Ian McKellen talks about the Trevor Nunn production, about Judi Dench's performance, and about the rest of the cast. He does discuss the decision to not have Banquo's Ghost be visible in that scene.  (time: 33 minutes)

Films With References To Macbeth:
- Below  (2002) with Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams and Zach Galifianakis; directed by David Twohy.  This ghost story on a submarine during World War II has a Shakespeare reference.  Olivia Williams finds a book on the walkway of the boat.  It's a copy of The Tragedies Of Shakespeare, opened to "Macbeth."  On the first page is the inscription, "Property of Lt. Brice," which leads Olivia to discover a few things.
- The Exorcist III  (1990)  with George C.Scott, Ed Flanders, Brad Dourif; directed by William Peter Blatty.  In an early scene in the police station, Lt. Kinderman (George C. Scott) says, "Do you know what Macbeth is about? I'll tell you.  It's a play about the numbing of the moral sense."  Then a little later he says, "And the autopsy? When, please?"  The response is, "Tomorrow."  George C. Scott says, "And tomorrow and tomorrow," finishing the line from Act V Scene v.  In a much later scene, Brad Dourif says to George C. Scott, "I like plays.  The good ones.  Shakespeare.  I like Titus Andronicus the best.  It's sweet."  Like in Titus Andronicus, there are decapitations in The Exorcist III.
- Gnomio & Juliet  (2011) with James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ashley Jensen; directed by Kelly Asbury.  This animated film features the tale of Romeo And Juliet as portrayed by garden gnomes and other lawn ornaments.  So while obviously this film is mostly Romeo And Juliet, it does contain references to other Shakespeare plays, including Macbeth. When Juliet opens the gate, a dog is on the other side.  So she slams it shut, shouting, "Out, out."  A man in the distance finished the line for her: "Damn Spot, over here, boy."  Get it? (Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1.)  (time 84 minutes)
- L.A. Story  (1991) with Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Marilu Henner, Sarah Jessica Parker; directed by Mick Jackson.  This beautiful and magical and hilarious comedy has several references to Shakespeare.  The first is a reference to Richard The Second.  The second is a reference to Macbeth.  While Harris (Steve Martin) waits for his girlfriend in his car, he tells us this, in voice over: "Sitting there at that moment, I thought of something else Shakespeare said. He said, Hey, life is pretty stupid, with lots of hubbub to keep you busy, but really not amounting to much.  Of course, I'm paraphrasing. 'Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'"  That line, of course, is from Act V Scene v, and is spoken by Macbeth.
- Something For Everyone  (1970) with Michael York, Angela Lansbury, Jane Carr; directed by Harold Prince.  This wonderful dark comedy has a reference to Macbeth.  Near the end of the film Conrad (Michael York) tells Lotte (Jane Carr) not to forget to turn out the lights.  Lotte responds, "Of course not, dear Conrad.  Farewell.  Farewell until we meet again.  In thunder, lightning, or in rain."  The opening lines of Macbeth are, "When shall we three meet again?/In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"  Those lines are, of course, spoken by the first witch.  And in Something For Everyone, Lotte is about to work her own sort of witchcraft on Conrad.

Television Programs With References To Macbeth:
- The Black Adder (1982) with Rowan Atkinson, Tim McInnerny, Brian Blessed.  This series has many Shakespeare references.  The first episode of the first season is full of references to Shakespeare, including one to Macbeth.  While searching for Henry Tudor (who by the way is played by Peter Benson, who played Henry The Sixth in the BBC productions), Edmund (Rowan Atkinson) comes across the three witches.  They tell him, "Today has brought misfortune, but one day - oh, glorious day - one day - oh happy day - you shall be king."  Oddly, in the closing credits the three are named Goneril, Regan and Cordelia (from King Lear).
- Blackadder The Third  (1987) with Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie.  The episode titled "Sense And Senility" has quite a few Shakespeare references, including a few to Macbeth.  The Prince (Hugh Laurie) is going to take elocution lessons from two actors. Baldrick tells Blackadder that his uncle was in a play called Macbeth. His uncle played the second codpiece.  "Macbeth wore him in the fight scenes."  Blackadder asks, "Did he have a large part?"  Baldrick answers, "Depends who's playing Macbeth."  Blackadder then says, "Incidentally, Baldrick, actors are very superstitious. On no account mention the word 'Macbeth' this evening, all right?"  Baldrick asks, "Why not?"  Blackadder answers, "It brings them bad luck and it makes them very unhappy."  The actors, soon after arriving, mention "the Scottish play."  Blackadder says, "By 'the Scottish play,' I assume you mean Macbeth."  The two actors freak out, and perform a little routine to exorcise the evil spirits. Realizing they'll do that each time he says the name of the play, Blackadder makes the most of it.  Later, the actors are instructing the Prince to roar at the start of the speech, one of them giving examples from Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Then the other says, "And from your leading character in a play connected with Scotland." Before the first actor can give his performance, Blackadder enters saying, "That's Macbeth, isn't it," which leads to their ridiculous ritual.
In the final episode of the series, titled "Duel And Duality," there is a reference to Macbeth. Blackadder agrees to take the place of the Prince in a duel with the Duke of Wellington (Stephen Fry), planning to have his cousin Mad McAdder, a homicidal Scotsman, fight the duel in turn for him.  McAdder, however, is not interested.  Blackadder returns home to tell the Prince the plan is off.  But before he can, the Prince tells him: "It has been a wild afternoon full of strange omens. I dreamt that a large eagle circled the room three times, and then got into bed with me and took all the blankets. And then I saw that it wasn't an eagle at all, but a large black snake. Also, Duncan's horses did turn and eat each other, as usual."  A reference to Act II Scene iv.
- Slings & Arrows (2003-2006) with Paul Gross, Stephen Ouimette, Martha Burns, Mark McKinney, Susan Coyne.  The second season is all about Macbeth. In the first episode, titled "Season's End," a woman tells Geoffrey that she liked Hamlet "well enough," but says she's curious what he'll do with Macbeth.  Geoffrey tells her they're not doing Macbeth.  Richard, drunk, apologizes to Geoffrey about that horrid woman (from the first season). Geoffrey replies, "Richard, what's done is done," which of course is Lady Macbeth's line from Act III Scene ii.  Richard wants to do Macbeth because a certain actor is available, and Geoffrey ultimately accepts the challenge of directing Macbeth.
In the second episode, titled "Fallow Time," Anna gives Geoffrey Oliver's boxes of notes for staging Macbeth. Ellen asks Geoffrey about the character of Lady Macbeth, wondering how exactly she is weak. "When does she crack, and why?" Geoffrey finally opens the boxes of notes.  The elementary school puts on Macbeth. Geoffrey and Ellen go to see it to show their support. We see the scene when Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches, and then quickly several other scenes. The bloody dagger is on a wire, so the audience actually sees it. We see Duncan's murder and Banquo's murder.  And of course Oliver shows up in the elementary school production.  During the first table read, they discuss the curse. The actor playing Macbeth does the "dagger" speech before the table read.
In the third episode, titled "Rarer Monster," Geoffrey and Oliver discuss the element of evil in the play.  The Romeo And Juliet director, after mentioning the name of the Scottish play, falls off the thrust and breaks her neck.
In the fourth episode, titled "Fair Is Foul And Foul Is Fair" (which is a line from the first scene of the play), Geoffrey tells Oliver that he doesn't like his Macbeth.  They rehearse the Ghost of Banquo scene.  And of course Geoffrey is talking to Oliver - an empty chair to everyone else in the theatre.  At the night of the first preview, Geoffrey fires Henry, the actor playing Macbeth.
In the fifth episode, titled "Steeped In Blood," Richard, upon learning that Henry was fired, goes to see Geoffrey. Geoffrey immediately says, "If this is about Henry, what's done is done," once again quoting Lady Macbeth from Act III Scene ii.  Jerry, the understudy, goes on for the second preview.
In the sixth and final episode of the second season - titled "Birnam Wood" - Macbeth opens, with Henry back in the lead role. Oliver decides to go out as the Ghost of Banquo.
- Star Trek  (1966-1969) with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley.  The episode "All Our Yesterdays" (written by Jean Lisette Aroeste; directed by Marvin Chomsky) has a reference to Macbeth in its title.  The title is taken from Macbeth's famous speech from Act V: "All all our yesterdays have lighted fools/The way to dusty death."  The episode is about a planet's inhabitants having escaped the impending destruction of their world by traveling into the past.  There are no other direct references to Macbeth in the episode. However, Kirk is accused of witchcraft and says, "There are no witches."  And as we know, there are three witches in Macbeth.