1 month, 4 weeks ago

Commentary: Shakespeare’s portrait of an insecure, paranoid tyrant makes this the perfect time for ‘Macbeth’

“Macbeth” may be Shakespeare’s most transfixing tragedy, but its dark magic often fizzles in the theater. Filmed versions of stage productions, such as Simon Godwin’s 2024 “Macbeth,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, try to make the most of both mediums. But in both the Donmar Warehouse’s Platonic ideal production of “Macbeth” and the far less lofty staging at A Noise Within, I couldn’t help tuning in to what the tragedy had to say about tyrants whose reign of terror precipitates their own demise. Encountering “Macbeth” during a time when the federal government appears to be under attack from within, I watched with heightened horror Macbeth’s descent into paranoid butchery after he murders Duncan and assumes the throne.

LA Times

Discover Related