Stratford Festival: Macbeth

All in all, a solid stage production of Macbeth.

The good stuff: 1. Excellent use of lighting. 2. Cyrus Lane's performance as the porter - played with comic gusto. The best I've seen, despite verging on anachronism (which you almost have to do if you break the 4th wall to a 21st century audience) 3. Antoine Yared's performance as Malcolm - Malcolm almost always ends up being rather forgettable - he doesn't have many lines, and even the ones he does have are often cut (because directors don't know what to do with the Macduff/Malcolm interview, for example). Yared's makes Malcolm come alive - I though his reaction to Duncan's death especially moving. 4. The scenes with the witches are clever without reaching for novelty. The sword fights are well choreographed and, true to the play, both Duncan and Macbeth die offstage. 5. Krystin Pellerin's performance as Lady Macbeth, while not brilliant, is nevertheless consistently strong.

The not-so-good: 1. Sad to say, Ian Lake does not impress as Macbeth - he portrays him as more or less a young meathead, especially in the beginning. To my mind he bungles the early monologues and soliloquies that are supposed to show the depth of Macbeth's character as he struggles earnestly with his own conscience. Lake's portrayal of post-murder Macbeth is creditable, although his teary "Tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy is only so-so.