The Play That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Shakespeare's "Scottish Play" Macbeth is finishing up it's limited run on Broadway next week, starring Patrick Stewart as the ill-fated king. As directed by Rupert Goold, this British production, is in a word, amazing.

The show takes place in a unnamed eastern European fascist country inside a white tiled room that looks like it was possibly double as a morgue. We meet Macbeth (Stewart) who with his wife (Kate Fleetwood) plot to murder their way to the top and become king and queen. And what a bloody mess they make of everything.

The show is staged as a sort of a bloody horror movie and suspense thriller. There is a lot of blood everywhere, hands, faces, clothes, the wall. Blood even pours out of the faucet and into the sink at one point. The eerie qualities are also brought out with the witches being played as habit wearing nurses, booming sound effects, and projections that evoke "The Ring."

Basically, the show rocks. Patrick Stewart as Macbeth is just amazing and Kate Fleetwood's Lady Macbeth is so fresh and inspiring. There isn't much else to say, just hurry up and try to catch it. It closes on Sunday, May 25th. There will not be an extension as the theatre is booked for [title of show].