RITA DI SANTO assesses the winners of the most politically charged festival to date
Macbeth
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
THERE has long been an ongoing question at the RSC as to how to present Shakespeare to modern and, it is hoped, more youthful audiences.
There is a moment in Wils Wilson’s new production of Macbeth clearly indicating how we are encouraged to respond to this version of Shakespeare’s most profound treatment of the corrupting futility of ruthless ambition.
Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
GORDON PARSONS salutes the apt return of Brecht’s vaudevillian cartoon drama that retains the vitality of the boxing or the circus ring
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship


