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Listen to our review of the Sterling Playmakers’ production of Macbeth [MP3 3:40 3.4MB].

Laura: Hi this is Laura.

Mike: and this is Mike. We are talking about the Sterling Playmakers performance of MacBeth. We saw it Saturday night. And it’s the classic MacBeth Shakespeare.

Laura: Yes. Shakespeare is difficult. What’s the basic storyline of Macbeth?

Mike: Murder, spookiness, spirits, revenge lots of allegory just Shakespeare. It’s drama, not funny although there were amusing parts. But it’s not funny, it’s not a farce, it’s serious.

Laura: It is a serious play. I though the scenery was good, the staging was good.

Mike: It was simple, but it was effective.

Laura: The stage crew, they came on and off setting up the tables for the banquet scene did a good job. Very smooth.

Mike: It was a large cast. A two page listing probably 30 – 40 people. Nine witches. Usually when I’ve seen MacBeth there were only three witches and they talk about that that they use 9 because in the little poem the witches do they have the line that says there are nine. So that was cool it was a neat interpretation.

Laura: That made sense. This was also the first show we’ve been to where they didn’t have a description of each cast member, but I suppose that’ because it was such a large cast they’d have to write another book.

Mike: Right, the playbill didn’t have any descriptions of the people in the director’s comments. Ok it’s kind of neat to read about what other people have been in so that was just different. But it was a good show. Shakespeare is long.

Laura: Yes.

Mike: Shakespeare does not use regular english. So you have to go with an open clear mind.

Laura: Or go buy the Cliff notes first.

Mike: And read the Cliff notes first. It will help alot. I’ve seen Shakespeare before. I’ve seen MacBeth before and the Cliff notes helped a lot. Laura was in Shakespeare before.

Laura: I was the second set of first witches at the Community College.

Mike: So that helped having seen it before. There was one scene when the king was murdered and the people were running around the castle being excited, “What’s going on, What’s happening.” And the one soldier was standing doing a monologue on stage and he just wasn’t excited. He’s calling for the guards to start ringing the bell and to get the guards awake and get dressed because there are murderers on the loose. And he was saying it, he wasn’t yelling it. MURDER vs. Murder, “there has been a murder in the castle.” And then the king’s sons came in and one said, “What is amiss?” He should have upped it a notch. “What’s going on? You guys are all running round crazy.”

Laura: Yeah gotten into the emotion of the moment.

Mike: They weren’t emotional. The fight scenes were incredible.

Laura: The fight scenes were very good.

Mike: They had the fake blood inside their costumes, I guess.

Laura: And their swords looked real.

Mike: Swords and the axes and things they were hacking with lots of touches. Made up for a pretty good show. it’s playing through next Sunday the 13th in Loudoun County at the River Bend Middle School. So if you’re in the neighborhood go ahead and drop by and check out some Shakespeare.

Laura: And now, on with the show.