Note to Tyrants - Never Invite Banquo's Ghost to Your Dinner Party

Cauldrons boil and cauldrons bubble - Vancouver Opera's performance of Macbeth

I saw Verdi's Macbeth at the QE Saturday night. I've seen Shakespeare's Macbeth performed a little less than a dozen times, mostly horribly.

The tale of Macbeth follows him on his ambitions to become King of Scotland, prodded along by his equally ambitious wife and the misunderstood prophecies of the Weird Sisters. Sure, to become Scotland's ruler he needs to kill the current king, Duncan, ambush and slaughter his best friend, Banquo, and let loose bloodshed across the lands for seventeen long years to quell criticism of his brutal rule or to compell compliance with it. And there is the niggling detail of his scruples eating away at his certainty and integrity until he goes mad, violently asserting the rightness of his actions and obsessed of his own invincibility.

And of course, he's not invincible and by tale's end Macduff has severed the tyrant's head and thrown it to the floor.

I struggle with Verdi’s version of Macbeth. At the beginning of Shakespeare’s version Macbeth has just come from the battlefield where with vigor and integrity he has slashed, hacked and gutted the enemies of his king, Duncan. Macbeth and Banquo, shoulder to shoulder, executed a traitor who had crossed sides and betrayed Duncan and his allies. Macbeth’s character is ambitious, decisive, and determined with a highly developed sense of loyalty. This isn’t a character who can’t quite decide or act; he doesn’t need his wife to drive and compel him to success.

Macbeth’s slow descent into madness comes, in my reading of his character, from violating his soldier’s honor and loyalty to Duncan; he becomes Thane of Cawdor by executing the traitor who held that title and defended Duncan and it was Duncan who honored him.

His hesitation had more to do with his scruples; the further he slid away from his honorable profession the worse his madness became, the more violent his rule, until he is completely unable to reason except by the sword. By the story’s end he his unable to do any sort of statesmanship or politicking.

Lady Macbeth is quick to urge her husband in pursuit of his ambitions but misreads her husband’s identification as an honorable soldier and so misleads him.

Lady Macbeth (who truly deserves a name of her own in both the play and the opera - I suggest Macbetty - as in The Tragedy of Macbeth and Macbetty) is far from being free of scruples, or free of humanity or driven to bloodshed through a relentless persistent ambition; she is torn over the blood 'on her hands' and finally kills herself in despair over her misdeeds.

Vancouver Opera's presentation was uneven, as is the libretto itself. The music was well presented, as usual. But I didn't like some of the lighting effects, the colour scheme, nor the colours of the costumes. The effect was not fitting for this dark tale. Other aspects - the lighting effects when the trees of Birnam Woods crowd Macbeth for example and the chorus' costumes for the slaughter of innocents - were very well done.

I sat in the best seats in the house: Row 20 - seat 144 (dress circle).

And you? What did you do this weekend?

xoxo

M