Please bear in mind the title of this blog. What can I say? I’m a Shakespeare snob.
I understood that nothing would live up to the Royal Shakespeare Company productions I saw in England; they’re the best in the world. The last Shakespeare play I saw was the RSC production of Hamlet with Patrick Stewart and, my love, David Tennant. It was the highlight of the program and a night I would never forget. When I read Hamlet’s soliloquies I’ll see David Tennant in an empty black stage, not reciting, but being Hamlet. How can BYU compete with this? They cannot. So When I heard of BYU‘s winter production of Macbeth, I resigned to the fact that it would never live up to the RSC.
Mesoamerica aka Book of Mormon
Do not be fooled as I was - the word Mesoamerica is a euphemism at BYU for Book of Mormon. Perhaps they thought they could give credibility to this productions setting by using this archeological term. But what if the audience does not understand it’s a Book of Mormon Macbeth? I know, let’s change the names of Shakespeare’s characters to match those in the Book of Mormon… a subtle hint that this is no ordinary Mesoamerica interpretation.
Never Ending Battle
My cousin Erin and I stole our brother’s lightsavers and constructed the ultimate showdown; while I lunged forward she swiftly leapt back. I would swing my lightsaver low to the ground while she would agilely leap over. It was a phenomenal display of jedi knight prowess. The fight scene in this Macbeth reminds me of my days as a jedi master…the rhythmic clash of sword against sword and agile swoops of the actor. In essence it’s a choreographed dance– too pretty and synchronized to be real. However the actors did outshine Erin and me in one area: stamina. Yes, they managed to continue this labor intensive dance for fifteen minutes.
Decapitation or Scalping?
After this painful battle, Macduff emerges from backstage with a Macbeth’s bloody severed head. I could not contain the laughter at this moment – the only thing that could have produced hardier laughter was perhaps to mount the head on a charger. Apparently in all the research into Book a Mormon culture, they preferred decapitation to scalping.
In All Seriousness
I love the performance of Lady Macbeth and the productions emphasis on the loving and sexual relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As Steven Greenblatt points out in his novel Will in the World, the Macbeths share one of the few affectionate and balanced marriages in a Shakespeare play. The playwright deconstructs the Macbeths’ companionate marriage as the couple uses their ideal relationship to commit murder; this deconstruction ultimately allows Shakespeare to explore and intensify the disquietude of the play.
However, I did not appreciate turning a minor character, Seyton into a makeshift devil figure. They portrayed him as the leader of the witches – the devil himself. Macbeth’s soldiers do not kill Macduff’s family but the witches lead by Seyton. This interpretation unraveled the brilliancy of Shakespeare who keeps the witches aloof to emphasize the questions of fate.
Do not be fooled as I was - the word Mesoamerica is a euphemism at BYU for Book of Mormon. Perhaps they thought they could give credibility to this productions setting by using this archeological term. But what if the audience does not understand it’s a Book of Mormon Macbeth? I know, let’s change the names of Shakespeare’s characters to match those in the Book of Mormon… a subtle hint that this is no ordinary Mesoamerica interpretation.
Never Ending Battle
My cousin Erin and I stole our brother’s lightsavers and constructed the ultimate showdown; while I lunged forward she swiftly leapt back. I would swing my lightsaver low to the ground while she would agilely leap over. It was a phenomenal display of jedi knight prowess. The fight scene in this Macbeth reminds me of my days as a jedi master…the rhythmic clash of sword against sword and agile swoops of the actor. In essence it’s a choreographed dance– too pretty and synchronized to be real. However the actors did outshine Erin and me in one area: stamina. Yes, they managed to continue this labor intensive dance for fifteen minutes.
Decapitation or Scalping?
After this painful battle, Macduff emerges from backstage with a Macbeth’s bloody severed head. I could not contain the laughter at this moment – the only thing that could have produced hardier laughter was perhaps to mount the head on a charger. Apparently in all the research into Book a Mormon culture, they preferred decapitation to scalping.
In All Seriousness
I love the performance of Lady Macbeth and the productions emphasis on the loving and sexual relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As Steven Greenblatt points out in his novel Will in the World, the Macbeths share one of the few affectionate and balanced marriages in a Shakespeare play. The playwright deconstructs the Macbeths’ companionate marriage as the couple uses their ideal relationship to commit murder; this deconstruction ultimately allows Shakespeare to explore and intensify the disquietude of the play.
However, I did not appreciate turning a minor character, Seyton into a makeshift devil figure. They portrayed him as the leader of the witches – the devil himself. Macbeth’s soldiers do not kill Macduff’s family but the witches lead by Seyton. This interpretation unraveled the brilliancy of Shakespeare who keeps the witches aloof to emphasize the questions of fate.
ACT II: They get past the guards by getting them drunk.
ReplyDeleteSame story in the Book of Mormon: a plagarism. Who knew Shakespeare? Smith?, Cowdrey? Rigdon?, or Spaulding ?
The only one with a college degree in literature: Spaulding.