This is a brilliant version of Macbeth for two main reasons. Ian McKellen and Judi Dench.
Ian McKellen's Macbeth is superb. Subtle and full of treachery but also quick to anger and filled with a painful remorse over his actions, this made him a very easy to understand and made for a really moving performance.
Judi Dench gave Lady Macbeth all the power and ferociousness she needs, whilst underneath you could sense a certain anguish and fear at what she was commanding her husband to do, and this turned plausibly into her madness at the end. As a result she was both intimidating and sympathetic, the perfect mixture.
These are truly two of the greats and ought to be remembered as such.
The staging of the piece was very interesting, with no set and everything appearing in darkness, this really helped set the tone of the play and made for some very intense scenes. This was complimented by the costumes which had a lot of dark colours that made the characters merge with their own dark natures.
If I were to complain about one thing I'd say the Weird Sisters who I felt to be a pretty dull interpretation, much as McKellen did make the second prophecy scene quite intense they just didn't seem to have any real menace to them, which I think they should have.
All in all a very strong production of Macbeth. Definitely worth a watch by fans.
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