On Saturday we watched Macbeth at the Duke's Theatre in Lancaster. The play was performed by The Handlebards and, to be absolutely honest, we didn't enjoy it very much.
On a positive note, the play was full of energy, hilarious and high octane, but for us there were just too many fart jokes and too much audience participation. Thank heavens we were in the circle and not on the front row!
Again, on a positive note, the children and young people in the audience loved it and were really engaged. It's great to think that there might be a future in Shakespeare.
The play was performed by three actors in total, quite a feat. We were never left in any doubt which actor was playing which part, and they weren't afraid to break the fourth wall and engage with the audience.
I'm definitely conflicted, on some levels I enjoyed the play. It was great fun, although rather frenetic, engaging and faithful at all times to the original play. But, on another level, it was simply annoying and pandered too much to children, young people and those who don't appreciate Shakespeare. I'm definitely not a purist when it comes to the Bard, but I do like the performances to be recognisably Shakespeare and not simply an Elizabethan romp!
