Macbeth

Synopsis: A video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1986 production of Macbeth. Directed by Adrian Noble with Jonathan Pryce and Sinead Cusack as the Macbeths.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 3 Dec 1986
Duration: 145 mins

Director

Adrian Noble

Writer

William Shakespeare

Music

Geoffrey Burgon

Production Design

Bob Crowley

Cast

Jonathan Pryce	Macbeth
Sinead Cusack	Lady Macbeth
Peter Guinness	Macduff
Nicholas Woodeston	Malcolm
Hugh Quarshie	Banquo
Andrew Bailey	Macduff’s son
Benjamin Fellows	Fleance
David Burke	King Duncan
David Killick	Ross
David Troughton	Porter
Dennis Edwards	Old Man
Dilys Laye	Witch (1st)
Hannah Young	Macduff’s daughter
Henrietta Smethurst	Macduff’s daughter
Jacob Wilson	Macduff’s son
James Macaro	Macduff’s son
Jeremy Pearce	Menteith
Joely Richardson	Witch (3rd)
John Patrick	Siward, Earl of Northumberland
John Paul Streets	Macduff’s son
Joseph Mydell	Captain
Joseph Mydell	Doctor of Physic
Mark Lindley	Young Siward
Max Gold	Murderer (1st)
Max Gold	Angus
Patrick Bailey	Donalbain
Patrick Robinson	Seyton
Paul Venables	Lennox
Penny Downie	Lady Macduff
Roger Watkins	Murderer (2nd)
Rosalind Boxall	Gentlewoman
Stan Pretty	Caithness
Stan Pretty	Doctor (English)
Susan Porrett	Witch (2nd)

Notes: The play was performed without an interval. The RSC technical notes on the video recording state ` a very dark show’.
General: David Troughton made a memorable Porter. His speech (much improvised) included the following ` knock knock’ joke.

Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Duncan
Duncan who?
Duncan Disorderly
History: Press night 11 November 1986. The production transferred to the Barbican.
Reviews: Billington, Michael. The Guardian (13 November 1986). Billington noted that Pryce and Cusack seemed to be ‘a childless Strindbergian couple for whom power became a substitute for parenthood’. Berkowitz, Gerald M. Shakespeare Quarterly 38 (1987), pp 495-500 (review-article).

Name: Royal Shakespeare Company
Web: https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB

British Universities Film & Video Council