Macbeth

Synopsis: Video recording of Peter Gill’s 1971 production of Macbeth for the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival. Ian Hogg and Pat Galloway are the Macbeths.
Language: English
Country: Canada
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 9 Jun 1971

Director

Peter Gill

Writer

William Shakespeare

Music

Alan Laing

Production Design

Deirdre Clancy

Costume

Deirdre Clancy

Cast

Ian Hogg	Macbeth
Pat Galloway	Lady Macbeth
Kenneth Welsh	Macduff
Stephen Markle	Malcolm
Neil Dainard	Banquo
Barry MacGregor	Ross
Bernard Engel	Caithness
Brian Sinclair	Young Siward
Chris Anstead	Macduff’s youngest son
David King (3)	Macduff’s youngest son
Don Sutherland	Menteith
Eric Donkin	Witch (1st)
Guiseppe Condello	Donalbain
J. Kenneth Campbell	Angus
Jack Roberts	Murderer (2nd)
Jeff Jones	Messenger
Jeff Jones	Murderer (3rd)
Joan Campion	Witch (2nd)
Joel Kenyon	Murderer (1st)
John Maclennan	Macduff’s eldest son (Macduff’s son)
Joseph Rutten	Messenger
Joseph Rutten	Siward, Earl of Northumberland
Karen Ludwig	Lady Macduff
Malcolm Armstrong	Lennox
Mark Jacobs (2)	Servant
Mervyn Blake	King Duncan
Michael Liscinsky	Captain
Michael Liscinsky	Porter
Ruby Holbrook	Gentlewoman
Sheila Haney	Witch (3rd)
Stanley Coles	Seyton
Susan Chapple	Servant
Theodore Britton	Servant
Thom Hayes	Fleance
Tim Whelan	Old Man
Wyman Pendleton	Doctor of Physic

History: The production played in repertoire June 9-16 October 1971.
Stills: ` ... Among those ideas was the notion that Macbeth’s Scotland must be presented as a tribal society. Thus Duncan always appeared with his thanes clustered about him like Indian braves around their chief in a Western movie. This conceit was enhanced by draping the thanes in what appeared to be Navajo Indian blankets, and by having them dine seated around something very like the floor of an Aztec temple. I suppose the designer, Miss Deirdre Clancy, must take some responsibility for these inventions, and also for the costumes of the "poor people" and the riot police, as well as Lady Macbeth’s bare feet and homespun gowns. Taken together, these seemed to me to constitute a set of stupefying incongruities, and I am at a loss to explain them’ {Berners W. Jackson, op cit].
Reviews: Jackson, Berners W. Shakespeare Quarterly 22 (1971): 368-70. Jackson comments: ‘It seems to have occurred to him [Gill] that Shakespeare, in writing Macbeth, did not give us the whole picture’.