English Theatre
English Theatre
On 1March 2010 the fourth and fifth classes of the „ITC La Villa“ and „Liceo Linguistico“ attended the Vienna’s English Theatre adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous play, Macbeth. The Vienna English Theatre was founded in 1963 and won immediate approval by the Viennese public and internationally. Macbeth has been quoted as being one of Shakespeare’s best plays by important authors such as Goethe. It is also one of Shakespeare’s more violent plays. | |
| The main character, Macbeth, begins the play as the Lord of Glamis and is described returning victorious from a battle with his companion and fellow Lord, Banquo. They come upon 3 weird sisters who make a prophecy that one day Macbeth will become King and that Banquo’s sons would one day sit on the thrown. Macbeth comes upon the chance to make this prediction come true and along with his shrewd and strong minded wife, assassinates King Duncan. Malcolm, Duncan’s son and next in line for the thrown, flees to England because he is afraid of coming to the same fate as his father. Unsure of his crown Macbeth has Banquo murdered and then goes on to have numerous hallucinations that reveal his unstable state of mind. Macbeth visits the 3 witches again and they tell him to beware of Macduff, another nobleman. Macbeth has Macduff’s family murdered when he leaves the country in a cruel and unnecessary gesture. From England Malcolm raises an army to fight Macbeth and travels to England. Lady Macbeth dies, possibly suicide and Macbeth is killed by Macduff. Finally peace and justice reign in Scotland and Malcolm is crowned King. | |
Personally, I have always really enjoyed attending the Vienna English Theatre’s productions, especially last year when we went to see “A Christmas Carol”. This year after the play I was left perplexed by the fact that only 4 actors were used to play all the roles. Fortunately we had read the play in class, otherwise it would have been very hard to understand the fast and many changes. The other years I also preferred the adaptations made by Clive Duncan to the original plays. I don’t think this play did the real Macbeth justice. | |
Heidi Delmonego 5^ form
