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This unearths some thoughts, back from my English degree twenty years ago But basically I don't think those problems are all meant to be solved Yes, the super

This unearths some thoughts, back from my English degree twenty years ago But basically I don't think those problems are all meant to be solved Yes, the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups. And that's kind of the point There is always a tension between what is seen and spoken in that play. We're meant to get the sense that Macbeth is partly talking himself into his frenzy Supernatural events happen but they kind of have a bathetic, eye-rolling quality to them, like the prophecy that "Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him" Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber. You are supposed to groan at that. Magic is way weaker than any of the human beings and their ordinary vices

nephihaha 8d ago
I was in Birnam wood earlier this year. There is very little of the old forest left.
eszed 11d ago
> the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups Speaking generally, as a former theatre professional, using onstage "effects" is less effective than firing the audience's imagination, and inviting them to do the work - which, of course, Jacobean artists were well able to do, and their audiences arguably more prepared to accept. The best plays - and I do think Maccers is among them, although the three productions of it I've been in were mediocre to dire - give huge scope for that. This was a wonderful article, that nails what's wonderful - and frustrating - about the show.
zenithirl 11d ago
>Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber My memory might be failing but I thought it was that the soldiers were disguising their movements using branches cut from the trees so it gave the impression that the trees themselves were moving towards Macbeth's castle.
- zero_shift 10d ago
  Yeah that rings a bell. It's been two decades... I should start reading again. I remember my essays better than the source material It's been on my mind a lot, how I've lost touch with all this

nephihaha 8d ago

I was in Birnam wood earlier this year. There is very little of the old forest left.

eszed 11d ago

> the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups Speaking generally, as a former theatre professional, using onstage "effects" is less effective than firing the audience's imagination, and inviting them to do the work - which, of course, Jacobean artists were well able to do, and their audiences arguably more prepared to accept. The best plays - and I do think Maccers is among them, although the three productions of it I've been in were mediocre to dire - give huge scope for that. This was a wonderful article, that nails what's wonderful - and frustrating - about the show.

zenithirl 11d ago

>Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber My memory might be failing but I thought it was that the soldiers were disguising their movements using branches cut from the trees so it gave the impression that the trees themselves were moving towards Macbeth's castle.

zero_shift 10d ago
Yeah that rings a bell. It's been two decades... I should start reading again. I remember my essays better than the source material It's been on my mind a lot, how I've lost touch with all this