Editing Macbeth (section)

===20th century to present===
{{quote box|width=23em|And then Lady Macbeth says 'He that's coming / Must be provided for.' It's an amazing line. She's going to play hostess to Duncan at Dunsinane, and 'provide' is what gracious hostesses always do. It's a wonder of a line to play because the reverberations do the acting for you, make the audience go "Aaaagh!"|—[[Sinéad Cusack]]{{sfn|McLuskie|2005|p=253}}}}

Two developments changed the nature of ''Macbeth'' performance in the 20th century: first, developments in the craft of acting itself, especially the ideas of [[Konstantin Stanislavski|Stanislavski]] and [[Bertolt Brecht|Brecht]]; and second, the rise of the dictator as a political icon. The latter has not always assisted the performance: it is difficult to sympathise with a Macbeth based on Hitler, Stalin, or Idi Amin.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=130–131}}

[[Barry Jackson (director)|Barry Jackson]], at the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]] in 1923, was the first of the 20th-century directors to costume ''Macbeth'' in [[modern dress]].{{sfn|Smallwood|2002|p=102}}

[[File:Macbeth-26A-Carter-Thomas.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jack Carter (stage actor)|Jack Carter]] and [[Edna Lewis Thomas|Edna Thomas]] in the [[Federal Theatre Project]] production that came to be known as the ''[[Voodoo Macbeth]]'' (1936)]]

In 1936, a decade before his film adaptation of the play, [[Orson Welles]] directed ''Macbeth'' for the [[Federal Theatre Project#African-American theatre|Negro Theatre Unit]] of the [[Federal Theatre Project]] at the [[Lafayette Theatre (Harlem)|Lafayette Theatre]] in Harlem, using black actors and setting the action in Haiti: with drums and [[Haitian Vodou|Voodoo]] rites to establish the Witches scenes. The production, dubbed ''The [[Voodoo Macbeth]]'', proved inflammatory in the aftermath of the [[Harlem Riot of 1935|Harlem riots]], accused of making fun of black culture and as "a campaign to burlesque negroes" until Welles persuaded crowds that his use of black actors and voodoo made important cultural statements.{{sfn|Forsyth|2007|p=284}}{{sfn|Hawkes|2003|p=577}}

[[File:Fort St. Catherine's, St. George's Island, Bermuda.jpg|thumb|left|Fort St. Catherine's, Bermuda, the site of a 1953 outdoor production]]

A performance which is frequently referenced as an example of the play's curse was the outdoor production directed by [[Burgess Meredith]] in 1953 in the [[British Overseas Territory|British colony]] of [[Bermuda]], starring [[Charlton Heston]]. Using the imposing spectacle of [[Fort St. Catherine]] as a key element of the set, the production was plagued by a host of mishaps, including Charlton Heston being burned when his tights caught fire.{{sfn|Hardy|2014}}{{sfn|Bernews|2013}}

Some critics contend there were three great Macbeths on the English-speaking stage in the 20th century, all of them commencing at [[Stratford-upon-Avon]]: [[Laurence Olivier]] in 1955, [[Ian McKellen]] in 1976 and [[Antony Sher]] in 1999.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=131}} Olivier's portrayal (directed by [[Glen Byam Shaw]], with [[Vivien Leigh]] as Lady Macbeth) was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. [[Kenneth Tynan]] said it succeeded because Olivier built the role to a climax at the end of the play, whereas most actors spend all they have in the first two acts.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=130–131}}{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=47–48}}

The play caused difficulties for the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]], especially at the (then) [[Royal Shakespeare Theatre|Shakespeare Memorial Theatre]]. [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]]'s 1967 production was (in Michael Billington's words) "an acknowledged disaster" with the use of real leaves from Birnham Wood getting first-night laughs, and [[Trevor Nunn]]'s 1974 production was (Billington again) "an over-elaborate religious spectacle".{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=599}}

But Nunn achieved success for the RSC in his 1976 production at the intimate [[The Other Place (theatre)|Other Place]], with [[Ian McKellen]] and [[Judi Dench]] in the central roles.{{sfn|Billington|2003|pp=599–600}} A small cast worked within a simple circle, and McKellen's Macbeth had nothing noble or likeable about him, being a manipulator in a world of manipulative characters. They were a young couple, physically passionate, "not monsters but recognisable human beings",{{efn|Michael Billington, cited by Gay.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=169}}}} but their relationship atrophied as the action progressed.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=132–134}}{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=169}}

The [[Royal Shakespeare Company|RSC]] again achieved critical success in [[Gregory Doran]]'s 1999 production at [[Swan Theatre (Stratford)|The Swan]], with [[Antony Sher]] and [[Harriet Walter]] in the central roles, once again demonstrating the suitability of the play for smaller venues.{{sfn|Walter|2002|p=1}}{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=600}} Doran's witches spoke their lines to a theatre in absolute darkness, and the opening visual image was the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo in the berets and fatigues of modern warfare, carried on the shoulders of triumphant troops.{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=600}} In contrast to Nunn, Doran presented a world in which king Duncan and his soldiers were ultimately benign and honest, heightening the deviance of Macbeth (who seems genuinely surprised by the witches' prophecies) and Lady Macbeth in plotting to kill the king. The play said little about politics, instead powerfully presenting its central characters' psychological collapse.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=134}}

''Macbeth'' returned to the RSC in 2018, when [[Christopher Eccleston]] played the title role, with [[Niamh Cusack]] as his wife, Lady Macbeth.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/past-productions/polly-findlay-2018-production|title=Macbeth|website=RSC|access-date=21 May 2019|archive-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813084244/https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/past-productions/polly-findlay-2018-production|url-status=live}}</ref> The play later transferred to the Barbican in London.

In Soviet-controlled Prague in 1977, faced with the illegality of working in theatres, [[Pavel Kohout]] adapted ''Macbeth'' into a 75-minute abridgement for five actors, suitable for "bringing a show in a suitcase to people's homes".{{sfn|Holland|2007|p=40}}{{efn|See also [[Tom Stoppard]]'s ''[[Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth]]''.}}

Spectacle was unfashionable in Western theatre throughout the 20th century. In East Asia, however, spectacular productions have achieved great success, including [[Yukio Ninagawa]]'s 1980 production with [[Masane Tsukayama]] as Macbeth, set in the 16th century [[Sengoku period|Japanese Civil War]].{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=134–135}} The same director's tour of London in 1987 was widely praised by critics, even though (like most of their audience) they were unable to understand the significance of Macbeth's gestures, the huge Buddhist altar dominating the set, or the petals falling from the cherry trees.{{sfn|Holland|2002|p=207}}

Xu Xiaozhong's 1980 [[Central Academy of Drama]] production in Beijing made every effort to be unpolitical (necessary in the aftermath of the [[Cultural Revolution]]): yet audiences still perceived correspondences between the central character (whom the director had actually modelled on [[Napoleon III|Louis Napoleon]]) and [[Mao Zedong]].{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|p=268}} Shakespeare has often been adapted to indigenous theatre traditions, for example the ''[[Kunqu|Kunju]] Macbeth'' of [[Huang Zuolin]] performed at the inaugural Chinese Shakespeare Festival of 1986.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|p=270}} Similarly, [[B. V. Karanth]]'s ''Barnam Vana'' of 1979 had adapted ''Macbeth'' to the [[Yakshagana]] tradition of [[Karnataka]], India.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=276–278}} In 1997, Lokendra Arambam created ''Stage of Blood'', merging a range of martial arts, dance and gymnastic styles from [[Manipur]], performed in [[Imphal]] and in England. The stage was literally a raft on a lake.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=278–279}}

''[[Throne of Blood]]'' (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō, ''Spider Web Castle'') is a 1957 Japanese samurai film co-written and directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]]. The film transposes ''Macbeth'' from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and planned his own adaptation for several years, postponing it after learning of Orson Welles' ''Macbeth'' (1948). The film won two Mainichi Film Awards.

The play has been translated and performed in various languages in different parts of the world, and ''Media Artists'' was the first to stage its [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] adaptation in India. The adaptation by Balram and the play directed by [[Samuel John]] have been universally acknowledged as a milestone in Punjabi theatre.{{sfn|The Tribune|2006}} The unique attempt involved trained theatre experts and the actors taken from a rural background in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]. Punjabi folk music imbued the play with the native ethos as the Scottish setting of Shakespeare's play was transposed into a Punjabi [[milieu]].{{sfn|Tandon|2004}}

In 2021, [[Saoirse Ronan]] starred in ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' at the [[Almeida Theatre]] in London.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Benedict |first1=David |title='The Tragedy of Macbeth' Review: James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan in an Over-Directed and Under-Dramatized Production |url=https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/macbeth-review-saoirse-ronan-james-mcardle-1235089573/ |access-date=19 June 2022 |work=Variety |date=14 October 2021 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619150704/https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/macbeth-review-saoirse-ronan-james-mcardle-1235089573/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The following year a revival production opened on Broadway with [[Daniel Craig]] and [[Ruth Negga]] to middling reviews.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Review: In a New 'Macbeth,' Something Wonky This Way Comes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/theater/macbeth-review-broadway.html |access-date=19 June 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619051154/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/theater/macbeth-review-broadway.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A new production starring [[David Tennant]] and [[Cush Jumbo]] ran at London's [[Donmar Warehouse]] from 8 December 2023 to 10 February 2024. Max Webster directed the production.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=8 December 2023 |title=Donmar Warehouse Macbeth, Starring Cush Jumbo and David Tennant, Begins December 8 |url=https://playbill.com/article/donmar-warehouse-macbeth-starring-cush-jumbo-and-david-tennant-begins-december-8 |access-date=25 April 2024 |work=[[Playbill]]}}</ref> The show received 3 [[Laurence Olivier Awards|Laurence Olivier Award]] nominations, including Best Revival.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-12 |title=Olivier awards 2024: complete list of nominations |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/mar/12/olivier-awards-2024-complete-list-of-nominations |access-date=2024-04-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> It transferred to the [[Harold Pinter Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] from 1 October 2024 for a limited run.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-23 |title=Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo to transfer to the West End |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/macbeth-with-david-tennant-and-cush-jumbo-to-transfer-to-the-west-end_1594569/ |access-date=2024-04-25 |language=en-US}}</ref>