Soccer Dad

Duncan's murder: solved

I just saw that there's a new interpretation of Macbeth being staged in the DC area.

Washington has decked Shakespeare out in all sorts of guises in the past six months, from dancers to orchestras to tiny ninjas. So perhaps it's fitting that, as the festival wraps up, one company is stripping a Shakespeare work down to the bare essentials.

In the current offering from Washington Shakespeare Company, a cast of intrepid actors essays a wholly uncut "Macbeth" in the nude.

The critic points to one problem with this approach.

Since much of the action is fueled by the protagonists' concern with power and status, for instance, going the Full MacMonty lowers the stakes of the story. Clothes remain primary signifiers of an individual's place in a culture, so once apparel is cast aside, social boundaries become less clear.

Other than costumes I wonder what else is missing. My guess is that inventiveness doesn't come close to that of James Thurber, who wrote about solving the murder mystery in Macbeth.

I read the play over carefully that night, and the next morning, after breakfast, I sought out the American woman. She was on the putting green, and I came up behind her silently and took her arm. She gave an exclamation. "Could I see you alone?" I asked, in a low voice. She nodded cautiously and followed me to a secluded spot. "You've found out something?" she breathed. "I've found out," I said, triumphantly, "the name of the murderer!" "You mean it wasn't Macduff?" she said. "Macduff is as innocent of those murders," I said, "as Macbeth and the Macbeth woman."

By all means, read the whole thing!

Macbeth, shakespeare, james thurber.