Other Doctor Lives: Macbeth (2025)

I saw photos and fanart from this theatrical production when it was running, and I was so glad to hear it was given a proshot recording! I nabbed a free trial of Marquee TV so I could watch it (along with Richard II, also starring David Tennant!) While I wouldn’t quite put it up with the best Shakespeare recordings I’ve watched, it’s still pretty cool.

The Scottish thane Macbeth is accosted by three witches who promise him greatness beyond his wild imaginings. He doesn’t think much of it to begin with, but when part of their prophecy comes true, he starts to wonder about the ultimate prize they dangled before him: could he really become king? As Macbeth sets out to make the prophecy a reality, urged on by his ambitious wife, he realizes that the crown comes with a high cost.

First things first, this production just looks cool. It’s a very minimalist set, essentially a white square with stark lighting, which makes details like blood stand out even more. When members of the ensemble aren’t in a scene, they sit or stand along the edge of the stage and sometimes provide eerie effects. For example, rather than having the witches as three distinct characters, their dialogue is passed between the ensemble, so the witches’ whispers seem to come at Macbeth from everywhere.

I think this might be a tricky production to watch if you didn’t already know this story. I could be wrong, but I feel like those cool minimalist elements and more abstract staging could make it harder to follow what’s happening onstage. So I’d say it’s probably best enjoyed by those already familiar with the play.

I liked it quite a bit. It definitely highlights the spooky elements, with the characters sometimes speaking in haunting whispers. That makes more grounded moments, like Banquo talking with his son, stand out. The drunken porter is also a highlight, throwing in some crowd work with his dialogue—I laughed at, “Front row seats! Look at you, you must be loaded, eh? Give me your wallet.” Besides Tennant, the only familiar actor to me was Cush Jumbo, who I recently saw as June on Criminal Record. She plays Lady Macbeth with appropriate steeliness. I especially liked her “Infirm of purpose!”

And then, of course, we have David Tennant as Macbeth. Giving another shoutout to the aesthetics of the production, his costume looks really great! When this production was running, I saw multiple people online expressing gender envy over it, and that tracks—he looks fantastic.

It took me a little while to warm up to Tennant’s performance here. At the beginning, for my money, he leans a little too far into the suspense/creepy atmosphere at the expense of clarity. His early soliloquies come in ominous, somber half-whispers. To me, they feel a little more recited than spoken. But Tennant draws me in more as the play goes on, especially as Macbeth gets more desperate to hold onto what he’s gained. His “She should have died hereafter” is excellent, and I love his “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech.

Accent Watch

Scottish.

Recommend?

In General – I think so. Like I said, it’s not quite top-tier for me, but it’s a cool production with excellent design and a great spooky atmosphere.

David Tennant – Yeah. When he hits those high moments, he’s really, really good.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including child murder,) staged violence, drinking, and disturbing images.

Romeo and Juliet (2021)

I liked the conceit of this TV movie better than I liked the execution. It comes from National Theatre Live, when the theatres were closed earlier in the pandemic. The cast comes together in an empty theatre—onstage, backstage, in the rehearsal room, and so on—to bring the classic Shakespeare tragedy to life.

Set against the backdrop of their warring Verona families, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love. Their infatuation with each other overrides any concerns about what will happen if their families find out, and they seek to build a life together. But violence is everywhere, and their love can’t shelter them from it. As circumstances conspire to separate them, Romeo and Juliet make plans to be together if it’s the last thing they do.

I’ll admit, I’m picky about Romeo and Juliet. I really like the play, but I have a harder time with productions and adaptations that don’t capture what I love about it. Namely, 1) it’s a tragedy, but it also has a lot of humor. And 2) Romeo and Juliet are dumb, impulsive kids who destroy their lives over an infatuation. When a production paints it as “a love story for the ages,” I can’t connect with it as well. Maybe that’s not fair of me, but it’s how I relate to the play.

And to an extent, this production plays it a little too straight for me. All the actors are turning in good performances—special shoutout to Shubham Saraf as Benvolio and David Judge as Tybalt—but the way the production interprets the story makes me feel kind of removed from it. It feels static rather than immediate, respectful rather than raw.

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t strong scenes and moments. The party at the Capulets’ is well done, Jessie Buckley does a great job with Juliet’s monologue before drinking Friar Laurence’s potion, and Mercutio’s final speech gives “a plague on both your houses” a weight I hadn’t seen there before. I also just really enjoy how the production is staged throughout the full theatre—the staging is excellent from start to finish. The offstage settings are used to great effect, and I like the choices the camera makes at times to linger on the reactions of someone who isn’t part of the scene (which we see sometimes in the scenes set in the rehearsal room, with the full cast present.) It was a neat way, not just to stage this story, but to make the theatre itself feel a bit like another character, which just further drives home the importance of theatre at a time when all of them were dark.

In addition to the actors I already mentioned, there are some other familiar faces in the cast. I’m not as familiar with Josh O’Connor myself, but I know he plays Charles in the more recent seasons of The Crown—as Romeo, he plays very well off of Buckley’s Juliet. Deborah Findlay, who I’ll always remember best as Greer in State of Play, is Juliet’s nurse, while Adrian Lester, one of my favorite Shakespearean actors, has a small role as Prince Escalus. The production also features Tamsin Grieg as Lady Capulet and Lucian Msamati as Friar Laurence.

Warnings

Violence, sexual references, drinking, and strong thematic elements (including suicide.)

Everyman (2015)

This is an interesting National Theatre Live entry. A new adaptation of a 15^th-century morality play, the production mixes classic devices with modern flair. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it’s certainly an experience.

Passed out from his birthday reveries, the eponymous Everyman becomes the subject of a celestial game. God and Death strike a wager for Everyman’s soul, giving him one day to present his case for what he’s done with his life and why he deserves to keep it.

I wasn’t familiar with the original play, which appears to have an unknown author and stem from the late 1400s. The National Theatre version is billed as a new adaptation by Carol Ann Duffy. It retains a lot of trappings from moralities plays of that era—or at least, what I know of them. We have a large chorus that sometimes speaks in unison or does call-and-response-type interactions with Everyman, and things like material wealth and sensuality are given personified representations. There are lots of monologues as Everyman veers from one increasingly desperate gambit to another, realizing that all the foundations he’s put stock in are of the “can’t take it with you” variety.

At the same time, both the production and the play itself are definitely updated for modern audiences. Pounding club beats pulse against the backdrop of Everyman’s birthday party, everyone wears contemporary dress, and there are plenty of modern references: for example, when Everyman is appealing to his material wealth to justify his existence, the scene is set up like a department store, with a sultry chorus member narrating what worldly goods might be found on each “floor.” The dialogue, meanwhile, is in blank verse and slips between older-sounding language and more contemporary vernacular.

On the whole, it’s more of a sermon than a story, but the way it’s told keeps it interesting. There are some bold choices in the direction, which is very stylized and larger-than-life. It helps that Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Everyman. By definition, the character doesn’t have much dimension on his own, so the production relies on Ejiofor’s charm and passion to make him come alive. Ejiofor’s Everyman is someone who seemingly “has it all” but is slowly realizing that his life is little more than an empty vessel, and he’s by turns cocky, frantic, and sympathetic. The show also features Sharon Clarke (Grace from the Thirteen era of Doctor Who) as Everyman’s mother.

Warnings

Sexual references, drinking/drug use, and thematic elements.