Macbeth Production Review On October 28, 2002, I went to see a production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, starring Sean Bean as Macbeth, and directed by Edward Hall. I was looking forward to seeing this particular production, as I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and was excited to see one of the cast on stage, and thanks to Sean Bean's performance in the film, I had high expectations for the show. .The show opened with a loud clap of thunder that caused much of the audience (or, at least, our school group) to accidentally throw their sweets over the row in front of them in sheer shock. The lights that suddenly went out in the auditorium, instead of dimming gently, accompanied this thunder. The stage lighting in this show was used very effectively to show different positions on a rather limited set. The stage had a sort of semi-circle shape and in the center was a circle of metal grids where light of different colors shone through the floor to create different effects, and the shadows cast by the floor lighting were more sinister and strange than normal lights above. The green light shone on all the outdoor scenes, which looked eerie and natural at the same time, which was very effective. As the set had to be adapted to so many different rooms, the use of light was successful, as it was easy to distinguish the different locations (e.g. Macduff's house and Macbeth's castle). Little music was used in the production, but what little there was was used at the right times to add atmosphere to the scenes. When the witches started singing at the beginning, it was... middle of the card... at that time. Lady Macbeth (played by Samantha Bond) was also very believable in her role. However, the one cast member who I thought was slightly lacking in presence was Banquo. He was far superior as Banquo's ghost than as a living Banquo, and his silent presence at the side of the stage was often very disturbing. Overall I really enjoyed this production and may see it again in the future, however one thing that I found somewhat frustrating was the way the director merged the present with the past, because it wasn't accurate and seemed simply out of place. The timeline inexplicably jumps from dark medieval Scotland to what appear to be 20th century soldiers running around with machine guns, storm trooper uniforms, elevators and helicopters, which can be a little confusing..