Childish and gory, is this a shambles I see before me? QUENTIN LETTS’ first night review of Rory Kinnear as Macbeth

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School parties will still go, I suppose, but the Royal National’s new production of Macbeth is a stinker.

Grungily modern-dress, it is a low-lit mess engulfed by blunt grottiness. The artistic aim is dystopia but the grime is so overdone that it made some audience members chuckle. Hardly a night of tragedy.

Characters trudge round the stage carrying plastic bags containing dead babies and gory scalps. At the very end, Malcolm (played flimsily by Parth Thakerar) holds Macbeth’s severed head in such a bag. He could have just been out to the shops.

Banquo’s ghost totters in and out as if he’s just been at the sherry bottle. King Duncan and courtiers have a disco-style rave, the monarch dancing on a table shortly before his death.

d5cec4c70a634a888435c43ebdec3fea Childish and gory, is this a shambles I see before me? QUENTIN LETTS' first night review of Rory Kinnear as Macbeth

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