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Arts & Culture

KPBS/Arts Three-Line Review: 'Macbeth'

A photo of Jonathan Cake as Macbeth and Marsha Stephanie Blake as Lady Macbeth in The Old Globe's 2016 production.
Jim Cox
A photo of Jonathan Cake as Macbeth and Marsha Stephanie Blake as Lady Macbeth in The Old Globe's 2016 production.

Don't have time to read long reviews? KPBS/Arts tells you all you need to know in three lines.KPBS Three-Line Review: "Macbeth," playing now through Sunday, July 24.

The moment you step into the Old Globe's outdoor theater and see bandaged soldiers laying in beds (before the show even begins), you know this isn't a traditional staging of "Macbeth."

A photo of Macbeth arriving from battle, ready to be named Thane of Cawdor.
Jim Cox
A photo of Macbeth arriving from battle, ready to be named Thane of Cawdor.

The brutal tale instead opens in a sterile hospital where soldiers recover from battles, and where patients recite the lines usually reserved for the prophesizing witches.

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A photo of Jonathan Cake as Macbeth in The Globe's 2016 production.
Jim Cox
A photo of Jonathan Cake as Macbeth in The Globe's 2016 production.

The actors are top-notch and the World War I-inspired setting is sparse and creepy, adding a new dimension of dread to an already macabre play.