![\"macbeth_16-print\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/macbeth_16-print.jpg\")
<\/a>Among the wounded are the three combatants (Makha Mthembe, Amy Blackman, and Suzelle Palacios) who deliver the initial prophecy to the heroic Macbeth (Jonathan Cake) and Banquo (Timothy D. Stickney); to wit, that Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, shall become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland and that Banquo will never be king, but will be the sire of kings. The three ladies disappear from their wheelchairs as if by magic, one of Kulick\u2019s magic tricks achieved through distraction.<\/p>\n Made aware of the prophecy, the power hungry Lady Macbeth (Marsha Stephanie Blake) awaits her slightly wounded, much bewildered husband and spurs him to action in order to help speed prophetic things along. Under her direction, Macbeth slays their houseguest, King Duncan (the imposing James Preston Bates) and then proceeds to destroy others who may suspect Macbeth and\/or stand in his way to complete, totalitarian rule. These include friends, kinsman and comrades. Both Macbeths become unhinged, and madness ensues.<\/p>\n The pragmatic mind rebels. Apparently we are still in the asylum, which turns red (Arnulfo Maldonado, scenic designer; Jason Lyons, lighting) even as the initial murders are done, with Lady Macbeth drawing an enormous red curtain over the formerly white walls of the asylum (even the floor turns red at the interval).<\/p>\n Patients morph into courtiers for the famous banquet scene, replete with an enormous, stage-wide table whose revolving allows for the presence and disappearance of the dead Banquo, who is seen only by Macbeth. Banquo\u2019s son Fleance (Ajinkya Desai) has eluded Macbeth\u2019s murderers and eventually becomes King, but only after opposition gathers, Dunsinane forest advances on the castle, or asylum, and Macbeth is defeated in battle by Macduff (Clifton Duncan), a man who was \u201cnot of woman born.\u201d A prolonged duel with pistols instead of swords doesn\u2019t work, but no matter, the later witchy prophecy is fulfilled and the play is finito. I do miss the view of Balboa Park, but that\u2019s just fussy old me. The improved sound system works fine (designers Sten Severson and David Thomas).<\/p>\n One of high points of the play \u2013 the revelation to Macduff that his entire household, wife, children and even servants, have been brutally murdered \u2013 is handled exceptionally well. Duncan (Globe production of \u201cThe Scottsboro Boys\u201d), who plays Macduff, is a fine actor, as are many others in the huge company.<\/p>\n In the real world of entertainment, the Macbeths, for instance, are stars of television and film. Cake has classical creds, too, having trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and played many Shakespeare roles in his native England and on the<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nEast Coast. He is handsome, speaks the words beautifully (including the slowest \u201cTomorrow and Tomorrow\u201d ever heard, and looks great in costume designer Oana Botez\u2019s WWI uniform, mostly sans shirt). The diminutive Blake, who received her master\u2019s of fine arts from UCSD, is less impressive as Lady Macbeth, lacking the evil gravitas and command we have come to expect from the role.<\/p>\n