Comparing Three Productions of Macbeth

Answers The last moments of a production are important because they can greatly alter the audiences' interpretation of the entire play. This is especially true in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. A number of unanswered questions such as whom is responsible for Macbeth's fate and whether peace is restored to the kingdom, gather at the end of the play Macbeth. In each of the different productions, directors Orson Wells, Roman Polanski, and Trevor Nunn allude to these …

…Wells predictably chooses for the evil to end and the good to once again run free. Trevor Nunn takes the safe approach by only alluding to the possibility that peace will not be restored through the veiled image of the cycle. In these last moments of a production the director contains the most power to explore his creative power and to attempt at an answer for those ambiguities that the author leaves open for interpretations.