URGENT! MacBeth help

[oman]

What is the most accessible version of MacBeth? And one that isn't too R rated?

My daughter is going to study the play and I need a film version.

[Crimen y Castigo]

I'm pretty sure the opening shot of Polanski's MacBeth is somebody getting their head torn open with a metal mace.

So you might want to avoid that one.

[MeridianFC]

How old is your daughter? The subject matter is not going to lend itself to a nice and tidy PG13 for a film rendention.

Of interest might be Kurosawa's take on the story "Throne of Blood".

BTW not to be old fashioned, but isn't she supposed to read the tale?

[oman]

She's 15. The violence is not a big deal because we can always just fast forward through it. I heard the polanski version, which I need to watch, has lots of ugly nekkid chicks in it, and that may make it hard to deal with, since I will probably watch it with her.

My 12 year old digs Kurosawa, and my 15 year old doesn't like him.

She is kind of a literalist, so at this point I am thinking the heavy Orson Wells version may be the one. Just trying to find out if you all have seen any new one, perhaps a BBC version for TV, that might work.

[oman]

BTW not to be old fashioned, but isn't she supposed to read the tale?

Yes, of course she is going to read it. But Shakeseare is always more interesting if you can hear a recording of it or see a film version.

[oman]

Paging Kenneth Branaugh.

[Crimen y Castigo]

Wow --> Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002TVWYW/ref=pd_sim_d_1/104-0681856-5294302?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130)

I've never seen that one, but those two are phenomenal. I've seen McKellen do Shakespeare on stage a few times and he's unbelievably great.

EDIT: Netflix has it. And it's just been added to my queue.

[Ringo]

go to your library and get the book on CD ... that helps a lot. my wife teaches English and she does this a lot before starting a unit. it's a good refresher that she can listen to on her commute.

might be a good backup solution if you can't find a movie you like.

[Iceblink]

The Ian McKellan/Judi Dench MacBeth is AWFUL for students!!!! AWFUL! It's done with an unbelievably sparse set.... black box practically. And McKellan is too old already. No student can relate to it.

I just taught MacBeth last month.

This one was quite good.

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70015620&trkid=189530&strkid=27295165_7_0

It's a filmed play... but it's done in a way where it's obviously theater, but it's obviously done with the knowledge that they were on camera... so they do some interesting things.

Decent acting, but not great. I had a couple issues. The theater setting made a couple things just ok... like.. the attack of the soldiers wearing tree branches (Birnam Woods attacks) was not done to my liking...

but the costumes are good... the acting is generally decent... though Macbeth and his wife are both pretty ugly... though in a way his ugliness makes sense... why else would he do anything she wants and be so afraid to lose her... know what I mean? Ok... talking too much now...

ANyway, it's the BBC version. Pretty good. NOT McKellan!!!

[Iceblink]

Polanski version... reviewed and showed to 17 year olds in my class before.

If violence isn't an issue... are ya sure? He gets his head lopped off at the end and it bounces down some stairs. Kids loved it.

Nudity... flashing witch really. I think there's some sagging old witch boob and the youngest of the witches flashes full frontal for a brief moment.

During Lady Macbeth sleepwalking/going nuts... Polanski version has a cutie lady Macbeth wandering around in the buff. Mostly hiney nudity. No big deal. Like I said... showed it to juniors... and it's in our school library.

It's not so bad.

The ending is far better done in this version than in the BBC, but the quality of the BBC is very good.

[Iceblink]

How old is your daughter? The subject matter is not going to lend itself to a nice and tidy PG13 for a film rendention.

Of interest might be Kurosawa's take on the story "Throne of Blood".

BTW not to be old fashioned, but isn't she supposed to read the tale?

Shakespeare wasn't meant to be read... even though we do it continually in our English classes. I'm glad she's going to see it performed... even if it is on film.

"Throne of Blood" is not accessible to a 15 year old girl. Perhaps a couple scenes from it afterwards to say "Wow... look... it really is a Japanese Macbeth!" but not as the film to accompany the reading of the text.

Same thing with Scotland, PA. Great too see (but with a lot of swearing)... but not a good accompaniment.

[flowergirl]

Is she actually going to be performing it? or just studying it?

if performing, i would actually encourage not to watch other versions. exploring it yourself is much more interesting and fun.

if it's just for study i'd try to find a live version to see if you can. actually the Ian McKellen blackbox one sounds interesting.

[oman]

Thanks for the help. In the end, I think we have some time to look at some versions and so by this Tuesday or Wednesday I should have all of these from the library.

I was only able to get two at the local video place -- the McKellan and the Orson Wells.

We set up the DVD and the video player (McKellan on DVD and Wells on video), sat down as a family and read the synopsis to Act 1. Then we started the McKellan version (my wife hates Orson Wells and really did not want to watch that version).

After about five minutes, the kids voted McKellan off -- they didn't like the way it was performed/read.

So we switched to the Orson Wells version and their was unanimous agreement that we would watch Orson and that wild ass version. The viking helmets won them over.

In the end, they may end up liking the Polanski version. The fifteen year old was being a teenage about it. ("Shakespeare was gay.") The 12 year old was into it and would not stop asking questions.

My biggest issue with MacBeth is that I really never liked the play, and loved King Lear. (out vile jelly).