The presence of Sean Bean in the title role ensured crowds of women in the audience, and the men, meanwhile, were kept happy with Samantha Bond, whose chilly sexual appeal has become her trademark. Fans of the show rather than the stars will have a second bite of the cherry when, as part of the BITE season, Macbeth comes to the Barbican in April.
This production is directed by Calixto Bieto, whose sexually explicit production of Don Giovanni for English National Opera caused a scandal last season.
Now, Bieto (last seen at the Barbican in the BITE 99 production of Life Is a Dream) returns to the arts complex with what has been described as "an apocalyptic and thrilling reworking of Shakespearean bloody tragedy." Macbeth will run April 8-12.
