Verdi considered Shakespeare’s Macbeth to be “one of the greatest creations by man,” so when he set out to adapt it into an opera his aim was hugely ambitious. The pitch black tragedy of greed and betrayal is given a rich, haunting quality by Verdi’s theatrical score. When Macbeth is prophesized to be king by a coven of witches—rendered here as a chorus of strange, scarlet-turbaned creatures—his ruthless desire for power drives him and his wife to murder. Features a lush, shadowed colour palette of red, black and gold in director Phyllida Lloyd’s inspired claustrophobic staging.
Includes one 15 min intermission.