Macbeth Royal Opera House stage
Available online until December 28 (stream.roh.org.uk)
Rating: 
Phyllida Lloyd’s production of Macbeth, with designs and costumes by Anthony Ward, will be 20 years old next year, but on both stage and on screen wears its years lightly.
Lloyd appears in Mamma Mia! She directed the film in mode, telling the story with a simple and colourful style.
The Macbeths’ gilded cage, in which much of the action is played out (gilded but a cage, geddit?This is just a common cliche that works.
Simon Keenlyside (Macbeth, above) and Günther Groissböck (Banquo) look like tough Scottish warriors, but neither can match Anna Pirozzi (Lady Macbeth) vocally
The proliferation of silent, red-turbaned witches to help the action progress isn’t a clever way to facilitate key moments.
That it’s so good to look at isn’t only a boon for the audience in the auditorium, but for those who get the chance, for an outlay of £16, to see it on screen at home.
The ROH is looking to bring in a whole new audience who, for either geographical or financial reasons or both, can’t have the live experience. The experience was so compelling that I watched it on my computer after watching live.
Highly recommended. This revival is musically excellent. Anna Pirozzi is a commanding Lady Macbeth, who dazzled the audience with as fine a display of Verdi’s singing as I have heard here in a long time.
Neither Simon Keenlyside’s Macbeth nor Günther Groissböck’s Banquo can match her vocally. But, those who live in the country will be able to appreciate their credibility as hardy Scottish warriors.
It owes much to Daniele Rustioni’s vivid, idiomatic conductorship musically.
This hugely talented Italian maestro lives in London, and is Mystic Mellor’s tip to be Covent Garden’s new music director.