Antunes Throne Of Blood And Macbeth
TEXT, PERFORMANCE AND FILM: AN INTERMEDIAL READING OF ANTUNES FILHO´S THRONE OF BLOOD/MACBETH
Liana de Camargo Leâo (UFPR)
Mail Marques de Azevedo (UNIANDRADE)
“Shakespeare´s plays, with their inherently flexible structure and openness of style, positively invite distinctive re-interpretation on performance.”
John Russell Brown
Throne of Blood/Macbeth, the title of Brazilian director Antunes Filho´s staging of the Shakespearean tragedy, refers explicitly to Akira Kurosawa´s film, and puts into relief its intermedial characteristics. In fact, the director carried his well-known devotion to the cinema into the organization of the CPT, Centro de Pesquisa Teatral (Theatrical Research Center), ─ where the play was produced, in 1993. …show more content…
In spite of his torment, nevertheless, it is clear that ambition prevails and Macbeth´s decision to kill Duncan is an act of free will.
Antunes Filho´s staging enhances Macbeth´s compulsive descent into a world of shadows and darkness from the moment he lends ears to the witches´ prophecies to his death at the hands of Macduff. As in Shakespeare´s original text, Macbeth wages a losing battle against his own inner darkness, made up of remorse at having murdered his king, and of his cruel resolve to betray, deceive and kill whoever may thwart his lust for power.
The reflection on good and evil is not an isolated topic in Antunes´s theatrical productions. In his book Hierofania: o teatro segundo Antunes Filho (2010), Sebastião Milaré includes an analysis of Throne of Blood in the chapter called “Sinergia do mal” (“Evil Synergy”), in which he groups the play with two other of the director´s productions – Velha nova estória and Vereda da Salvação – both centering on the exploration of evil. Milaré sees this phase as having continuity with the coming production of Gilgamesh and Drácula e outros vampiros, both of which explore the poetics of immortality and the myth of the tree of life. Together the five plays are a meditation about the human condition as envisaged at the end of the twentieth
Liana de Camargo Leâo (UFPR)
Mail Marques de Azevedo (UNIANDRADE)
“Shakespeare´s plays, with their inherently flexible structure and openness of style, positively invite distinctive re-interpretation on performance.”
John Russell Brown
Throne of Blood/Macbeth, the title of Brazilian director Antunes Filho´s staging of the Shakespearean tragedy, refers explicitly to Akira Kurosawa´s film, and puts into relief its intermedial characteristics. In fact, the director carried his well-known devotion to the cinema into the organization of the CPT, Centro de Pesquisa Teatral (Theatrical Research Center), ─ where the play was produced, in 1993. …show more content…
In spite of his torment, nevertheless, it is clear that ambition prevails and Macbeth´s decision to kill Duncan is an act of free will.
Antunes Filho´s staging enhances Macbeth´s compulsive descent into a world of shadows and darkness from the moment he lends ears to the witches´ prophecies to his death at the hands of Macduff. As in Shakespeare´s original text, Macbeth wages a losing battle against his own inner darkness, made up of remorse at having murdered his king, and of his cruel resolve to betray, deceive and kill whoever may thwart his lust for power.
The reflection on good and evil is not an isolated topic in Antunes´s theatrical productions. In his book Hierofania: o teatro segundo Antunes Filho (2010), Sebastião Milaré includes an analysis of Throne of Blood in the chapter called “Sinergia do mal” (“Evil Synergy”), in which he groups the play with two other of the director´s productions – Velha nova estória and Vereda da Salvação – both centering on the exploration of evil. Milaré sees this phase as having continuity with the coming production of Gilgamesh and Drácula e outros vampiros, both of which explore the poetics of immortality and the myth of the tree of life. Together the five plays are a meditation about the human condition as envisaged at the end of the twentieth