I went to Central Park last week and saw Liev Schreiber in MacBeth. Now, Shakespear snobs will insist MacBeth is a poorer work, but I disagree. Is it complicated? No. Is it over the top dramatically? Yes. Does it make much sense when you have to kill people to fulfill a profecy*? No. Do I enjoy answering my own questions? Yes.

The directory made a bold decision and actually wedged the play into World War 2. The costuming and artilary sound effects rocked the play into another demention. And it got me thinking.

The characters MacBeth and Travis are not completely different. Both men seek something that is seemingly out of grasp. Crown or badge are equal inasmuch as both men feel as if, deep down, they may not even deserve it.

Funny thing the word deserve. Who of us alive can actually say we deserve to be? What have we done to deserve experiencing life, be it wonderful or desperate?

What’s funny about Travis is this: everyday as an officer he is forced to decide who is right and who is wrong. Meanwhile there is so much turmoil inside of himself he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. By the third act, Travis has made a decision (albeit in a poor state of mind) that he does deserve to wear the Rangers’ uniform, but by this time he can no longer decipher what punishments are deserving when it comes to others.

*The thing about a profecy is that it’s supposed to come true if you kept living your life the way you are now. If you were to then change anything in your life, you would alter the future, thus possibly altering the profecy. OR the profecy is supposed to take place no matter what you do to alter the future. Either way, no witch ever said that MacBeth had to kill anyone for him to be king, so what’s with all the stab-stab?

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