Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

So, another year, another crop of great stuff, and another set of opinions you didn't ask for but are getting anyway.  I am having to be brutal in my selections here as there as so many great things I couldn't shoehorn in.   I have linked to my original thoughts too, where I have already published them. Best revival of a play So many great plays, many of them revivals this year, so I am working on the basis that the play needs to be properly old to fit into this category, and there needs to be something different from the original production.  There were many also rans, but the nominees are: Macbeth:  At the Donmar, with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, this is a play I usually don't actually like very much, spoiled I think by studying it at school.  I was also suspicious about the use of headphones throughout, expecting that it would be distancing from the action.  In fact, it did the opposite; having the protaganists whisper their soliliquy direct into...

The first striking thing about this production is that it is almost completely monochrome,  A large white stage with a dark glass backdrop, all of the cast in black or grey, except Lady Macbeth (Cush Jumbo) in glowing white.  This means that you can't miss the blood. The play opens with a bloodied Macbeth (David Tennant) washing himself clean, bloodying the bowl of water, bringing red into that monochrome colour scheme,  and then we are into the play proper with the disembodied witches swirling around in our ears.    We were in the cheap seats as usual, but as ever in this intimate theatre it doesn’t make too much difference. Apart from a few times when sight lines didn't work for those of us in the circle, we were so close to the action that we didn't miss much.  This is a tight ensemble cast, all excellent, and I loved the broad Scottishness of it all, from the accents to the music.  This was a fairly short version of the play at 1 hour 55 minutes wi...