Macbeth

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Stephen Dillane, Fiona Shaw, full cast

Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

By the time Shakespeare came to write Macbeth - almost certainly in 1605/1606 - he had already completed three of the great tragedies with which modern audiences are so familiar: Hamlet (1601), Othello (1603), and King Lear (1605). Each of those plays gives us an eponymous hero who is in some significant way flawed, but for whom we also inevitably feel deep sympathy, whatever his errors or crimes. But in MacBeth, Shakespeare has chosen for his tragic hero a man guilty of the most terrible crime imaginable to a Jacobean audience, that of regicide - the murder of a king.

Part of the writer's triumph is to succeed in making Macbeth, whose crime we must detest, a man in whom we must also see something of our own darker side, our own potential for evil, so that Malcolm's final judgment on him as a mere "butcher" seems wholly inadequate, the verdict of someone who does not share the audience's insight into Macbeth's anguished inner world.

Now sit back and enjoy this lively performance, featuring the voices of award-winning actors Stephen Dillane (Macbeth) and Fiona Shaw (Lady Macbeth), accompanied by a full cast.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

Public Domain (P)1998 Naxos Audiobooks

Fire burn and cauldron bubble - an excellent stew

A most worthwhile rendition of Macbeth. The voices are expressive and clear, without milking the emotions. The narrative flows well. The technical quality is good, with the very occasional exception of some bit players, where the voices are muted, for example that of the third witch. All in all, a rollicking tale of gore and guts to gladden the hearts of Quentin Taratino fans.

The emotion and drama in the reading.

This was an outstanding reading of a classic. The performances bring the words to life and make this so much more than words on a page. Highly recommend

Great play

Would have been better if background music/sounds had not overcome the voices in several places

lackluster i feel

this version seems so wooden compared to other versions i have or have seen. while it has the merits of the players enunciating clearly and so dialogue is reasonably easy to follow, I found the acting to be very uninspired and Macbeth has so many great lines and speeches but actor in Mac's role seemed at times to be reading from a page in front of him as if he was seeing it for first time. Macbeth is perhaps my favorite play and I have seen or listened to some interesting performances, but this was disappointing to me.

Great voices for great performance!

I love the the interpretation of Fiona Shaw. She's a superb Lady Macbeth.
Also the cast is very attractive.

the quality could be better

You can bearly hear one of the witches, and they don't sound like witches enough to suit me. The preference of the witches' dramatization may be nit-picky, but the complaint about not being able to hear one of them is serious. And that's kind of a problem for me, since they're one of my favorite parts of the story.

Bad experience

I was looking forward to a good rendition of Macbeth to listen to in my car, but this one leaves you confused at best. Acts and scenes are not announced, so you don't really know what is going on; difficult to figure out which character is which - if you pile on the Shakespearean era English and occasional poor sonics, it makes for a dissatisfying experience.

Save your money.

Good Story, annoying sound quality

The classic tale is dissapointing only in the area of sound quality. Of the witches, the first scene and later, you can only hear one of them well, the second ok, and the third not at all. Other Sound quality issues are also annoying.