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Dreams I’ll Send You | Essay 5
A birthday month practice
For the month of February 2025, I’ve decided to publish a micro essay once a day. I described the why and what over here.
I saw Macbeth at the movie theater this evening. The Donmar Warehouse in London mounted a production last year, with David Tennant as the title character and Cush Jumbo as Lady Macbeth. If I had only been in London last year, I would have tried to go. I love theater in London, I love Macbeth, and let’s not even get started on how I love David Tennant. But I haven’t been to London since just before the covid-19 lockdown — the longest period of time I’ve been away since I started traveling in earnest over two decades ago. I miss it. I miss traveling like I used to, before the pandemic, before the world started collapsing.
The relatively new format — or if not new, newly resurgent — of filming live theater performances for broadcast runs in movie theaters feels like an interesting (perhaps essential) way to fill the gap of immediate presence. As soon as I heard about this filmed version of Macbeth, I snapped up tickets. And I held my breath nearly all throughout the performance. The sets are minimal and the costumes are monochromatic. The sound design is intimate. David Tennant whispers, making you think you can almost feel him speaking directly into your ears, the most famous passages — the ones…
