Ye Olde Bucket List...Part One

It's been a busy few days since my last post and I've been having a rather splendid time enjoying some of what the English do best...namely Shakespeare and sporting banter. So you lucky, lucky Gidday-ers get two posts.

I know. Two for the price of one. That's got to be an offer you can't possibly refuse.

Macbeth came first.

To provide a little context for this rather tragic inclusion on ye olde bucket list, all of that 'double double toil and trouble' stuff has been running around in my head since High School when I studied the play as part of the English curriculum in Year 11 and then revisited it in Year 12 English Literature.

And the fun didn't stop there. Lo and behold, Macbeth was also the Shakespearean text in my first semester of literature at University. That's three times in three years. The Merchant of Venice the following term was a breath of fresh air.

Anyway I've never actually seen the play. Ever. Not even a movie adaptation.

So on Saturday night I settled into my seat at The Phoenix Cinema (my lovely local) and watched a live transmission from the Manchester International Festival. Kenneth Branagh co-directed (with Rob Ashford) and took the leading role with Alex Kingston (of ER fame) as Macbeth's lady wife by his side.

The set wasn't a theatre but a deconsecrated church so the live audience sat either side of the central aisle and watched the action unfold...on the grassy verge in the middle. The rains came down, battles were won and lost, murder most foul committed and vengeance served in the end.

It was absolutely brilliant, Branagh was breath-taking...

...and Macbeth finally got ticked off the bucket list.

But the weekend wasn't yet over.

Tomorrow I'll let you know what else got ticked off.