Macbeth

I'm sure you all remember our man Macbeth: Shakespeare's notably bloodthirsty, somewhat henpecked, Scottish social climber who (literally) hacks his way to the top and then--like so many politicians after him--expends all of his energies trying to retain his precarious position of power, with tragic results (one is reminded of our own Thane of Santa Barbara, MacNixon). Calling itself a "digital textbook," this not-quite-ready-for-prime-time entry offers up a truncated, modern day version of the play (substituting guns for swords) that looks as if it might have been mounted by local community theatre talent (the acting itself is not all that bad, but the decision to shoot offstage was a mistake--in Act IV, Scene iii, for example, we not only have to contend with Shakespeare's language but also crashing waves as Malcolm and Macduff stroll along the ocean beach). In between acting segments, the program features various actors filling in parts of the story not performed, while also offering insights into Shakespeare's themes and linguistic devices. The DVD also includes text from the play along with glossary definitions, although I found the claim that the "user can easily move from the program to the text" a little overstated (it is easy to return to your place in the video from the text, but not vice versa). Other problems great and small plague the production: on the minor side, one subheading for a picture of guards was labeled "The Gaurds"; more importantly, the advertised extra DVD-ROM content of lesson plans, discussion questions, quizzes, and more, failed to materialize on two separate computers running Windows ME (although I was able to view these items using a laptop running Windows XP). Given the aforementioned problems, this is, at best, an optional purchase for more technologically savvy English departments. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)