Macbeth PLAYHOUSE <STAFF>   Written by :William Shakespeare   Translated by :Tsuneari Fukuda Text and directed by :Tatsuo Kaneshita   Set Designer :Jiro Shima Lighting Designer :Ryuichi Nakagawa   Sound Designer :Masahiro Inoue Costume Designer :Ayako Maeda   Action :Hiroshi Atsumi Assistant Director :Kiyomi Fujii   Stage Manager :Shinichi Yano Artistic Director :Tamiya Kuriyama                 Presented by :New National Theatre, Tokyo       <CAST>   Takeshi Kaga      Keiko Takahashi      Keiko Oginome <PERFORMANCES>   September, 2000 Fri. 8 Sat. 9 Sun. 10 Tue. 12 Wed. 13 Thr. 14 Fri. 15 Sat. 16 Sun. 17 matinée   1:00pm 1:00pm   2:00pm 2:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 1:00pm evening 6:30pm     6:30pm           September, 2000 Tue. 19 Wed. 20 Thr. 21 Fri. 22 Sat. 23 Sun. 24 Tue. 26 Wed. 27 Sat. 30 matinée   2:00pm     1:00pm 1:00pm     1:00pm evening 6:30pm   6:30pm 6:30pm     6:30pm 6:30pm   There will be no performances on Monday 11, Monday 18 and Monday 25 September. All seats for Thursday 28 and Friday 29 September have been reserved for groups. Seats for Thursday 28 September at 1:00 p.m. have all been reserved for groups, except Z seats, for which tickets will be available. Groups of students will attend the performances on Wednesday 13, Thursday 14 and Saturday 16 September. Doors will open 60 minutes before the start of each performance. <TICKET PRICES>   Type Seat S Seat A Seat B Price ¥6,300 ¥5,250 ¥3,150 To order tickets, please call +81-3-5352-9999 (10:00am-6:00pm) Seat Z(¥1,500) is sold only on the performance day at the Box Office and a part of Ticket Pia Offices. Is It Magic or Is It Destiny ...? A New Depth in Tragedy  The 2000/2001 drama season of the New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) will open with a program designed by Tamiya Kuriyama, Artistic Director for NNTT's drama division since July 2000. Leading the vanguard is Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's four major tragedies, which has continued to be presented worldwide for nearly four hundred years. The Stage Director is Tatsuo Kaneshita, who has an established reputation for creating profoundly dramatic worlds. Macbeth commits one murder after another out of a tenacious ambition for the throne. A wild and powerful drama will unfold as Kaneshita sheds light on Macbeth's multi-faceted character marked by cruelty, weakness, and vulnerability. Invited to play the title role is Takeshi Kaga, who will appear in a straight play for the first time in twelve years. You will surely enjoy Macbeth, which will be presented with the best possible cast of actors and actresses. Synopsis  Macbeth, a brave general and the pride of the Scottish army, and Banquo, a general of the same army, return from a victorious campaign against a Norwegian army. On their way home, they encounter on a heath several witches who prophesy that Macbeth shall be king of Scotland. Motivated by the prophecy, Lady Macbeth spurs on her husband and both carry out the assassination of Duncan, king of Scotland, when the latter visits their castle. Though agonized by his own bloody act after succeeding to the throne, Macbeth also kills Banquo, who heard the witches' prophecy with him, to safeguard his position. At the banquet held that same night, however, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo and goes mad, throwing the feast into confusion. Gradually veering from the course of sanity, he commits a succession of murders of those whom the witches prophesy will threaten his kingship. Lady Macbeth, who had initially goaded on her husband, finally dies from fear of these repeated acts of butchery. Eventually the time comes when Macbeth's own fate is sealed. "Macbeth, a Man of Reason"               By Tatsuo Kaneshita  Some says that the existing text of Macbeth may contain some non-Shakespearean material. It is true that when I read it with such a belief in mind, I find some paragraphs to be inconsistent, though it is considered one of the four major tragedies written by Shakespeare. Nevertheless, the reason Macbeth is so well known among the plays written by the Bard may lie in the universal nature of this drama. In history, Macbeth-like power struggles are almost beyond count. Innumerable bloodthirsty human wolves have vied for supremacy, with deep-rooted suspicion driving them to check each other's moves in a recurring series of smoldering feuds. The phenomenon of those on top being toppled from below was often seen in the history of Japan as well, not least in the Warring States period. One of the human characteristics displayed most conspicuously under these circumstances is the instinct to leave one's legacy to future generations. In a word, the greatest tragedy of Macbeth and his wife may lie in the fact that though they went to extremes, they had no children through which they could pass on their own blood to subsequent generations. A man of thorough reason who defied the instinct of human beings to hand down their legacies to their posterity -- that may be the essence of Macbeth.