Watch the full film of Rupert Goold’s Macbeth starring Sir Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood below.
Following a London West End run in December 2007, a sold-out limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2008, and a subsequent eight-week run on Broadway, director Rupert Goold’s gripping stage production of Macbeth was filmed for television at the end of 2009. Patrick Stewart in his triumphant, Tony-nominated performance as the ambitious general, and Tony-nominated Kate Fleetwood as his coldly scheming wife. On March 31, 2011, Macbeth was the proud recipient of a George Foster Peabody Award.
133 Responses to “Watch the Full Program”
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Why can’t I watch it? : (
It might be the browser. I could not view from IE, but Firefox was fine.
:( I am trying to watch the Macbeth performance and cannot. The video is not attached to the picture, or the link doesn’t work. Using firefox with a Linux os.
Dear Starfire,
The program stream is geo-tagged to only work within the U.S.
Thank you for your comment.
Pleeeease fix it so my class can watch Act IV and V. This is such a wonderful interpretation.
i am just wondering why mine isn’t working,i have tried the links about 10 times. But the video shows the picture i press play but it says it’s not available at this time.
It didn’t work at first for me etiher; give it a couple minutes for the video sign to pop up on the picture. I think it took me five minutes before it did.
I was unable to access MACBETH. Why and how do I do it?
I really need this website to be fixed because i really need to watch this version. This is the only website that has the video for free.I have tried at my school and on three different computers so its definitely the website. I have been trying for three days straight but the website keeps on saying that their are technical difficulties.
Hi Emily,
The video is back up and running. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks,
GP Team
Brilliant!
i cant watch it either?
Thrilling, terrifying and breathtaking! I’ve never experienced such an exciting performance. By the way, I LOVED Hamlet with Patrick Stewart and David Tennant as well. Thank you Great Performances!
Thank you for posting this, PBS! I have been checking back daily in hopes of seeing it here. Now, will it be available to buy soon? I would love to show it to my class, but so much can go wrong with video streaming.
It’s not working for me either.
I want to add my thanks to PBS for posting this. Patrick Stewart has been involved with some of the most stunning Shakespeare productions I have ever seen. This is jaw dropping amazing. The David Tenant Hamlet was equally good and let us not forget Stewart’s King Lear set in the American West from a few years back. This was a TNT production of exceptional quality. Bravo, Sir Patrick! Give us more!
At first it didn’t work for me either, but then I waited for a few moments…Hover your cursor over the center of the photo…somewhere to the right of Lady Mcbeth’s cheek…the play button should show up.
Hey, Id like to also add my many thanks for posting Macbeth….Please keep up it here a couple more days so I can tell some more of my friends to watch it who missed it on TV…really appreciate it ! thanks
I can’t watch it. I’m disappointed because I’ve heard such good things about it.
This worked for me last night but is no longer working? The play button showed up, but it’s forever loading. Agh. Disappointed because I didn’t get to finish it and what I saw was so good.
I can’t access it, either, even by going through the PBS Video site directly. It keeps trying to load, but without success. Obviously there’s a glitch that I hope PBS corrects soon.
Ah, it worked this time. I think it’s like Lylo said above: you need to put your cursor somewhere to the right of Kate Fleetwood’s cheek.
Who would’ve thought.
WOW. That was…wicked. Stewart was powerful, and Kate Fleetwood was horrifying. That may just be the best Macbeth ever put on film.
So sad, the video won’t play!!! Please, please, please fix it PBS!
Thanks in advance,
Veronika xo
It’s very frustrating to read these glowing comments (some of which do not sound genuine) when so many of us can’t get the video to play at all. The comments about “hovering” the cursor etc. are not helpful when no picture appears on the video screen – just a note from PBS that “the requested video is not available.” After PBS went to the effort and expense to send classroom packets to English teacher like me, and alerted us that the video would be ready for showing as soon as the broadcasts began, this seems to be an unforgivable technical glitch – especially since I want to use the video for our current study of the play! Please fix this, PBS!
I would love to watch this with my students… why can’t we see it?
The requested video is unavailable. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
Please make it available!
Dear Carolyn,
We apologize for the video being down, but at the moment all PBS video is down. Please check back and we hope to have the video up and running soon.
Thanks for your patience!
Best,
David
Dear Viewers,
The full video of Macbeth is now up and running. We apologize for the inconvenience and we hope you enjoy the program.
Macbeth video is not available again. I have tried IE as well as Firefox. It goes through the motions and where it is downloading, the “addthis.com” continues to show up on the screen. It never fully gets to download the video. The picture does ot even show up in the box anymore. It did at one time tell me to update the flash player. I have done that now and it still does not show.
I’m having the same problem in our school..Tried IE and Firefox
I’ve tried 5 versions of flash and nothing -
Hi Pat,
Could you clarify exactly what’s happening when you try to play the video? Please let us know what kind of error message you are receiving and we can attempt to fix the problem.
Thank you,
GP Team
Good movie :D Gross to see he head though, but good movie.
Hey! I know you!
Ok…how soon is soon? Days or weeks? Any idea? And will there be a DVD we can purchase for our English classrooms?
I also hope that the video can be viewed soon. My sister-in-law is one of the witches and I am eager to see her TV performance. The BAM and Broadway productions were incredible. I was delighted that PBS decided to air this on Great Performances! Please fix this soon!
So, it has been 5 days and the video still will not play. We are really excited to have a great production of Macbeth, so this is truly disappointing. Why is it taking so long to correct this problem?
Dear Great Performances Viewers,
Thank you for your patience. The full video of Macbeth is now up and running. We apologize for the technical difficulties and we thank you for being so interested in the show! Happy watching…
the movie works fine have patience -.-
this was awsome i enjoyed watching this very much:]
This production looks absolutely brilliant. It’s a shame those of us in Atlanta were subject to the muck-ups of the inattentive Sunday afternoon B-team personnel in WPBA-Atlanta’s master control. Not only did they flub the beginning of the program at its 2:00 PM start time, when they finally DID find the “play” button, they started it in the second half! What a pathetic treatment of this magnificent program. I’m furious at this.
Those witches were so freaky. Where does the footage of war come from?
Where do I click to watch it? Is it just supposed to be here because all I see is the picture? =/
Check again. Click the circle in the center of the pic. IE works fine with me.
But more importantly, I’m glad PBS posted this. I fell asleep during the TV perf on Great Perf-, (that’s not a dis on thee production…) I like Sshakespeare but can only take it at a pace of an hour a day.
Thank you PBS. Say Hi to Big Bird for me.
I watched this on TV and it was great. I want to watch it again, but I am hard of hearing and it appears that the captions are not available online. I know the TV version was captioned so it should be easy for someone to add them to the video file… please??
I watched 20 minutes yesterday with Mozilla. Now I can’t. Help.
This is awesome! The witches scene was cool!
Lady Macbeth is sooooo great but kinda scary….soooooo bony!!! feed her a cheeseburger! hehe
and Grandpa Macbeth is cool too…and his mustache!
This site is making me incredibly frustrated. All we can hear about this movie is glowing reviews and comments about how amazing the actors are in their roles, and now we can’t see it? What the heck PBS? One day we get the video to load but the next two weeks it refuses! It is very annoying that PBS would tease us with an amazing video that we can’t watch. Hopefully this video will finally be fixed and stop looking like a picture embedded in the page.
Dear Viewer,
The Macbeth video is currently working. To play the full video please click the center of the image. To ensure correct playback please make sure you have the most up-to-date versions of Adobe Flash (click here for download) and Java (click here for download).
Thank you.
I haven’t seen any review about this being age/viewer appropriate? Is there anything in this I should be aware of before showing in my classroom? Anything that parents or administration might disapprove of (nudity, violence?). Is this rated? (I teach in a private school…these are the questions I am asked). Thank you!
Dear Katie,
The film is rated TV-14, V. Like the play, this production is fairly violent and does use blood in some scenes. However, we believe the film is appropriate for students in high school to compliment their reading of the play. We have study guides available to help guide the students through the major themes of this monumental work.
A note to all teachers who have not seen this adaptation: if you plan on watching this with students it is very violent and bloody. There is also what I would characterize as an overtly sexual tone displayed between the two main characters (see I,iv).
That being said this is of the highest quality production I’ve ever seen. The witches, disguised, are placed in scenes which indicate their direct manipulation of events and other characters– not an ambiguous take. Also of note is the soundtrack and music/ sound effects– stunning.
Very convincing movie, but I wouldn’t recommend it to students younger than 9-10th grade for scary scenes and unnatural witched…. But in all a good adaptation.
Hi,
I was able to watch it online off this website two days ago. Now it is not working.
My 12th graders are currently studying Macbeth and we were able to watch part of the video last week. Now it is not working. Will it be up soon???????
Hi Everybody,
We’re sorry some of you are having trouble accessing the Macbeth video. Our sources indicate that it’s working on our end, would you mind sharing what error messages (if any) you are getting?
Thanks, David
I am getting a message that the The connection has timed out.The server at video.pbs.org is taking too long to respond.
I would really like to finish watching this with my students.
We are trying to access the video for an English class but it is not accessible. Will this be fixed soon?
Hello PBS,
Following an enthusiastic review written by John Crowley on his blog, I looked for this video and found it here. Unfortunately, I live in France and as such the video won’t play due to rights restrictions.
It’s not against you per se, but I’m really sick of these “rights restrictions”. Just because I don’t live in the right place I shouldn’t be able to see what the best of television has to offer elsewhere? How backward is this in this age of globalisation? We should put some good content into this globalisation and it could be the sharing of good cultural programs.
Thanks anyway for producing such programs. It’s just that I am so frustrated not to be able to access it.
Is closed captioning possible?
OMG i just love this verison and this great for my english class and THANK U PBS for hamlet with david tennet. Now we can play this video instead of the old verison on VHS. THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! P.S. can u guys do king Lear ????
They did do Lear. and a stunning performance it is too.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/king-lear/watch-the-play/487/
I can’t get it working. No error messages. The little play button just won’t show up. I reinstalled Flash and Java, and I’ve tried Chrome, IE, and Firefox. No luck. I’m teaching this play right now. I’d love to be using this video in the classroom.
Won’t play, no picture, no video button to push. It just keeps tellng me that PBS connection has timed out. Can anyone help?
add another who cannot watch. i use IE
Well, IE user, a few posts back someone said firefox works fine but IE wouldn’t.. Maybe try another browser.
Also maybe try reading back to see what others have tried before hollering at PBS? Just a thought.
(Any word on a DVD release? My dad and I both want this for Christmas.) Thanks PBS! <3
Hi Jenn,
Macbeth is available on DVD. Click here to purchase it online, just in time for the holidays! We’re glad you enjoyed it and hope you stay tuned for more GREAT PERFORMANCES!
Our next show is Sondheim! The Birthday Concert which is scheduled to air on November 24th at 9pm (remember to check your local listings).
An utterly brilliant rendition of a classic tragedy. As soon as my English 11 teacher started our Shakespeare unit, I asked if we were watching this movie. It is one of the great adaptations, aided by the great acting of Mr. Stewart and Mrs. Fleetwood.
This production is brilliant on all counts. One question…….What is the make/model/year of the foreign automobile around the 59 miunte mark? Anyone know?
Howard,
According to the producer, John Wyver, in his daily blog during the filming of “Macbeth,” he says, it is “a beautiful 1961 Czech limo that we manage to scratch in an accident.”
Not sure if they ever got the dent out.
Thank you so much for posting this movie. I am working through this play with my 12th graders and really would like to show them this movie in 2 weeks. If possible, please do not remove this movie as I feel it will add a good understanding of the story, tone and mood, to my students’ understanding.
I have IE9 and it plays just fine. Great Macbeth movie!!
GREAT! I love this version of Macbeth. We watched it for my Honors English class (10th grade) and now I am watching it again to study for my midterm. Thanks PBS:)
I appreciate the wonderful filming, but this effort to transcend time with a modern adaptation results with a confused mix of Elizabethan English, modern imagery, ancient story, and witches that aren’t witches. I don’t like it!
Hi, have we resolved the video issues? I can watch it this evening, but I share the frustrations of some of the other viewers.
I don’t want to run into the situation of NEEDING the video and having it not play on that occasion.
Thank you!
PS: Loved it. Really creepy, which is what I think Macbeth is supposed to be. There does appear to be a “wardrobe malfunction” (thank you, Super Bowl, for that new euphemism) when they’re getting ready for the formal dinner. But nothing to write home about. I personally love the modern costuming: when the people look like me for some reason the words are more understandable – perhaps I should say accessible. Thank you for a great production.
I can’t watch this and I need to vote in the SAG awards…
I can’t watch any video. I have bee getting messages for days that the PBS video server is not responding. What gives?
Subtitles/Captions, please?
LOVED IT! saw it live in Broadway, I’m so glad a DVD came out. DVD has both the closed captions and English subtitles, I bought it to get it in great quality :) awesome piece
Why don’t the production companies get their acts together and get these films up for consideration out sooner.
I am trying to view all I can before casting my vote, but only two DVD’s came this year, and I Tunes handled the bulk. I cannot see Carlos because I was not quick enough, and now cannot load MacBeth.
Get it together folks.
Amazing! I just watched it on KCPT and will watch it again! The contemporary setting gave it such impact, but the acting was phenomenal!
Was able to see about 20 +/- minutes when the program shut off and informed me that I had seen it all.
Sir Patrick’s voice is a mighty instrument. I have been his fan since he appeared in Smiley’s People, if my memory serves me well.
Love the witches as nursing sisters.
Just wondering if there is a dvd of this that I can purchase?
Thanks!!
Great performances wasted in a production that strains to move the play into a “modern” setting. The anachronisms are very distracting. Why is Lady Macbeth, the lady of a major lord, clearing the dishes at the welcome dinner? Why does Duncan enter the “castle” through the kitchen? So the director can have the weird sisters be kitchen maids with knives?
What’s the name of the lieder around 1h51m?
The name of the lied is “Halt!” It is song no. 3 in the song cycle “Die Schöne Mullerin” trans. “The Beautiful Mill Maiden” by Franz Schubert.
Thank you!
Estimated time for the vidoe to be available again. States: “The requested video is not available. We apoligize for the inconvience.” Reason? Thank you.
We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with valuable info to work on. You have done an impressive job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
Fierce, dark and unrelenting! Without a doubt the most frightening Macbeth ever produced! Horrifying!!
Why add horror to horror?
This production of Macbeth is brilliant indeed, and Patrick Stewart as well (though he seems to be Claudius from time to time), but why do the weird sisters kill the bloody soldier at the beginning? why show Cawdor’s execution? why does Lennox torture Ross for obtaining the hiding place of Macduff? I am afraid, it is because violence, blood and torture are everyday in papers and TV.
I have seen several productions of this play, including the good productions with Mc Kellen, A. Sher and recently J. Slinger (with no witches!). I confess I still prefer that of Nicol Williamson and Jane Lapotaire, because in their acting the horror is intimate. I also prefer it because the end has its complete and extraordinary ambiguity: Malcolm is now king of Scotland, but the last image is that of Fleance. Do not forget : Macbeth “will be king” but Banquo will “get kings”! This ending suggests incomings horrors.
This is why I still prefer this old BBC production.
Is there any way for me to see the video?
I NEED to know the name of the foreign song that starts at 1h29m, and the artist.
If anyone happens to know this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Not able to “Watch the Full Program”…streaming not available anymore? Please advise…
Hi Kelly,
The video is still working. Please try waiting a minute or two and try again. Let us know if you encounter further problems.
Thanks for your comment.
MINUTO 6:16 PARECE QUE ESTA COMO ENTRE LOCA O PENDEJA CUANDO SE RIE !! esta vieja es una decerebrada!
My computer won’t install Abobe Flash Player 9 and my students are literally in their desks waiting to watch it. Any suggestions?
Dear Justin,
Do you have a tech person on staff at your school? Why won’t your computer install Flash? It’s a very basic internet plugin.
Alex, I do have a tech person and while she could install the update under her account, I couldn’t on my account. Apparently, after searching on the Adobe forums, this seems to be a common, and frustrating, problem.
Hi Justin,
Perhaps, it’s because it’s a school computer so only tech administrators can install software? I know at my work, if I have to install something, our Tech Desk has to install it. Is it something like that?
I’m having the same problem. The movie was playing for me until this past week. It states to click to install Adobe Flash Player 9, but what downloads and installs is Adobe Flash Player 11. Is this the problem?
Hi Adam,
No, a newer version of Flash should work fine. Try refreshing the page once the new version of Flash is installed and let us know of any further error messages.
Thanks for your comment.
It looks like the problem was not with Flash but with the widget/partnerplayer not loading on the webpage. At the bottom of the webpate there is an error if you click the error you will see the results. Multiple people were not able to get to the video but some of us were. Found the same video on a different location on the website and it loads perfectly http://video.pbs.org/video/1604122998/
Hello Macbeth viewers,
We have identified the issue with watching Macbeth with the “partner player” with either Internet Explorer (IE) 7 or IE8. The video will load and play normally in all other browsers. As for those with IE7 or IE8, the video will work on http://video.pbs.org/.
Thanks to everyone for the heads up.
Great review, I ordered one and it came in yesterday, will be taking it out for a first run on Monday. Thanks JK
The movie made me understand the story more. Seeing what happened virtually is much easier to understand.
THANKS
I teach a grade 11 class and showed the movie. When we, as teachers, ask questions about the appropriateness of the content, we must ask ourselves and those who might support complaints, “what did you think a movie or play about Macbeth would look like?” The play contains violence, “real” witches, with a healthy dose of sexual and psychological content. That said, I think the closest I came to thinking about censoring it was during the Porter’s scene when he opens the gate for Macduff. The Porter makes some overtly sexual movements, including hip gyrations, before and after relieving himself in the sink. Don’t worry, no full Monty. It is questionable, but, you know, it is a taste of what Shakespeare’s audience would have experienced, in terms of bawdiness.
It is an excellent production; my class was mezmerised,as the credits rolled . . . absolute silence.
I am a senior and we are reading the macbeth and watching the movie in class. It is every good and I like Shakespeare’s plays
Can’t watch in my region!
My favorite actor in my favorite play. Does it get any better than this? Truly brilliant!
Ok that theme is nearly two years old, but I still like it!
I can’t watch it because it says it isn’t available in my region :’(
Haha, whoops, I screwed up that link, didn’t I?
This was a good drama but for adults only, please don’t watch this in front of your kids. It was very cute and real and I really enjoyed doing a marathon of two nights eventhough I work lol!
What is the song name and artist of the Russian song used towards the scene where Macbeth and all at his dinner party begin dancing?
It’s some kind of polka, they dance with the broom as well.
I always show this in my class for when we discus Macbeth. Today, however, I cannot get it to work. Is it down, and will it be back up soon? Thanks so much for providing this for the public. My students love it!
Hi Kate,
Thank you for your comment. We’re looking into it right now. Apparently there is some behind the scenes maintenance going on currently, and we’ll let everyone know when the video is up and working properly.
Thanks again for watching Great Performances.
Hi! Would you be able to estimate when the video might be available. It is just such a wonderful depiction of Macbeth that my students would love to see, but I think I need to plan to show clips of another version because I keep hoping to use this and every day I check, it is not working.
I’m just trying to plan for my students and would appreciate a little heads up about the timeline of this being fixed it that’s possible.
Thanks!
The video isn’t working and I have 6 class periods scheduled to see it today. HELP!!!!!
I just wanted to check in too about the video showing. I also had scheduled for my classes to watch it but couldn’t get it to work today. Do you have tips for what I can do? I would be appreciative of your help! This is such a wonderful performance and helping my students understand the play better.
I am also experiencing technical difficulties. When pressing play on both the screen and the icon below the screen, the video seems unable to load and play. Please help as I would like to finish showing the video sometime in the next week! Thank you!
Hello,
The video is not playing. I tested it last week and it was working then. I also tried to play another video from your site and it worked fine. Would you please have someone fix this?
Have used this video this year and am trying to show it to my final class. Help!!! It won’t load! I really, really hate to use a different version. The students get so engaged with this one. Please advise.
Is there any word when this video is going to up an running? I would like to show it to my students this week. Please advise, thanks.
I’m trying to watch this video with my students. I previewed it last week and it was wonderful. I’m hoping it will be up and running soon. Any advice? When I click the play button, it will not load. Its time is 00:00. I’ve done my updates and I’ve tried in Safari, Firefox, as well as Google Chrome.
Dear Shannon and other Macbeth viewers,
As stated in my response above, PBS is doing behind-the-scenes web maintenance on all video properties in the system and has caused some video, including our Macbeth video, to be down. We hope to have it up and running by tomorrow afternoon/evening or Thursday at the latest. We apologize for the inconvenience.
We thank you for watching Great Performances.
Thank you so much! My kids actually watched another version, but I told them this morning this was up. They begged to watch it. And they are! I plan on ordering it this summer! :) Thanks again for all that you do for the public. :)
Thanks Kate,
Your support means a lot to us. And we’re so proud and glad that classrooms across the country are enjoying this wonderful interpretation of Macbeth! We hope that when you do purchase the DVD or blu-ray, you order from http://www.shoppbs.org as every purchase there helps fund more amazing content like our recent productions of Hamlet, starring David Tennant and Macbeth with Patrick Stewart.
Creative interpretation of Macbeth. My seniors thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Thank you.
You have to understand Mr. Ernst that it is not America alone that appreciates theatre and art.
The problem with countries far east is the issue of inaccessibility to quality content produced in England, U.S. and elsewhere.
I make an earnest appeal to you to make it available to us..for Sir Patrick Stewart, much like Shakespeare, is universal and art cannot be restricted by geographical or technical barriers.
I have taught Macbeth using this spectacular rendition for the past 3 semesters. Unfortunately, every time I do, something goes wrong with the connection and I end up scrambling for another lesson plan. Is there a reason the video consistently goes down. I would love to keep teaching it using this film but the unreliability makes it difficult. :( Any idea when it will be working again in the near future?
Hi Jenni,
Thank you for the heads up. We’re having someone look into it right now. We’ll let you know it’s up as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience.
GP Team
Hi Kate,
The video issue has been fixed. We hope everyone can resume teaching and enjoying our presentation of Macbeth!
Thank you for your patience.