(2005) The one tragedy among three comedies in the BBC-TV series "ShakespeaRe-Told," directed by Mark Brozel from Peter Moffat's script (if the challenge of Elizabethan poetry has put you off from watching Shakespeare's plays, then here's speech you'll have no difficulty following), takes place in an elegant, high-class restaurant with knives in the kitchen.

Head chef Joe Macbeth (James McAvoy) - take notice of the scars on his forearms from cuts and burns - demonstrates for his crew of cooks the proper method of carving up a hog's head - first the ears are sliced off, then a slit down the front of the face - showing it respect by wasting nothing. The restaurant belongs to Duncan Docherty (Vincent Regan), who also has his own television program.

In the alley three binmen, collecting the garbage, make prophecies to Joe and Billy Banquo (Joseph Millson), his mate and fellow chef: first, Docherty's restaurant will receive three Michelin stars; second, it will become Joe's; third, Billy's son and generations on will be happiest of all with the inheritance. "Like sons to me," Duncan says of Joe and Billy, sharing the good news of the restaurant's earning three Michelin stars; his son Malcolm (Toby Kebbell), previously a hair dresser and vegetarian, will need Joe's guidance before inheriting the Docherty's.

Expressing his desire to remain as a guest for the night, Duncan sleeps in the Macbeths' green bedroom. After Joe tells his wife Ella (Keeley Hawes) of the binmen's prefigurations, she (with "massive bollocks") screws up his courage to take matters into his own hands by reminding him of the humiliation he's taken from Duncan, the thankless 18-hour shifts, while the owner drives around in his Mercedes Benz and enjoys the glamour of being a TV celebrity.

The childless couple - Ella recalls the brief moments they had with their infant before it died - unlike the fecund Dochertys, Banquos, and Macduffs, has nothing but their dreams of personal ambition before them. She plots and stirs the pots of destiny, instructing Joe to fire two local boys, replacing them with a pair of illegal Slavic immigrants. As Duncan waits to be served a culinary experience second only to his own mastery, Ella encourages him to take the spotlight out front among the dining patrons; she then raises Joe's hackles by telling him of Duncan's egotistical grandstanding. "You do this," she says to her husband, "and we win everything."

Her phone call, mentioning immigration authorities, scares the two undocumented aliens into flight, making them appear guilty. When Joe loses his nerve, she instructs him: "This is what you do" with the knives and the gloves. "A little water and we're clean," she assures him, washing her hands. "I'll never sleep again," says Joe. She repeatedly washes her hands.

In the morning Peter Macduff (Richard Armitage), the maitre d', arrives to find Duncan stabbed to death. During a press conference, Ella puts on a brave face with steely nerves, announcing that as a tribute to their fallen leader the restaurant will open that night as usual. In a scene of gallows humor, an inspector enters unannounced, looking for evidence - "...the sins of a bloke what has made me work for my pound of flesh, if you'll pardon my Shakespeare" - of rats and vermin: Harry Gibby (Philip Whitchurch), the health inspector, says he recognizes a clean kitchen when he sees one, leaving Joe laughing with relief.

His imagination gone wild - cook or killer? - Joe sees blood everywhere; unlike Ella's earlier assurances of the aftermath of the deed, Joe tells her: "This is not okay." Once again Joe encounters the binmen, who provide a warning, "Beware Macduff," and apparent consolation: "Pigs will fly before anything will happen to you."

Bicycling down a country lane, Billy with his young son becomes another target of Joe's paranoia; Banquo's video image on a cellphone call during the morning meeting at the restaurant sends Joe into a frenzied freakout, followed by a hallucination of Billy's ghost: "Why can't you see what I see?"

Once more Joe sends Jonny Boy (using the leverage of the young man's previous prison record) on a ghastly mission to Macduff's home. But this massacre and the following butchery are too much for credibility to withstand even in the cut-throat hospitality business. Had Macduff's children and wife been poisoned with a takeout meal or killed in a car crash, Peter would have felt as much of a loss for his family and been primed for revenge. Further, the police have no role in the drama; the headwaiter takes full responsibility.

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Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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