I have waived my no Shakespeare rule a few times over the years. The rule arises from the fact that, when viewing Shakespeare, I want to have an annotation with me to follow the dialogue (too dark in the theater, flashlights frowned upon) or ask the performers to pause so that I can figure out what they just said (also frowned upon in most theaters).

The waivers typically relate to theatrical productions that aren’t straight Shakespeare. So, in 1983, I saw The Flying Karamazov Brothers juggle their way through The Comedy of Errors. In 2004, I saw The Second City’s Romeo and Juliet Musical: The People vs. Friar Laurence, the Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet. In 2016, I saw Othello: The Remix, the Q Brothers hip hop version of the play, with Othello as a rapper; and Celebrity One-Man Hamlet, a show where David Carl portrayed Gary Busey as Hamlet (as strange as it sounds). Tangentially, I’ve seen Something Rotten twice (one of my all-time favorite shows).

My direct route to this production of Macbeth started in 2015, when I saw The Tempest, for which I waived the rule because it was co-directed by Teller, of Penn and Teller, and he brought his personal touch to the show, including the incorporation of card tricks.

Teller’s influence on this production of Macbeth, where he is again the co-director, was obvious in scenes involving the Weird Sisters and various ghosts, though, unfortunately, none of the murders are accomplished by sawing someone in half.

By the way, the acting was superb. And theater has officially entered a new generation, as six of the cast members include either Chicago P.D. (4) or Chicago Fire (2) in their credits. The Chicago shows have replaced the Law and Order shows (only one actor had that credit) in that regard. One Dick Wolf franchise replaces another.