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Over the weekend, Sarah and I took the short drive to Stratford, Ontario, Canada, to see a couple of plays. On tap for us this year: Macbeth and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Macbeth was a fairly traditional rendition, but was amazingly unexciting. It’s easy to blame the actors, Macbeth was not the best actor on the stage, but I attribute it more to the director. Everything about the play was flat, not just one or two actors. The action, stage directions and choreograph were all just mediocre.

This was exacerbated by the fact that they went with a very simple, almost barren, stage and simple, monochromatic costumes. This meant that everything was riding on the actors’ performances. And they were reigned in.

Overall, I’d have to give it a B-.

Luckily The Count of Monte Cristo was much more engaging. The script was a much boiled down version of the novel (which I confess to not having read yet), running just a shade over 1 1/2 hours. It was the perfect length for a Sunday afternoon play, consisting of just enough action and suspense to entertain. And for me, there were a couple of really good swashbuckling scenes – including one with two duels going on at the same time. Riveting stuff that.

Overall, it was fun and easy to follow; I give it an A.