Alex Kingston and Kenneth Branagh in 'Hamlet' (Image credit: Stephanie Berger)
Alex Kingston and Kenneth Branagh in ‘Hamlet’ (Image credit: Stephanie Berger)

The performance begins before the first lines are declaimed, when hooded, torch-carrying figures escort you across a peat-scented heath in the cavernous Park Avenue Armory to one of two sets of steep bleachers facing each other with a narrow dirt channel between. Then rain falls and we are in the midst of the opening battle of Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh’s fast, furious, and visceral version of Macbeth. I’d happily return once (or twice) more into this breach. Check out my A– review on EW.com