Macduff's Son - Cuts in Performance

Cuts in Performance

The on-stage slaughter of Macduff's son was often cut in 19th century performances on the grounds of taste. The child was carried off-stage, and the murder left to the spectators' imaginations. Very often, the entire scene was cut, not only on the grounds of taste, but, in an age of elaborate scenery and lengthy scene shifting, on time constraints and production costs in mounting a superfluous scene verbally summarized to good effect almost immediately in 4.3.

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