Entertainment

UPDATE IS BLOODY GOOD

NOT since Roman Polanski’s film ver sion has there been as visceral a “Macbeth” as this acclaimed British production starring Patrick Stewart.

Director Rupert Goold’s brilliantly theatrical stylings are fascinating, even if they threaten at times to overwhelm the simple power of one of Shakespeare’s most direct and accessible works, and stretch what’s normally the shortest of the Bard’s works into a three-hour marathon.

But there’s no denying the energy and imagination of this Expressionistic,

modern-dress rendition. Set in a vaguely Stalinist-era Russia, it features a stark, industrial basement kitchen setting in which entrances and exits are made via an ominous elevator.

Brilliant touches abound. Those troublesome three witches have a memorable opening scene as nurses in a military field hospital, where their intentions are more homicidal than healing. (I could have done without their rap-style delivery of “Double, double, toil and trouble,” although the writhing of the body bags to which they’re attending was haunting.)

Occasionally, Goold overreaches. The banquet scene is actually played twice, first with Stewart reacting to the all-too-visible presence of the bloody ghost of Banquo (Martin Turner), then again after the intermission with the vision merely in Macbeth’s guilt-ridden mind.

Visual projections – ranging from vintage films of marching armies to blood-soaked walls – are used to chilling effect, and startling lighting and sound effects fuel the spooky atmosphere.

Stewart, always compelling, delivers a complex performance, vividly conveying Macbeth’s underlying fears and vulnerabilities while projecting a fearsome, even jovial presence. Also superb are Kate Fleetwood’s sultry, intense Lady Macbeth, and Michael Feast’s subtly anguished Macduff.

This is not a “Macbeth” for purists, but anyone who sees it will find it hard to forget.

MACBETH

BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St.; (718) 636-4100. Through March 22.