Macbeth at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1969

When I was thinking about David Tennent's Macbeth, now in cinemas, I remembered the magnificent performance of Barrie Rutter as the Porter in a Nottingham Playhouse production back in the 1969. I saw another production of the play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 2011 and this is what I said in my post of 25th August: 

But why play Seyton as the Porter??? What should be one of the the funniest scenes in the whole of Shakespeare with the Porter, as he appears drunk. I suddenly remembered a production of Macbeth at the Nottingham Playhouse some forty years ago, when Barrie Rutter was absolutely hilarious as the Porter. It is still that vivid memory.

Reading the text today, it just does not seem that funny. So it is amazing that this young actor of  twenty two, made it so memorable.

Searching the internet for any information on Barrie Rutter in Macbeth, I found an entry on the Theatricalia website as the picture above. The Nottingham Playhouse Company 5th February to the 20th March 1969. Not only Barrie Rutter as The Porter but Barry Foster as Macbeth (a vast filmography as well as twenty years as Van de Valk on TV, one of our favourite programmes of that time), T.P. McKenna as Macduff (another actor with a huge list of work in the theatre, TV and film), and (unbelievably) Penelope Wilton as the third witch. Well she was only twenty two. I had no idea I had seen her on stage. Now a DBE , six Olivier Award nominations, and winning it in 2015, other awards and an amazing career in TV and Film. Rounded off with Downton Abbey. So this was some cast back then. But my memory is still of that hilarious monologue. 

So back to Barrie Rutter OBE. As I said, he was twenty two when he appeared as the Porter. (I was twenty four). Founder and former artistic director of Northern Broadsides theatre company after joining the RSC in 1975. An extensive career in film and TV. Still touring his one man show in 2023 and 24 at the age of seventy seven and also on the radio in The Archers. Many awards and honours and he never dumbed Shakespeare down.