Toil & Trouble

Macbeth was about the bloody price paid for human folly and greed, but why did those witches care so much about what the Thane of Cawdor got up to? That’s the conceit behind Scott’s (Transformers: Distant Stars) action-packed Shakespearean spin-off, in which the Bard’s three “weird sisters” are given their own storyline. As King Duncan prepares to fight off a Norwegian army, witch Smertae, a moody redhead, returns from long exile to reunite with her sisters: combative, haughty Riata, and gentle Cait, the nature-minded peacemaker. Riata wants to raise up young Prince Malcolm and keep Macbeth from the throne. But a secret from Smertae’s past throws a spanner in the works. The bloodshed that follows is straight from the Greeks, with immortals letting mortals die to appease their whims, rivalries, and jealousies. Scott’s writing is sharply paced and redolent with mythological hubris. The angular, vivid art by the debuting Matthews sisters helps etch the pungent, occasionally tangled melodrama into sharper focus. (Sept.)