In 1957, Akira Kurosawa made a remarkable movie titled "Kumonosu-jo (Spider's Web Castle)," adapted from William Shakespeare's "Macbeth." The film is still admired today for its spectacular shots and the striking performances of Toshiro Mifune as the principal character Washizu Taketoki and Isuzu Yamada as his formidable wife Asaji.

+ A stage version of "Kumonosu-jo" has now been produced by the Shochiku Co. and is currently being presented at the Shinbashi Enbujo Theater in Tokyo through June 28.

Director Masafumi Saito, a graduate of Waseda University who trained in Shinpa (New School) theater and has been involved with the Shinbashi Enbujo for 14 years, has done an admirable job writing a script based on Yushi Odajima's 1977 translation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," and on Kurosawa's "Kumonosu-jo."