View source for Banquo

==Performances and interpretations==
[[File:Macbeth-07-Lee.jpg|left|300px|thumb|[[Canada Lee]] as Banquo in the [[Federal Theatre Project]] production of ''[[Voodoo Macbeth|Macbeth]]'' (1936)]]
Banquo's role, especially in the banquet ghost scene, has been subject to a variety of mediums and interpretations. Shakespeare's text states: "Enter Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth's place."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/T34.html#36| title = ''Macbeth'', Act 3, Scene 4.}}</ref> Several television versions have altered this slightly, having Banquo appear suddenly in the chair, rather than walking onstage and into it. Special effects and camera tricks also allow producers to make the ghost disappear and reappear, highlighting the fact that ''only'' Macbeth can see it.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Imperial Theme: "Macbeth" on Television |last=Jones |first=Claude E.|journal=The Quarterly of Film Radio and Television |date=April 1955 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=292–298 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley, California|doi=10.1525/fq.1955.9.3.04a00070|doi-broken-date=11 July 2025 }}</ref>

Stage directors, unaided by post-production effects and camera tricks, have used other methods to depict the ghost. In the late 19th century, elaborate productions of the play staged by [[Henry Irving]] employed a wide variety of approaches for this task. In 1877 a green silhouette was used to create a ghostlike image; ten years later a trick chair was used to allow an actor to appear in the middle of the scene, and then again from the midst of the audience. In 1895 a shaft of blue light served to indicate the presence of Banquo's spirit. In 1933 a Russian director Theodore Komisarjevsky staged a modern retelling of the play (Banquo and Macbeth were told of their future through [[palmistry]]); he used Macbeth's shadow as the ghost.<ref name="Barnet">{{cite book |last=Barnet |first=Sylvan |chapter=''Macbeth'' on Stage and Screen |title=Macbeth |editor1-first=Sylvan |editor1-last=Barnet |location=London, England |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1963 |isbn=0-451-52444-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tragedyofmacbethshak00shak/page/186 186–200] |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/tragedyofmacbethshak00shak/page/186 }}</ref> In 1936, [[Orson Welles]] directed the [[Federal Theatre Project]] [[Voodoo Macbeth|production of the play]], with an African-American cast that included [[Canada Lee]] in the role of Banquo.<ref name="Barnet"/>

Film adaptations have approached Banquo's character in a variety of ways. [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s 1957 adaptation ''[[Throne of Blood]]'' makes the character into Capitan Miki (played by [[Minoru Chiaki]]), slain by Macbeth's equivalent (Captain Washizu) when his wife explains that she is with child. News of Miki's death does not reach Washizu until after he has seen the ghost in the banquet scene. In [[Roman Polanski]]'s 1971 [[Macbeth (1971 film)|adaptation]], Banquo is played by acclaimed stage actor [[Martin Shaw]], in a style reminiscent of earlier stage performances.<ref>{{cite book |last=Braunmuller |first=A. R. |chapter=Introduction |title=Macbeth |editor1-first=A. R. |editor1-last=Braunmuller |series=The New Cambridge Shakespeare |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-29455-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/macbeth0000shak_q6u8/page/85 85–86] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/macbeth0000shak_q6u8/page/85 }}</ref> Polanski's version also emphasises Banquo's objection to Macbeth's ascendency by showing him remaining silent as the other thanes around him hail Macbeth as king.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Halio |editor1-first=Jay L. |editor2-last=Richmond |editor2-first=Hugh |title=Shakespearean illuminations: essays in honor of Marvin Rosenberg |location=Newark, Delaware |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] |date=1998 |isbn=0-87413-657-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/shakespeareanill0000unse/page/135 135–136] |chapter=Gleanings: The Residue of Difference in Scripts: The Case of Polanski's ''Macbeth'' |last=Kliman |first=Bernice W. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/shakespeareanill0000unse/page/135 }}</ref> In the 1990 film ''[[Men of Respect]]'', a reimagining of ''Macbeth'' as taking place among a New York Mafia crime family, the character of Banquo is named "Bankie Como" and played by American actor [[Dennis Farina]].