REVIEW: Macbeth at the Temple Church

At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Clive Anderson in his show "Macbeth and Me" asserted that it was the greatest of all Shakespeare's plays in terms of language and plot. The problem with that is that it is frequently done by professional companies and that inevitably invites comparison. Kenneth Branagh's traverse production in the Manchester International Festival a few years ago is my benchmark and this exciting production by Antic Disposition in the glorious setting of Temple Church matches up very well.

However it is the women who steal the show. The three "weird sisters" presence is elevated and when they are absent you miss them. Directors Ben Horslen and John Risebero double them up as servants in the Macbeth household and they frequently appear heads cast down, hands twisted as if in mid spell and observe, almost haunt, the action. When Duncan is murdered they collect the bloodied bed sheets and are later seen washing them in the famous " toil and trouble" scene . It is brilliant and you have a real sense of the Macbeth's being under some dreadful curse from the three witches (Louise Templeton, Bryony Tebbutt and Robyn Holdaway). They act in unison and magically lift a table as they cast their spells.

REVIEW: Macbeth at the Watermill

Paul Hart, the artistic Director of the Watermill and Director of this production together with Movement Director Tom Jackson Greaves are establishing a very interesting style of Ensemble cast productions having previously collaborated on Twelfth Night, Teddy, Sweet Charity and The Borrowers for the company. They have now turned their attention to Macbeth and set it in modern army dress and a brick built hotel designed by Katie Lias which turns the intimate theatre into the castle settings for the play. It creates a fresh modern feel which with rock/pop music underscoring many scenes makes it easily accessible and I think very appealing to a younger audience.

They pack the production with lots of clever ideas with some very good use of projection on the rear wall, a bellboy at the centre of the action curiously offering polo mints, and a chorus of sexily dressed temptresses. When the talk is of "black and deep desires", the cast burst into song with the Rolling Stones Paint it Black. After Macbeth has had Banquo killed, they sing L-O-V-E by Gregory Porter while performing a bizarre dance. And when Macbeth is killed they sing Johnny Cash's Hurt. When Macbeth speaks the line "is that a dagger I see before me" the hallucination is two chorus with two knives. The directorial choices are interesting but ultimately distracting from Shakespeare's words and in some ways overwhelm the efforts of the cast. 

REVIEW: Macbeth at the National Theatre

It was with some trepidation that we stepped into the vast Olivier theatre for Rufus Norris's production of Macbeth as so many of leading theatre critics had savaged the show and reset expectations to a low level. Certainly first impressions were not good with the enormous circular stage framed by long drapes of black plastic hanging limply from roof to floor, a huge metal ramp arcing downstage and a number of Chinese poles reaching up towards the lighting grid covered with more strips of rubbish. It presented a confusing image of some dystopian future, a mix of Mad Max and Blade Runner, with drab dirty costumes dug out of an ancient mod's wardrobe. Yet despite the foreboding, the wonderful central performances shine out in the gloom and produce a stripped back engaging Macbeth with each character focusing you into their own dilemmas and ignoring the mess that surrounds them.

Rory Kinnear is an experienced Shakespearean actor and he draws you in with his clear strong enunciation so every word is understood and heard . He is at his best in his soliloquies downstage directly at the audience and in his scenes with Lady Macbeth, played by Anne-Marie Duff. When we first meet her reading his letter aloud we focus in on her and ignore the ridiculous concrete bunker that is presented as their castle.They both shine through the chaos and show the different emotions of their characters. Kinnear is at times strong and decisive but also we seem him quake with fear when Banquo's ghost (Kevin Harvey)appears or tenderly hold his wife's body when she dies. Duff too is horrified and recoils when she finds the two murder weapons but decisive when she uses them to incriminate the guards and then painfully a lost soul in her sleepwalking. These critical scenes show them at their best and create memorable moments in the production.

REVIEW: Macbeth at St Paul’s Church

Sitting in the middle of Covent Garden and with miserable weather feels like a Pathetic Fallacy as I’m readying myself for Macbeth in St Paul’s Churchyard AKA The Actor’s Church. This production celebrates Iris Theatre’s 10th anniversary and promises to be a terrifying, immersive journey through the madness of the King of Scotland.

We all know the story, but if you don’t, allow me to recap: It’s the familiar tale of boy goes to war, boy and best friend meet three witches, boy is told of a prophecy that he will become king, boy tells wife, wife becomes fuelled by ambition and convinces boy to kill the king, boy kills king, boy becomes king, boy starts to go mad, boy kills best friend, boy slips even further into madness, wife goes mad with guilt, boy slips further into madness, wife kills herself due to madness, boy blames himself, boy fights friend who was born via a Caesarean, boy is killed, blah blah blah people die.