Macbeth - Review

Barbican Centre, London


***


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Polly Findlay

Niamh Cusack and Christopher Eccleston

The ever fabulous Royal Shakespeare Company presents the ever epic Macbeth by William Shakespeare at the gorgeous Barbican Centre until January 2019, with none other than Christopher Eccleston (making his debut with the company) in the titular role. It should be an absolute blinder with such a strong and perfectly brooding lead… but unfortunately, the production falls a little flat in pivotal places.

Polly Findlay’s direction makes much use of Fly Davis’ sparse and contemporary staging (complete with a doomsday clock counting down to Macbeth’s demise) which is easily filled by quirky performances. Eccleston is obviously excellent, conniving and believably nutty, thrown into turmoil by three of the creepiest and cutest witches to ever grace the stage. This ‘The Shining’ inspired turn added a layer of shivers to the darkness with the matching and overtly ominous red dresses hard to miss. Irish actress Niamh Cusack is the overbearing and ambitious Lady Macbeth, encouraging her husband to take what has been foreseen by the witches - a crown - with blood smeared every step of the way. Raphael Sowole brings an earthy and elegant edge to Banquo, the friend turned foe turned ghostly apparition. 

RSC regular Edward Bennett’s Macduff stood out, especially with his painful and stunning moment of silence as his wife and children’s murders are unveiled: a breathtaking moment in a fast-paced performance where there is barely time to take a breath. It’s good to see Bennett playing serious so well after his charming and hilarious turn in 2016’s Christmas double dose of Shakespearean comedy at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. 

This production embraced the menacing malice of Macbeth, with the countdown clock most menacing of all, which was a shame given such a strong cast and creative team. Kate Waters’ fight direction between Macduff and Macbeth was thrilling, as was the awesome illusions by Chris Fisher, with Eccleston disappearing and appearing with ease. These moments, however, felt somewhat few and far between, even with only a two-hour duration. This left it all feeling somewhat lacklustre when compared to some of the absolutely incredible Shakespearean presentations that can grace our London stages. 

Until 18th January 2019

Reviewed by Heather Deacon

Photo by Richard Davenport (c) RSC

Macbeth at the RSC - Review

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon


****

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Polly Findlay

Niamh Cusack and Christopher Eccleston

Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack lead a stylishly novel Macbeth that is likely to divide opinions. Set in modern times, Eccleston’s troubled Thane is palpably bewitched by the thought of gaining Scotland’s crown from the moment he first encounters the weird sisters. Eccleston captures the self-doubt and vacillation that ebbs away at Macbeth’s journeys both to and on the throne, delivering a clear interpretation of the fundamental flaws that corrode his character, from the moment he commits regicide until he in turn falls victim to it. The theme of time and moments is a strong pulse through the story of Macbeth and in this show, from Duncan's slaughter, an onstage digital clock counts the seconds down over a precisely measured two hours until Macbeth's death.

Eccleston may be good, but Cusack is sensational. Unsexed perhaps, early in Act One, but Cusack oozes a provocative, venomous sensuality throughout the first half that reminds one of a young Helen Mirren. Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies are amongst the play’s most powerful and Cusack dances through the verse. She is a joy to watch throughout – with her decline towards insanity sensitively and convincingly played out. A nod too for Fly Davis’ costume work on Lady M. Her couture (again, in the first half) is stunning and as a real life royal wedding looms, Davis’ dresses model a gorgeous contemporary chic, befitting British royalty in the 21st century.

Stanley Kubrick never made a film of Macbeth, but there are suggestions that Polly Findlay is doffing her cap firmly in the direction of Kubrick’s The Shining with this Stratford production. Remember those spooky twin girls in the Overlook Hotel’s elevator? Findlay has three primary school girls play her Witches and it’s an inspired decision. The lucky trio who scored the show’s press night were Elizabeth Kaleniuk, Aleksandra Penlington and Abigail Walter, all bringing a chilling sense of evil innocence to the plot’s infernal complexity. And then there’s the Porter, who’s usually confined to moments of comic relief after Duncan’s death. Here Findlay has him on stage virtually throughout, with Michael Hodgson imbuing this minor character with a further degree of supernatural wickedness and bearing an uncanny presence to Lloyd, The Shining’s bartender.

For the most part there is sound work in Findlay’s company, but some arrows fail to hit their mark. Edward Bennett’s Macduff offers a well crafted glance into grief as he learns of his family’s slaughter, but is too patrician and plummy to convince of his capacity for earthy, bloody vengeance. Likewise, more could be made of Raphael Sowole’s Banquo.

This is a modern, minimalist Macbeth (and one in which Lady M brilliantly uses a water cooler to help remove the damned spot). A glassed in raised platform offers glimpses of Glamis' privileged chatterati that could be straight out of The Ivy’s private dining room – while for those in the audience who may be struggling to keep up with the play’s themes. Findlay/Davis quirkily project key quotes from the text onto a screen above the performance space. The chosen words are not so much surtitles as potential essay titles, but with the text again forming a part of GCSE syllabi, there are likely to be many (secondary) school children in future audiences who will appreciate the gesture.

An imaginatively staged take on “the Scottish play” which, in its leading roles, is stunningly performed. All in all a bloody, good, Macbeth.

Where you can see Macbeth
Runs in Stratford upon Avon until 18th September 2018
Runs at the Barbican Theatre, London from 15th October 2018 until 18th January 2019
Broadcast live in cinemas on 11th April 2018

Photo credit Paul Stuart (c) RSC

Orson's Shadow - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London


***

Written by Austin Pendleton
Directed by Alice Hamilton

Louise Ford and John Hodgkinson

35 years after his death, Kenneth Tynan still has the power to slice through the loudest chatter a rabble of theatre-goers can summon up. In Orson’s Shadow – Austin Pendleton’s knowingly smug biography of the founding fathers who devised the blueprint for the National Theatre – the legendary critic, played by a dashing Edward Bennett, strolls onto the stage before the lights go down. Right from his nonchalant entrance and through a meta-fictional commentary that sees him refusing to leave his profession in the wings, Bennett’s character casts himself as the driving force behind this show.

That being said, Orson Welles’s character - taken on by the excellent John Hodgkinson - is furnished with many sharp and keenly applied digs, seen most strongly when he wisecracks that Kenneth has "a brilliant mind, but it contains no information". In turn, when asked to verify rumours that Orson's movies were playing to empty houses, Tynan humorously quips that his source was "the [only] other member of the audience”. There are some smashing witticisms here, which are complemented with the subtle references to films of this era. These allusions are alive in the re-appropriated anecdotes and reclaimed quotes that subtly show that, no matter how hard these characters try to escape, they remain explicitly tied to their industries.

Orson’s Shadow gives us a veritable megamix of some of theatre’s biggest wigs: Gina Bellman's Vivien Leigh brings the flailing glamour; John Hodgkinson equips Orson Welles with a grand and spirited pessimism and Adrian Lukis's Laurence Olivier fights to live up to his biographical reputation, spouting elaborate flights of wordplay between crude attempts to soothe his rocky love life. The problem here, though, is that Orson’s Shadow remains very much in the shadow of the stars that illuminate its centre. Its obsessively tight script, rife with lofty Southbank aspirations, pushes too hard at the walls of its sterling Off West End Home and this - together with the dropped names and all too regularly detonated in-jokes - gives the air of a play that seeks to pose as a historical piece before doing its time as a fresh new work. It’s a shame, given Pendleton’s evident respect for Rhinoceros – Eugène Ionesco’s exhilarating 1959 play that united characters Olivier and Joan Plowright, under Welles’s direction and Tynan’s inspiration – and the creative powerhouse that is the Royal Court.

Welles’ decidedly less-cultured man-servant Sean (Ciaran O’Brien) exists solely to reinforce the other characters’ frightful superiority. With his regional accent cementing his status as high society’s whipping boy, Sean’s efforts work only to underline this play’s blinkered devotion to its famous subjects.

Olivier, Welles and Tynan have all the power in this piece. They can debate the nature of strong directing, can strive to distance themselves from that Hollywood hit or that weak review. They bicker and embrace - safe in the knowledge that their each and ever move signposts monumental shifts in Western performance. They can strive for greatness or yearn for simplicity. Yet, despite a raging effort from Bellman and a modestly graceful attempt from Louise Ford's Plowright to steal the final scene – “I’m the only person in this play who’s still alive, so...let me wrap this up”" – our female characters come across as mere accessories to their male counterparts' might.

In Pendleton's piece, five household names are incapable of sharing the spotlight though it remains unfortunate that the two mighty yet weakly-sketched and under-scripted female figures are left inhabiting these shadows.

Runs until 25th July

Guest reviewer: Amelia Forsbrook