Macbeth - Review

Dock X, London

*****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Simon Godwin

Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma

Something wicked this way has arrived, as the Ralph Fiennes Macbeth concludes its UK tour to play Canada Water’s cavernous Dock X.

Director Simon Godwin and adapter Emily Burns have made some wee snips to the text (the Porter’s not to be seen in this iteration) but in Fiennes’ Macbeth and Indira Varma’s Lady Macbeth are two of the finest takes on this fiendish double act to have been seen in years.

Both leading actors relish the text and breathe a carefully weighted life into every line. The story of Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known fables and so for a production to soar when its plot is so familiar demands the highest production values. Fiennes and Varma deliver, giving a humour and a humanity to the text that has been overlooked in recent takes on the Scottish play.

The supporting company are equally fine. Steffan Rhodri’s Banquo is a credible warrior and companion who knows too much about Macbeth’s motives, while Ben Turner as MacDuff is both heartbreaking and impassioned as he avenges the brutal murders of his wife and young children. Above all, the witches are outstanding. Godwin places the weird sisters centre-stage with Lucy Mangan, Danielle Fiamnya and Lola Shalam all enchantingly intriguing.

Only on for a limited run, this oft performed play is rarely played so well. Unmissable.

Runs until 30th March

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Macbeth - Review

The Depot, Liverpool

*****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Simon Godwin

Indira Varma and Ralph Fiennes

In a dynamic touring production Simon Godwin’s Macbeth offers a delicious take on one of Shakespeare’s most popular and bloody classics. Ralph Fiennes steps up to play the doomed Thane, bringing a refreshing degree of perception and vigour to Scotland’s legendary warrior. 

Godwin’s stage is mostly left uncluttered with an ingenious immersive style to the drama, allowing the audience to walk amongst a battle-ravaged set as a mise-en-scene. This minimalism works well, adding particular impact to the moment when on seeing Banquo’s ghost (fine work from Steffan Rhodri), real soup is spilled by Macbeth in his shock.

Indira Varma is Lady Macbeth and while she could perhaps have explored her wicked ambition with a hint more depth, she proved the perfect foil to her husband’s hesitation on contemplating regicide.

Among the witches Danielle Fiamanya stands out, with Ben Turner’s Macduff another powerful and heartbreaking performance. Turner’s grief on learning of the murder of Macduff’s wife and children is palpable, leading to a passionate and convincing sword fight with machetes as he and Macbeth battle to the story’s tragic conclusion. Credit too to designer Frankie Bradshaw, the blood and gore factor of this production is refreshingly high.

One of the nation’s most frequently performed tragedies, it has been easy in recent years for productions of Macbeth to lack emotional heft. This one delivers. If you’re lucky enough to have secured a ticket for its tour to Edinburgh, London and Washington DC in the new year you’re in for a treat.

Runs to 20 December and then on tour

Photo credit: Matt Humphrey

Antony and Cleopatra - Review

National Theatre, London


****


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin

Sophie Okonedo and Ralph Fiennes

It’s all very well for director Simon Godwin to project his Antony and Cleopatra into the modern era but for one gaping hole in the logic. Whilst the costumes and the weaponry (Kalashnikovs, really?) may be 21st Century, neither the Italy nor the Egypt of today, save for their respective antiquities, resemble anything like their illustrious glories from millennia past. This play skips over the inconvenient modernities that Italy is broken and Egypt impoverished, but misquoting Mark Twain, why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

And truly, this is a ripping yarn. As “a pair so famous”, Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo are the titular magnificents. Perfectly cast, Fiennes the grizzled, patrician warrior Antony bears a love for Cleopatra that is almost tangible in its devotion. As much as Fiennes brings an impasssioned wisdom to his role, so too does Okonedo command the stage with a powerful petulance, their mutual, eternal devotion well elicited by Godwin.

There is fine supporting work too. Tim McMullan’s Enobarbus is a work of art in itself, his description of Cleopatra’s Royal Barge and of her beauty, delivered with a rarely encountered richness. In a neat gender-twist, Katy Stephens takes on Agrippa, creating a brief but plausible chemistry with Enobarbus as she outlines her plans for Antony’s wedding to Octavia, while in Cleopatra’s court, Gloria Obianyo is a touching Charmian.

The technical values of the production offer up our National Theatre at its very best. Michael Bruce’s music (delivered beautifully by the side-staged 5 piece band) draws from a variety of themes, with just a delicious hint of Ron Goodwin too during a military moment. 

Hildegard Bechtler’s set design proves to be a veritable chocolate box of surprises. Making fine use of the Olivier’s drum revolve (even if some of the below level scene-shifting could be quieter) Bechtler effortlessly shifts the action to and fro across the Mediterranean, even creating an ornate pond in Cleopatra’s palace. Elsewhere, in place of his originally scripted galley,  Pompey (Sargon Yelda) is given a submarine from which to command his fleet. And a nod to the heart-warmingly cute (and non-venomous) milk snake, called upon to double as an asp, which comes close to stealing the final scene!

At three and a half hours all in Antony and Cleopatra is a long haul, but with Fiennes and Okonedo making Shakespeare’s verse sing, there are moments here to be savoured.

Runs until 19th January 2019 in repertory

To be screened via NTLive on 6th December

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Hamlet - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Simon Godwin

Paapa Essiedu

Life is imitating art with the RSC having sent their company of travelling players on the road to tour Hamlet around England, a journey that ends at north London’s Hackney Empire where the show runs through March. Thereafter, this bold and innovative production crosses the Atlantic to be staged in the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

Godwin ensures that the play is set up clearly, opening unusually at the university in Mecklenburg to witness Hamlet’s graduation before shifting location to reconnect with the traditional narrative – albeit African styled. Not only does this offer a swift start to the tale, but it also allows for that continent’s  distinctive themes to take centre stage. A cacophony of colour, costume and music fills the stage allowing Paul Wills’ design together with Sola Akingbola's rhythmic pulsating score to define this extraordinary take on arguably one of the canon’s most famous plays.

While occasionally finding comedy where it may not have been needed Paapa Essiedu delivers a modern, raw take on the title role, catching Hamlet’s innocence while also making fine work of the soliloquies. All too often, Hamlet can be played by slightly older actors – it is refreshing here to see a truly young actor playing the role as a passionate, over excitable and at times confused young man.

Mimi Ndiweni's Ophelia initial calmness proves deceptive, as her descent into despair during Act Four leaves the Empire’s audience stunned.  Memorable elsewhere, Joseph Mydell as Polonius delivers a wonderful performance as the king's loyal advisor, causing much hilarity with his proverbial pomposity. 

The culture that goes with African heritage is not only vibrant, but is rhythmic, raw and honest and this intriguing context of the tale take allows the RSC a prism to deliver a Hamlet that is a bold reflection of the modern world.

The onstage percussion from Akingbola alongside Sidiki Dembele defines the continent, while the collaboration between between Godwin and Wills presents Hamlet as a painter. With spray cans at hand both to liberally graffiti family portraits as well as to literally taint the fair Ophelia, the visuals serve well as a guide through the text.

In a bold and daring interpretation, Essiedu's Hamlet is likely to be remembered and talked about in years to come. To more seasoned Shakespearian audiences the production is occasionally frustrating, with moments of Shakespeare’s finely crafted subtlety being flagged and highlighted. Godwin’s Hamlet however is neither performed by, nor targeted at, society’s elite. It’s a beautifully accessible performance of a perfect play.

Reviewed by Josh Adams

Runs until 31st March, then at the Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, 2nd - 6th May

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan © RSC

Hamlet - Review

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon


****


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin

Paapa Essiedu

As the lights come up on Simon Godwin’s Hamlet with Marcellus and Barnardo keeping watch on Elsinore’s perimeter, there are crickets chirping. For whilst Denmark has always been fixed in a traditionally chilly Scandinavia this show shifts it to Africa, a continent infamous for corrupt and despotic regimes. Claudius’ murderous reign is well suited to the territory – and as the production plays out against Paul Wills’ stunning drapes and beautifully sourced Africana, one senses that where some 22 years ago Disney’s Lion King famously and ingeniously shifted this timeless plot to the Dark Continent, so, in Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary, does the RSC proudly endorse the location. 

The little known Paapa Essiedu plays the Prince, rising magnificently to the role. Essiedu’s take on the prose is beautifully nuanced, handling some of the most famous lines in the canon with a youthful confidence that is revelatory. Rarely have I been so moved by the “nunnery” exchange with Ophelia, whilst his “Alas, poor Yorick” flowed with the natural rhythm that Shakespeare imbued into the iambic, long before the text became a cliché.

Godwin has his actor splattered with paint throughout most of the first half’s “madness” and the exaggerated visual depiction of Hamlet’s antic disposition works well. After the interval as Essiedu, bare-chested, confronts Gertrude in the closet, there were gasps from the audience at the actor’s impressive physique.

For the most part Essiedu is blessed with playing off an excellent company. Clarence Smith’s Claudius skilfully avoids melodrama as the extent of his fratricidal wickedness is gradually revealed, whilst Tanya Moodie’s Gertrude (glamorous and in sunglasses at Ophelia’s funeral) offers up the classiest African Queen since John Huston’s Oscar winner. 

Natalie Simpson’s Ophelia breaks our hearts with her mental decline, alongside Ewart James Walters who in the traditional double-casting of Ghost/Gravedigger, is superb. To many there will be more than a hint of Mufasa in his murdered King, whilst Walters’ patois-inflected Gravedigger is comedy gold.

Cyril Nri captures Polonius' pontificating pomposity perfectly as Marcus Griffiths’ Laertes, whose return to Elsinore is via a helicopter-dropped abseil captures the righteous indignation of vengeful son and brother. The play's final fight, between Laertes and Hamlet, is staged in this production with a breathtaking use of staves in place of swords. A mention here for Kevin McCurdy’s perfectly choreographed fight direction and even more so for Mbulelo Ndabeni’s movement work, across the company, that so adds to the African setting sealed by Sola Akingbola’s deliciously drum-heavy musical accompaniment.   

This being Africa, the cast is black with the exception of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. These most celebrated of Shakespeare’s inept and inadequates (James Cooney and Bethan Cullinane respectively) are here played as white English. The message is clear – that England’s imperial bunglings into Africa have been naïve and crass. The argument may not be to everyone’s taste, but it sweetly suits the tone of this production. 

Unencumbered with the overblown expectations of a stunt-cast star in the title role, this is the best Hamlet in years having been given such a finely worked interpretation. This is an inspired and memorable production that plays in repertory until the summer. Broadcast to cinemas in June – don’t miss it!

Runs until 13th August - And in cinemas from 8th June

Richard II - Review

Shakespeare's Globe, London

****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Simon Godwin

Charles Edwards

Simon Godwin hones his focus in on the fallible nature of authority, in a smartly paced production with plenty of humour. His Richard II is an examination of the facets of hierarchy and begs the audience to consider the true origins of power. Is the right of Kings truly a gift from God? Or is it an innate and simplistic ability to rule justly and fairly, possessed of any man willing to seize the opportunity? Therein lies the central conflict between Charles Edwards' enigmatic Richard and David Sturzaker's earnest Bolingbroke. 

Designer Paul Wills has crafted a technically intelligent set, casing every wall and pillar in a slightly decayed gold leaf. The extravagant opulence of Richard's court is immediately captured in the garishly blanket plating of every surface, yet the hidden rot of his rule is also reflected in the decay. Just as the surface of the very walls is aged and scratched, so Richard's personal façade can only last so long. Richard himself, clad as he is in light creams and further gold, often disappears into his own throne, lost in the architecture of his surroundings and blind to the threats of the more darkly clad Bolingbroke, Northumberland and Willoughby. 

As Richard, Edwards' central performance captures the glib swagger of a man raised in a form of regal captivity. We see the young boy crowned in a coronation prologue and in so doing understand Richard's inability to see beyond the needs of his immediate entourage and desires. He is not inherently selfish, simply a man told since his pre-pubescent years that his actions are the will of God. Edwards is especially strong when physically handing over the crown to Bolingbroke. The former king is reduced to a linen clad waif, not mad, simply unable to fathom the recent turn of events. Edwards delicately portrays the sickened confusion of a man who has lost his spiritual foundation. 

Godwin keeps the play motoring along and whilst a couple of actors seem to slightly rush their lines, it gives the production a sense of welcome pace and comedy. Exchanges between Richard and his courtiers are fired off with precise timing and a catty wit. These scheming felines spit snide remarks behind closed doors and in one scene cackle over some odd catwalk-like entertainment. It all feels very 'high fashion mogul'. There are also some fantastically funny set pieces that lift what could've been a rather drab second act. Sarah Woodward and William Chubb, as the Duchess and Duke of York, do fine work on their knees in a farcical squabble over their sons’ misdeeds, whilst the biggest laugh of the night came from a sequence involving as many thrown gauges as you are likely to see in a single scene. 

If the production lacks anything, it is perhaps a degree of narrative investment. Sturzaker's Bolingbroke is likeable and well acted, but lacks that enigmatic zeal that would convince an audience of his ability to rally the disgruntled Lords to his cause. Also, both the Dukes of Richard's court and Bolingbroke's eventual sympathisers lack a sense of individual identity. They blur into a mass of camp malevolence and haughty aggression respectively, which robs the play of a sense of character depth. 

This aside, Richard II delivers in terms of a charismatic central performance from Edwards and a slick sense of pace throughout. Godwin's direction has clarity and his deft touch for the light-hearted encourages the audience to find humour in the pomp and reverence of sovereignty, as well as pity for a young boy King doomed by ideals thrust upon him.

Runs until 18th October

Guest reviewer: Will Clarkson
Photo credit: Johan Persson