Macbeth by Bell Shakespeare Company, REVIEW, 22 May 1994

 

THEATRE

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

By Bell Shakespeare Company

At Comedy Theatre, Melbourne till 18 June 1994

Reviewer: Kate Herbert around 22 May 1994

This review was published in The Melbourne Times after 22 May 1994

 

John Bell's Shakespeare Company take risks without taking too many liberties with the bard - generally. David Fenton's production of Macbeth has taken a few enormous risks with interpretation. Some are successful.

 

The production shifts in style frequently moving from a chintzy Dr. Who design to a lavish Peter Greenaway film. Fenton has cast the witches as dome-headed aliens with access to advanced technology. This has interesting possibilities but there is no follow through. If the witches have super tech powers why are they not manipulating the action given they are on stage much of the time?

 

Anna Volska's Lady Macbeth comes on stage in an excitable, almost manic flurry, which was a potentially inspired choice. Unfortunately there is no through line from mania to "unsex me here". Her changes in the first two acts come from a vacuum, leaving her looking like a socialite at a cocktail party.

 

John Bell's Macbeth initially explores a man with too much of "the milk of human kindness" but this leaves him a distance to travel to reach monstrous butcher. Once there, however, he is a substantial villain and the third act after interval was much more successful generally.

 

This is a production of a violent and supernatural play which remains superficial in its delivery. The emotional layering is thin with the exception of the moment when Macduff receives news of the death of his family. Christopher Stollery shows a profound emotional turmoil.

 

There are some strong support and cameo performances. The crowd of roistering soldiers, Heinekins in hand, are entertaining. James Hagan is a wonderfully bucolic, laconic Porter and Sean O'Shea (who bears a disconcerting resemblance to Rowan Atkinson) plays an ingenuous Malcolm.

 

The stage design comprises a bevy of appropriately bleak and oppressive black walls, but the eclectic costuming is confusing and inconsistent. There is some attempt to offend the audience with gross imagery. An outsized dinner platter of disembowelled horse smacks of Greenaway grotesquery but created an effective, terrifying setting for Banquo's ghost. In contrast, the foetus in the witches hi-tech cauldron wis revolting, gratuitous and out of context.

 

The final confrontation and battle between Macduff and Macbeth is riveting. Fenton composes a tableau of all the dead right upstage and invades the stage with huge and threatening chrome lances. The stage finally becomes dangerous.

 

This Macbeth emerges as a production with some interesting ideas and moments, but no coherent concept and vision.

 

KATE HERBERT