UK Theatre Network

 
MACBETH BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE –

 PRESS PERFORMANCE 29 April 2010

Published by: Tremayne

Until 27 June

To book tickets online visit the website www.shakespeares-globe.org

Box office: 020 7401 9919

The ‘circular architecture of the Globe’ has influenced director Lucy Bailey in her production of MacBeth.  Set it in a Medieval Hell, she recognises the descending circles of the Globe as bearing a close resemblance to Dante’s description of hell as a vortex, with its nine descending levels.  She transforms the Globe into the pit of Hell  in which he and Vigil traverse a frozen lake where imposters lie, trapped in the ice.

‘So wedged in ice to the point at which appear/

The hues of shame, livid, and with their teeth/

Chattering like storks, the dismal shades stood here.’

(Dante and Vigil on the frozen Lake of Cocytus).

MacBeth opens with a bare-chested, bloody male immerging from the depths of despair whilst the three witches gather around him, their faces painted in white. The Third Witch (Karen Anderson) can be seen picking through the man’s wallet, which, rather disturbingly, causes laughter from the audience.

As a way of extending the stage, as well as bringing the audience in on the action of the play, a black cloth is used for the first seven rows, with occasional holes for the spectators to poke their heads through, almost reminiscent of the time when their severed heads would have been speared on to the end of  sharp spikes..

In the next scene a piece of someone’s sizzled flesh is thrown out onto the black cloth and among the wash of raucous laughter, it bounces in and between people’s heads, causing a fantastic surge of energetic reaction.

The bright red of the gory blood and flesh is in direct contrast to that of the stage, a deadly black

Elliot Cowan, who plays MacBeth is pleasing on the eye without doubt. However, the delivery of Lady MacBeth’s lines by Laura Rogers is truly captivating .  Her performance is most polished, literally remaining within character until the theatre curtains fall.

An impressive transition is made by Simone Kirby who switches effortlessly between playing the Second Witch and Lady MacDuff.  I could not help but draw parallels between her killing and those of her family members and those depicted in director Roman Polanski’s film version, The Tragedy of MacBeth. I am not sure if this was intentional?

The performance of MacBeth is brought to an extended close by a fusion of Chant and Dance, with the final applause reserved for the musicians who manage to interweave their playing into their acting.

“A bloody feast for all!”