MACBETH by William Shakespeare Harrogate Theatre to 17 November.
Harrogate
MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Harrogate Theatre To 17 November 2001
Runs 2hr 45min One interval
TICKETS 01423 502116
Review Timothy Ramsden 30 October
Visually striking production with insights, yet limited by some of its verse-speaking.What bloody play is this; Macbeth beginning without any witches? By opening in Duncan's camp Rob Swain scores a couple of points. There's the embattled anxiety – the bloody messenger is near cut down by a security conscious guard till another stops his sword in recognition. And we open with instances of Macbeth's virtues, before the king's dying words are echoed in a raven's cawing that transmutes into the Weird Sisters' words - amplified and disembodied throughout.
Swain builds on Macbeth's 'Why do you dress me in borrowed robes'. Told he's the new thane of Cawdor, a comrade puts that thane's coat over his shoulders, to be knocked off by an astonished Macbeth fresh from the prophecies. Later, Lady Macbeth makes her final, maddened exit holding her husband's coat as if carrying his corpse.
Set on a wild, naturally terraced landscape, with vertical stones suggesting elemental paganism, the action is constantly in a place where minds are open to incomprehensible forces. The downside of the striking set is that it reduces the banquet to an intimate dinner party.
Niall Refoy's Macbeth seems scarcely to bother about the early soliloquies. The performance comes into focus with his long stare at the imaginary dagger before he dismisses his servant and addresses it, in a speech where he seems to wake from his dagger-dreaming before being sucked back into the way it's leading him.
His separation from Lady Macbeth is clear in a dismissive kiss and his rough handling of her, half-dragging her by the arm when he speaks of his mind being full of scorpions. In the later stages he is reduced to a threadbare patch of anger – shouting at his attendant, stabbing the Doctor for news of his wife's death – and a numbness so extreme as to reduce the performance. The final fight against Phil Corbitt'a Mohican-headed, strongly spoken Macduff is long and vicious.
Shelly Willetts' Lady Macbeth is limited by an apparent. Need. To speak. Her. Lines. In detached. Segments. But there's a fine moment after the banquet when, alone, she pours wine over her hand and stares at what will clearly become the unmoveable image of blood. Her final scene is beautifully introduced by Nicola Bolton's Gentlewoman, who you believe has seen the Queen's nocturnal performance too many times before and David Westbrook's Doctor, holding professional poise while clearly out of his depth. And Willetts performs it magnificently, rubbing her hands fiercely, then looking to see if the blood's gone, wiping the hand on her leg, pacing, smacking herself in despair and terror. When Macbeth enters later with her body, and lies beside her for the 'Tomorrow' speech, her forearms are stained with her own blood.
It's a production to show regional Shakespeare is far from routine, while indicating the need for strong voice work in handling his verse.
Lady Macduff Nicola Bolton
Malcolm Jon Bonner
Porter Matthew Bowyer
Macduff Phil Corbitt
Lenox David Gay
Banquo Howard Gay
Macbeth Niall Refoy
Duncan David Westbrook
Lady Macbeth Shelly Willetts
Other parts played by members of the above company
Director Rob Swain
Design/ Lighting Design Paul Colley
Costume Design Emma Renhard
Sound Design Paul Graham
2001-10-31 11:51:31