MACBETH. To 1 March.
London
MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Albery Theatre Extended to 1 March 2003
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed (except 1 January) Sat & 2 January 2.15pm
No evening performance 24 December, no performance 25 December
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS 020 7369 1740
Review Timothy Ramsden 18 November
An increasingly impressive Macbeth in an uneasily-styled MacbethOnce, it was the place for the top-class productions. Now, there's something creaking about the whole idea of West End Shakespeare. Those resolutely-architectured stages seem false alongside the give-and-take of Shakespeare's Globe, the immediacy of open-stage presentation and detailed studio minimalism. Acting's made for closeness too, today.
And when lights go up for the Albery curtain call, Michael Pavelka's set's revealed for the agglomeration of convenience units it's constructed of. Yet, under the focus of Ben Ormerod's lighting it creates place and mood well enough. Edward Hall's thunder-and-flashes displays, courtesy of Ormerod and sound-man Matt McKenzie, are today's equivalent of the scenic spectacle thriving a century ago, playing from the stage-form's strengths.
Yet the picture-frame's finest moment is one of understated silence, as Sean Bean's Macbeth faces retribution with his victims' ghosts looking silently on. Bean shows the seeds of a major portrayal. To start, it's efficient enough. The little step forward as Duncan's about to announce his heir, the sudden stop when the king names Malcolm, his son.
It's post-interval (this comes early, after an interpolated coronation ceremony for the Macbeths) when we see the steely bureaucrat ruler with the hardened, decisive voice, up to the final chaotic coarseness where the lad from the South Yorkshire comprehensive shows who he thinks is boss, that Bean's characterisation takes off.
How this lad ever met the privately educated Surrey girl he married is a mystery. Once she's unleashed his temperament, it carries them further apart. We see her kneeling to or keeping a distance from him. The play's last act reference to her being in bed alone takes focus – especially as we first saw the couple together in a kiss-clinch session: a feast after battle's deprivation.
Death's never far away. A traitor's head tops the centre-stage arch. In front Duncan sits apparently secure on his throne, talking of how you can never know what people think, going on to praise Macbeth as this next traitor bursts in.
Actors seem encouraged to use their own regional accents. Is Julian Glover Scottish? If not, why is his grim and otherwise fine Porter given a Scottish voice? Beware this in any Macbeth: the idea only the lewdly drunken 'comic relief' sounds Scottish is a patronising insult that should have any director who tries it perpetually haggis-ridden when next north of the Border.
Weird Sister/Lady Macduff: Clare Swinburne
Weird Sister: Alexandra Moen
Weird Sister/ Gentlewoman: Jayne McKenna
Duncan/Porter: Julian Glover
Malcolm: Adrian Schiller
Captain/Murderer: Christian Patterson
Ross: David Beames
Macbeth: Sean Bean
Banquo: Barnaby Kay
Lennox: Finn Caldwell
Lady Macbeth: Samantha Bond
Servant/Messenger: Edmund Moriarty
Fleance: James Devey/Ryan Nelson/Aran Shipp
Macduff: Mark Bazeley
Donalbain/Young Siward: Tam Williams
Seyton: Ian Pirie
Murderer/Doctor: Nicholas Asbury
Murderer/Old Siward: Edward Clayton
Young Macduff: Aaron Johnson/Sam Mannox/Joe White
Messenger: Christopher Obi
Director: Edward Hall
Designer: Michael Pavelka
Lighting: Ben Ormerod
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Movement: Ian Spink
Fights: Terry King
Music: Simon Slater
2002-11-21 11:02:03