MACBETH. To 1 September.
Chichester
MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Minerva Theatre In rep to 1 September 2007
Mon-Sat7.45pm Mat Wed, Sat & 6 Aug 2.15pm
Audio-described 7 June 8 June 2.15pm
Runs 3hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 1 June
Bloody, bold and resolute.
Detailed and ruthless, Rupert Goold’s Chichester Macbeth explores the trajectory that could create a Stalin. Patrick Stewart’s thane’s grim-visaged and taciturn at the start, his grizzled features curdling at the idea of ultimate power. “Two truths are told” he calculates of the Witches’ prophecies, before speaking with awe of “the imperial theme”.
The white-tiled background of Anthony Ward’s spare set, with its lift that takes on a sinister edge, becomes an emergency operating-theatre or the Macbeths’ kitchen (used, incongruously, for the royal entrance; the “temple-haunting martlet”’s a dead bird, waiting to be plucked).
Perhaps Macbeth’s mistake was marrying someone young enough to be his daughter. Kate Fleetwood’s intense Lady doesn’t have far to travel into madness. It’s in her from the start. When she tells Macbeth “I have given suck,” he seems to see a new side to her. But the immediacy of death almost tips her over; she returns from placing the daggers that killed Duncan near-traumatised, rubbing her bloodstained hands as she will in her final sleepwalk, later convulsing as she faints at the discovery of the corpse.
At the knocking, she darts under a table, becoming the “sorry sight” her husband mentions. His ability to joke so soon after the murder is the birth of a later duality. King Macbeth’s paranoia’s evident in his games, humiliating nobles for the slightest fault, before moving to defeat. Twice near the end he’s near suicide; he speaks the news of Birnam’s arrival on his doorstep before it can be told him then, realising he’s been stitched up, gives up the fight with Macduff when the Witches arrive.
They’re three pale but personable young women, less “secret black and midnight hags” than secret agents working in Macbeth’s entourage. Martin Turner’s fine Banquo, showing the moral discrimination Macbeth lacks, is murdered on a crowded train. Michael Feast is a superb Macduff. Rich in voice, his long pause at news of his family’s murder is a compellingly expressive silence.
There are misjudgments: an unfunny Porter routine; a sensationalism seen in the Macduffs’ murder. But this production is detailed, thoughtful and often viscerally exciting.
Duncan/Doctor: Paul Shelley
Malcolm: Scott Handy
Donalbain/Young Seyward: Ben Carpenter
Macbeth: Patrick Stewart
Banquo: Martin Turner
Macduff: Michael Feast
Lennox: Mark Rawlings
Ross: Tim Treloar
Angus: Bill Nash
Fleance: Tom Bulpett/Mike Jeffery
Old Seyward/Murderer: Christopher Knott
Seyton: Christopher Patrick Nolan
Bloody Sergeant/Murderer: Hywel John
Lady Macbeth: Kate Fleetwood
Lady Macduff: Suzanne Burden
Macduff Children: Jemima Henstridge-Blows, India Loseby, Edward Porter/Grant Harris, Alice Sowden, Charlotte Titcombe
Witch: Laura Rees
Witch/Gentlewoman: Polly Frame
Witch: Niamh McGrady
Lady Macbeth’s Servant: Oliver Birch
Director: Rupert Goold
Designer: Anthony Ward
Lighting: Howard Harrison
Sound/Music: Adam Cork
Video/Projection: Lorna Heavey
Movement: Georgina Lamb
Fight director: Terry King
2007-06-02 10:28:16