MacBeth: William Shakespeare

RST , Stratford Upon Avon

Performance: Friday 15 September, 2023

Audio described performance

Runs: 3h 15m, one interval, till 14 October, 2023

Review : Roderick Dungate, 15 September, 2023

2 **

A production that looks for the effect of everything but finds the value of nothing.

No beating about the bush; this production by Wils Wilson is the most pointless and misconceived production I have seen at the RSC for many years.

Virtually nothing happens without being signalled with some effect. ‘This is a spooky moment’, bass brass notes. ‘Is this a dagger I see before me?’, magic dagger moving sound effect. McDuff’s children are murdered, wicked witches screetching and flying into the air.

But worse than this, virtually all the actors seem incapable of speaking the text. Almost none embody their text so that it appears ‘in the moment’, a crucial requirement if we are to be truly engaged. Rather the actors play the effect of their lines with no tangible relationship to the lines’ meaning. Sentences and phrases frequently are split into peculiar little chunks which strips away any meaning the lines should have. This fault starts right at the top with Reuben Joseph’s Macbeth and Valne Kane’s Lady Macbeth; we care little for them. The production’s nadir comes when Macbeth speaks ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow ‘ as a throw-away with a stand microphone; modern but meaningless.

Much publicity has been gained in that the Porter scene is newly written by Stewart Lee for stand up performed by Alison Peebles; it is a neat enough trick and well executed, but what is the point?

When the production is allowed to settle down it works well. George Anton’s MacDufff conveys great despair, for instance, at the news of the death of his family, sustaining the scene with quiet truth.

I do not believe that Shakespeare texts should be treated as tablets of stone; but let’s at least give them some value. The Director, seems to believe that young audiences (MacBeth is a play on examination syllabuses) are not able to cope with art which has emotional challenges and requires effort; she is giving them a quick fix of showy theatre but depriving them of exploring empathy. In a nutshell, patronising them; this is the greatest sin.

Cast

Witches – Amber Sylvia Edwards, Eilidh Loan, Dylan Read

MacBeth – Reuben Joseph

Lady MacBeth – Belene Kane

Banquo – Anna Russell Martin

Fleance – Liam King

Duncan – Therese Bradley

Malcolm – Amelia Isaac Jones

Donalbain – Michael Wallace

MacDuff – George Anton

Lennox – Kevin Lennon

Ross – Ryan Hunter

Angus – Benjamin Osugo

Seyton, The Porter – Alison Peebles

Lady MacDuff – Emma King

Coll MacDuff – Liam King

Alice/Gwen – Annie Grace

Bloody Captain – Alasdair MacRea

Murderers -Michael Wallace, Therese Bradley, Alasdair MacRae

Siward – Therese Bradley

Young Siward – Michael Wallace

Creatives

Director – Wils Wilson

Designer – Georgia McGuinness

Lighting – Kai Fisher

Composer – Alasdair MacRae

Sound – Claire Windsor

Movement – Julia Cheng

New Porter Scene – Steward Lee

Fights – Kaitlin Howard

Voice & Test – Ros Steen

Puppetry – Liz Walker