Over the years I’ve seen many productions & takes on the Scottish play both on stage & in film. Some very traditional, others reinventing the setting. One of my favourite films is Joe MacBeth a 50’s gangster take with Broderick Crawford & Ruth Roman. Throne of Blood is also great. Patrick Stewart’s eastern bloc version is the best Macbeth I’ve ever seen.
On stage I’ve seen puppets, clowns & even real people 🙂 tackling it. At The Festival this will be the the third or maybe fourth production I’ve seen. The last was the African revolution ‘variation’ that had Colm Feore driving a jeep on stage (in a nod I guess to Miss Saigon’s helicopter).
This production of Macbeth starts when you enter the theatre – instead of house music there is a constant rumble of distant thunder. Mist, blackout & lights up with the witches swirling around in the swirling mist. The play moves, for the most part, quickly, effectively. Ian Lake as our ‘hero’ is excellent, unflattering even when his character is supposed to falter. I never for a moment believed this man didn’t have the fortitude to what was to be done.
Krystin Pellerin as his Lady is strong as well, not as strong as Lane though. I didn’t feel her conniving – it was as if the murder was an automatic response as opposed to something that occurs to her. There is chemistry between her and the Lord. The washing of his body after battle is a nice foreshadowing of her later hand washing dilemma.
As much as I like the Porter’s text it stops the play in its tracks. No director has be willing to cut it. It is a problem to be solved & this production fails to solve it. I know the historic context for it but even then it added nothing to propelling the story. Comic relief isn’t needed & it doesn’t create tension.
None of the secondary characters were outstanding, but Michael Blake as Macduff has an affecting moment on hearing of the death of his wife. Lane give ‘Tomorrow and’ a deeply emotional performance. I wish some of the other work had as much depth. The murderers were mundane, the generals lacked enunciation.
The sword play was exciting. The wigs & beards were amazing – I’ve seen too many badly constructed & poorly applied beards & the ones in this production looked real – we were in 2nd row centre seats so we had very close up looks 🙂 Which also added to my pleasure at the amazing six-pac abs the Laird wasn’t shy about displaying – I didn’t realize there was gym in his castle.
The other Festival productions I saw this season are:
A Little Night Music: http://wp.me/p1RtxU-1Rn
The Hypochondriac: http://wp.me/p1RtxU-1X6
A Chorus Line http://wp.me/p1RtxU-1Zx
The Killer Wants To Know
the killer wondered
how long it took for blood to dry
he never left a crimson spatter pattern
he didnʼt leave clues
there was so much about death
that he didnʼt understand
like how long it took for blood to dry
did it get absorbed
would it slather the surface
and clot cake dry
become flakey then powder
be blown away
in the morning breeze
could it be resurrected by rain
he knew what was released on death
the bowel bladder
abrupt shudderings
that were the price of what he did
to liberate this world
from all these unnecessary fucks
all these jerk offs
who didnʼt see how precious life was
until he would suddenly confront them
in the washroom of a noisy bar
music pounding so loudly
people thought the the thump
on the stall door
was someoneʼs fun drug reaction
but most of them didnʼt know
how long it took for blood to dry
not that he asked them
why worry them with more
than how good is the coke
he offered
then push them into a stall
squeeze
life gone
him gone out the door
his impression around the neck
satisfying and simple
but now he had something
new to learn
he had to find out
hello stranger
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