Macbeth @ Sydney Opera House
27 Apr 2012
Not bad.
I'd like to say better things about this, but overall I'd rate it as an "ok" production. I may not be being fair since I think I'm still deeply scarred by the amazing production of Macbeth I saw a few years back in London's West End (yes, with Captain Picard, and yes, I realize how obnoxious that sounds now I've written it.). I'm not sure it makes up for the appalling disaster Caesar was, but it's definitely movement in the right direction.
The Director makes a heavy play to ambition in this work, while ignoring the other elements which make this such a layered and ultimately disturbing play. There is no subtlety in this production. Macbeth is a tale conflicted between ambition and predestination as well as supernatural foreboding. Is Macbeth a victim of his own greed and free will or simply a fated agent of forces beyond his ken? It's unabashedly and unapologetically for naked, unmarred ambition.
Lady Macbeth was probably the strongest character before the murders, yet gets bizarre stage direction (seriously, hiccuping?) which made it hard to take her seriously later. Also, while both Macbeth and his Lady did a great job of naked ambition, I didn't quite find their mental anguish, that which causes the hallucinations of daggers, spots and Banquo's ghost, well done or that believable. If you're so stressed you're seeing things, supernatural or not, I want to see anguish in your face.
MacDuff and Malcolm were good but slightly overshadowed in their parts. I don't think this was a problem with their performances, but rather an issue with costuming since the choice of baby blue trenchcoats and everyone having a beard made it difficult to tell they key actors apart other than Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo. Still, this is a problem I've seen with a lot of Shakespearean productions so one you can't fault here.
Another strange choice was the fact that there was only one weird sister. Traditionally, and in every version of Macbeth I've seen, there are three witches, so the fact there was just one with strange echo-y speech was a bit strange (however, probably very good for the production budget). In fact, for me, the supernatural portions of Macbeth are one of the things that distinguishes the play from tales of naked ambition, like say… Wall Street, so the de-emphasizing of this aspect of the play was an unusual choice. Also, the woman playing the witch was distractingly attractive to the point that you focused on her writhing more than the dialogue going on around her. And no, I don't think it was just me. So, slight casting tip, if you're hiring sexy witches, have a good reason for it, ok? Also, someone please explain to me why the witch and the MacDuff's son and Fleance (both played by the same woman) had a black line drawn bisecting their faces. I struggled looking for meaning to this particular bit of costuming, but failed. Anyone?
Overall though, it's not a bad production of the play and despite some strange choices in trying to make it fresh and put the Director's spin on it, is worth going to see.