Across Weirdish Wild Space

Professional theatre critics are already hailing this as one of the best productions of Macbeth ever, so I won’t waste time gushing with superlatives here, but it is quite simply, not just the best production of Macbeth I’ve ever seen, but the best Shakespearean play I’ve ever seen, period. It rocks. Just pony up the money for the best tickets that won’t break you, splurge on this, and go… You won’t be sorry.

Rupert Goold’s production is extraordinary. Everything Bill was trying to evoke with this play; the hesitancy, compulsion and attraction of the will to power, the horror of the supernatural, regicide and being outside of the natural order and questions about being fated to fall yet free to choose are all almost perfectly illustrated in this take on the play which is the freshest interpretation of Shakespeare I’ve seen in a long, long time.

While I had originally questioned the idea of a Russian, and obviously Stalinist setting for the play, the starkness and minimalism it allows the set to get away with and the fact it actually amplifies the emphasis of the play and fits so amazingly well with the dominant themes of tyranny and leadership really makes me think it was a brilliant directorial call. It evokes this creepily dystopian 1984 that seems at once both alien and disturbingly comfortable on Orwell’s home turf. Though occasionally sounding a bit strange when someone says they’re off to Fife or London when it feels like you should be hearing St. Petersburg, it really works.

Another thing which I have to say, not only sorts well with our proximity to Halloween, but something that never came off for me in any other film or stage production of Macbeth is the sheer creepiness and inherent supernatural horror of the play. Here it is totally nailed. I actually had goosebumps at parts of the play and the emphasis here on it, I think, is one of the reasons the play is being raved over.

The Weird Sisters are omnipresent throughout the play as part of the household retinue and lend that air of supernatural foreboding that I think adds so much to this production of the play. So too, Banquo’s ghost is handled masterfully and creatively which I’ve always felt is one of the hardest scenes in the entire play to pull off, especially when you know it’s coming… Here, it creeps you the hell out. As well as the way it is used to reflect the mental torment of the king (not to mention the sheer style is takes to put the intermission there), it is a masterstroke of artistic direction.

There are so many new ideas thrown into the traditional interpretation of Macbeth here, while still maintaining an absolute fidelity to its core, that I just can’t help but be awed by its brilliance. All of it works and all of it contributes a freshness to the play that really is a new line drawn in the sand for other Shakespearean productions to attempt to match, let alone exceed.

The performances are simply amazing throughout the entire cast. Patrick Stewart as Macbeth is incredible in being both murderous and yet human and delivers his soliloquies with conviction and force (and getting him is a masterstroke of marketing). Lady Macbeth is also pretty amazing with the tension between who wears the pants in the family alternating between the first acts and the later with her exhortations early on giving way to her somnambulating hand washing and the chasm that grows between her and her husband. Banquo and particularly Macduff also completely knock it out of the park as well.

This production epitomizes why London’s West End is the spiritual and intellectual heart of the world’s theatre community and it is my fervent hope we see a lot more productions of this character, quality, style and thought there in the future.