review: macbeth

I saw a great Macbeth tonight at the Fringe -- it was definitely the least fringe-y I've seen so far.  I'd been a bit worried because it was subtitled "an adaptation," which, knowing the Fringe, could mean anything from turning it into a variety show to well -- who knows.  Actually, though, it was a really good, genuine production.  A few odds and ends:

--Casting.  Well done.  I was really thrilled with Macbeth -- it's rare to find a Macbeth that I think actually looks the part -- tall, thin yet muscular, dark hair, stubble, reasonably attractive.  I put a lot of stock in casting him properly, and was suitably impressed.  Macduff and his wife were both well cast, but he certainly got the better end of the deal.  I don't know how they ended up together, but I can see why he was upset when she died.  Lady Macbeth looked the part reasonably well, but I was less impressed with her acting, which detracted from her overall performance.  Duncan was cast as a woman (and the lines were all changed to "she" or "mother" as necessary), which I was fairly ambivalent towards.  She and Lady Mac clearly didn't get along, which I hadn't necessarily gotten in other performances.  One of the witches was cast as male.  I wasn't crazy about the witches in this production in general, so it perhaps wasn't as big a deal as it could have been, but I tend to prefer them to all be female.  And finally, one snitty comment -- aside from Lady Macduff, the actresses weren't particularly thin.  I think in American Shakespearean productions (okay, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival) I'm used to seeing all the actresses quite thin and it throws me a bit when they aren't.  The costuming didn't really help either, unfortunately.

--Acting.  Overall quite good, except I really wasn't a fan of this Lady Macbeth.  I liked the concept they were going for with a lot of chemistry between her and Macbeth, but I just didn't feel like it was remotely genuine.  I thought she overacted (though the sleepwalking scene was better) in general.  The friend I went with though thought she was great, so it's obviously highly subjective.  Macbeth was mostly good, though I thought he went a little farther than necessary down the path of madness near the end.  The one "everything" actor came across as a bit camp, which just felt oddly out of place in Macbeth.  The rest, though, were fine.  Malcolm and Macduff did particularly well.

--Banquo's ghost.  Not on stage.  Nor was the dagger.  This production clearly showed Macbeth going mad.

--The ending.  All exited except Macbeth's body and the three witches who then, for the first time, went on about fair being foul and foul being fair and double double toil and troubling.  It was clearly a "look, we've conquered this little project -- ha! -- now, what's next?" ending, which was fitting.

--Scottish accents.  Some had them, some didn't.

--The witches.  They were really demoted in this production.  The didn't get to open the show (!!) nor did they get much extra-ness, except one of them (the guy) was on stage just milling about surreptitiously in the background for much of the play.  That worked well, though I found their costumes just plain odd.  They were given gas masks and dressed in black tank tops like the others.  I really didn't get why they needed gas masks.

--Technical bits.  Lighting was good, mostly red-ish when colored.  Sound was good.  The scene changes were okay; could have been better with some music, but not bad.  The costumes were almost all pants with black tank tops.  It was okay, but not amazing.  Average, I suppose you could say.

--Deleted scenes.  Hecate.  Double double.  The bit where Macbeth kills the young boy just before he kills Macduff.

--Directing.  Evidently it was supposed to be set in a post-apocalyptic world (hence, presumably, the gas masks ... on only the witches ... who being supernatural you wouldn't think would need them ...), though I had no clue about that till I read the program notes at intermission.  Post-apocalyptic with at least a handful of Scots.  Intriguing.  I think what I liked best about the directing concept was that it didn't get in the way.  It came off feeling just kind of modern to me, which was fine.  At least it explained the costumes and state of grime most characters seemed to live in.

In general, I really enjoyed this show.  Highlights included the casting of Macbeth, the attempted romance (and domestic violence) between the Macbeths and the Macduffs.  Lowlights included Lady Mac's acting and the witches and the costuming.  As always, it was fun hearing the famous lines -- "something wicked this way comes" -- and just enjoying another night at the Fringe.