New Wimbledon Studio 14 June – 9 July. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
Arrows & Traps production of Macbeth is full of their trademark intensity and passion. Adapted and directed by Ross McGregor, this Macbeth has astounding emotional impact.
David Paisley’s Macbeth is gut wrenchingly powerful, choked back tears and subtle twitches making way for bellowing fury and brutality. Paisley manages to evoke sympathy for this damaged tyrant whilst stalking around the stage like an injured bull ordering the death of his friend. Cornelia Baumann as Lady Macbeth is equally complex and powerful. Her “unsex me” speech is full of fierce resolution with gradually diminishing flickers of vulnerability and horror – a majestic performance. The relationship between the Macbeths is at the centre of this adaptation.
Paisley and Baumann make a formidable couple that ooze sensuality and somehow become even better when on stage together. Their passion and grief are palpable, and this gives their motives for murder a much more human and tragic meaning than simple ambition.
Duncan (Jean Apps) and Banquo (Becky Black) are female in this adaptation, giving the scenes with their sons a gentle and more intimate feel. The murderers are also played by women, although they all fight like men – hair pulling and screaming would be a step too far I suppose. Most shocking is the murder of the Macduffs – again an all-female scene, with calm, chilling, dead eyed killers. The modern setting makes the fight scenes more visceral and intimate – there are no swords, only knives, and Macbeth’s armour is a stab vest.
At first sight, the witches (Elle Banstead-Salim, Olivia Stott and Monique Williams) look like they’ve escaped from a Cyndi Lauper worshipping Goth cult, but with their steampunk goggles and odd, sometimes insect like, choreographed moves, they develop into truly otherworldly creatures, watching breathlessly over pivotal scenes. These witches have the power to make Macbeth writhe in agony as they deliver their prophecies and are wildly unnerving when possessed by demons. Along with simple, but effective portrayal of ghosts, the supernatural aspects of the play are embraced and celebrated, rather than pushed aside and dismissed. The bare, black space, with only a table and stools, focusses the attention onto the performances, and Beth Gibbs’ instinctive lighting adds to the heightened sense of the supernatural.
In most productions, once Macduff enters, they fight, speeches, Macbeth dies, Malcolm is crowned (maybe a glimpse of Fleance), Bish, Bash, Bosh… it’s done. McGregor and the company have turned these last scenes into something magical. Macduff (Alex Payne – bristling with vengeful righteousness) stalks Macbeth, ghosts rise and begin a hauntingly beautiful danse macabre around the protagonists. Lady Macbeth is one of the ghosts, allowing Paisley to deliver Macbeth’s final lines with a heart-breaking joy at the prospect of being reunited with his love. A wonderful piece of theatre.
There have been so many productions of Macbeth that we all think we know the play inside out. But Arrows & Traps have once again delivered an exciting and enthralling take on a classic. Full of passion, humanity and ingenuity, this Macbeth is a must see.