Review: RSC, Macbeth

The old king sleeps. At the foot of his bed, three childish spectres keep their watch...

I was apprehensive to see the RSC's 2018 production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The reviews were rather poor, with comments circulating that the production was unclear, disjointed, and inaccessible. However, being a strong supporter of the RSC and an open-minded theatre-goer, I entered the auditorium with the same level of interest and excitement as for any other production. Here's my thoughts.

When a production of Macbeth fails to hit home, it is often cited as being 'the curse of Macbeth'. Rarely do we actually consider what this 'curse' is. Perhaps Shakespeare did offend a coven of witches around the writing of the play. Or perhaps the problem lies in the play's own success - with so many brilliant renderings of Macbeth in production history, maybe it is harder for new productions to achieve equal acclaim, whilst also doing something original.

It is fantastic when a modern production is truly innovative in its approach to a 400-year-old play. But there is such a thing as doing too much with innovative staging choices, and that, I think, was the RSC's downfall with this production. The staging effects, intended to reflect the urgencies within the play, often fell flat. The choices, at times, were too avant-garde, even for me (a student in Shakespeare in performance, and an open-minded spectator) - and so wholly inaccessible for the average punter looking to be entertained.

From the offset, it is clear that this production was reinterpreting Macbeth in a modern setting. The witches, who at the beginning of the play were sat around King Duncan's (David Acton) bed, were portrayed by three young girls. While not entirely original (I believe previous productions have cast children in the roles), having these child-witches playing with toy dolls was an interesting touch. For such young girls to be nursing babies blurred the concept of their age; it also highlighted the power of a child's imagination (that children can adopt and act the role of parents to inanimate dolls). It also emphasised the fact that, like the gods in ancient myths, the witches were playing with mortals as children might play with dolls - as puppeteers: controlling, rough, ruthless. With these ominous notions brought to mind, I only wish these witches had been dressed in something a little more sinister than bright pink onesies and woolly pyjama socks.   
   

The star of the production was, of course, Christopher Eccelston in the role of Macbeth. He fit the role perfectly, strong and rugged with a hostility befitting a hardened soldier returning from war. He is a man untroubled by killing on the battlefield; only when commanded to kill his kinsman and king does his his rough, hostile demeanor falter. Eccelston portrayed Macbeth's insecurity and instability well - I only wish his acting had been allowed to take centre-stage, unencumbered by the cluttered stage effects (more below). 

Niamh Cusack as Lady Macbeth was too childish, too frantic, for my liking. From the very beginning when she is reading her husband's letter, she is too full of glee, making her transition into wicked ambition and cruelty too sudden and unrealistic. When trying to incite Macbeth to murder, she stamped her feet and flailed her arms, beating her husband's chest and falling to her knees. Lady Macbeth's desire for power and descent into madness needs to be passionate, but not comically so. In the cold, corporate environment the production staged, a steely, more clinical cruelty - like that conveyed by Tim Samuels as Lennox - might have sat better. In his handful of scenes, Samuels excelled: Lennox was Macbeth's hitman, recording incriminating information on concealed recording tapes, then stalking offstage with a knife to silently dispatch his victims. 

At times, however, the modernity of the production fell flat; the stage effects too clumsy, too garish, too much to be effective. In all, there was:

• a smoke machine, hazing the stage during the supernatural scenes
• sand, which dusted down from the ceiling during supernatural scenes
• lights around the auditorium which shocked and crackled like electricity pylons at dramatic moments
• sound effects for the knocking at the gates, painfully loud and harsh
• a water cooler, from which characters occasionally poured water (the pattern to this was unclear)
• a curtain across the back of the stage, translucent, through which some action could be seen
• a glass viewing box above and behind the stage, in which some of the action (banquets, meetings) took place
• projected words below this glass panel, denoting place ('Glamis', 'Fife'), time ('Later'), and quotes from the play
• a digital timer, counting down two hours from when Macbeth resolves to kill Duncan until his own death by Macduff (Edward Bennett) 
• the character of the Porter (Michael Hodgson), omnipresent, who chalked tallies on the walls to count the deaths (though towards the end, he scrawls incessantly into the hundreds)
• a vacuum cleaner, which the Porter uses to clean the carpets of the stage at odd moments.

Any one of these effects, used on their own, would have been an innovative and powerful addition to the play. But in using all of them, the production was chaotic and confusing. The curtain and the glass viewing box performed the same function, and both were difficult to see for those sat on the back rows of the auditorium. The timer and the tallies were also too similar, lessening the impact of both. Props like the water cooler and vacuum cleaner were odd, and whilst they probably symbolised some hidden motif in the play, their meaning was unclear. The sand and the electricity effects were inconsistent, and could have been made to work harder - the sand, for example, could have been projected through to create the translucent, transient figure of Banquo's ghost, rather than having actor Raphael Sawole, large as life, running on part way through Macbeth's hallucination.

In the final scene, however, the production redeemed itself, with the stage effects and the direction finally hitting their stride. Compared to the confusion which preceded it, the closing scene was sleek and powerful, enough to send a chill down my spine. As the crown is lowered in slow-motion onto Malcolm's (Luke Newberry) head, young Fleance stalks in, his father's sword resting over his shoulder. He rounds the soon-to-be king, looking into his face with a look of steely determination and vengeance. The timer begins to count upwards, slowly at first, then rapidly, back up to two hours. In the glass viewing box, the three witches are silhouetted. The clock is reset; Malcolm's two hours begin. 'Something wicked this way comes', announce the witches, a haunting reminder that the cycle of power and tyranny is set to repeat itself once more. A strong ending. 

Macbeth is running at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until the 18 September 2018. It then transfers to the Barbican Theatre, London, for a run stretching 15 October 2018 to 18 January 2019. 

Photo credits:

All production photos by Richard Davenport, copyright of the RSC, found here.