MACBETH at the Globe: blood, knocks, spots....

Last week we visited the Globe Theatre for the fourth time since Emma Rice became Artistic Director.  I cannot say that I have enjoyed any of the productions whole-heartedly although her MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM eventually won me over (although this was more to do with Shakespeare's words) so how would Iqbal Khan's production of MACBETH go over with me?

To be honest I have never seen a production that I liked very much.  I was taken with the school to see a production at the Young Vic in 1975.  Directed by Frank Dunlop, his idea was to have three actors (Alfred Lynch, James Bolam, Derek Fowlds) play Macbeth to chart the three stages of the character's development while his Lady Macbeth was played by two actresses (Joanna McCallum, Judy Wilson) to show scheming Lady M and broken Lady M; the supporting cast also featured Cleo Sylvestre and Anthony Daniels.  Even at that tender age I thought that the idea of multiple actors playing the roles was daft - surely an actor would want to play all the shades of the character rather than just one aspect?

I didn't see another MACBETH until 1993 when I saw Alan Howard and Anastasia Hille in an underwhelming National Theatre production directed by Richard Eyre, then in 2005 there was another unsatisfactory production directed by John Caird at the Almeida starring Simon Russell Beale.  Yes he spoke Macbeth's speeches wonderfully but hardly convinced as someone who will murder anyone to stay King.

I actually liked making the acquaintance of the play again and it's unrelenting narrative drive but again found a lot to make me sigh.  First off, as Owen suggested, for all Emma Rice's reported love of the stage she does seem to put on productions that cover it up as much as possible:  Ciaran Bagnall's black metal mesh set design covered up the stage pillars and the back of the stage as well as extending the stage outwards with a metal walkway (for no real reason).

A black tarpaulin hung above the stage to be utilized at times, notably as Banquo's ghost.  Also dotted around the yard - for no discernible reason - were Gormleyesque metal figures.  I watched them intently, expecting them to sprout branches and to advance on the stage at the finale to represent the English army advancing on Dunsinane castle.  But no, they didn't do a thing.

Khan's decision to have the three witches represented as three escapees from a grotty Kate Bush lookalike contest didn't move me much and neither did the artistic choice for their lines to be sung in a sing-songy way by offstage singers which made it hard to concentrate on what was actually being said.

He also had the profoundly irritating trop of having a small boy schlep around the stage during the action, seemingly the child of the Macbeth's, which goes against the text.  The ending was particularly odd: the newly-crowned King Malcolm flinched when he turned and saw the little boy - why?  All through the play the text says that Banquo's children will reign, not Macbeths...

Ray Fearon as Macbeth bellowed his way through his speeches while Tara Fitzgerald gave a smaller, more naturalistic reading of Lady Macbeth's soliloquies, they did work well together in their joint scenes however.

The supporting cast held some interesting performances: Freddie Stewart was a smarmy Malcolm, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd's Macduff was virile and a rare Scots accent and Jermaine Dominique was missed with the murder of Banquo.  Sam Cox's King Duncan was a bit of a misfire however.  The Porter's speech was livened up by one-armed Nadia Albina's almost stand-up routine - although did we really need a reference to Donald Trump?  Really??

It sounds like I hated it doesn't it?  But like I said, I found it oddly gripping.  Maybe the next one will be the production that I find definitive.

A few weeks ago we went to the Arts Theatre (and it's not often I can say that) to see the new revival of Frank Marcus' notorious THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE.

Now I have to say that I have never liked the film - yes, I know it has Beryl Reid and Coral Browne in it but the sheer heavy-handed awfulness of Robert Aldrich's direction makes it a dreadful experience.

The play opened in 1964 with Reid and Eileen Atkins as her child-like girlfriend and the cast also included Lally Bowers as Mercy Croft and Margaret Courtenay as the neighbouring clairvoyant. A cast and a half who would more than be able to carry a play along no matter what it's deficits.

Sadly in Iqbal Khan's wonky production the performers don't have the confidence to grab the material by the scruff of the neck. Khan's direction is woefully uneven in tone and it leaves the performers all having to fend for themselves... some better than others.Meera Syal's last stage performance was as a winning SHIRLEY VALENTINE but here she only fitfully engaged as June, the ageing actress facing the ignominious decision by her producers to bump off her popular character in a radio 'soap' series not unlike The Archers. Not helped by the ugly costume design by Pam Tait, she certainly suggested the desperation of June's situation but she seemed at sea with the odder elements of the character, namely the hints of sado-masochism between her and Alice.

By far her better scenes were with Belinda Lang who gave the best performance of the evening as Mrs. Mercy Croft, the woman from the BBC with a cut-glass accent and a redundancy letter in her handbag. Belinda Lang had no problems playing the villain but she played it with nice shadings of character and with killer timing.Sadly the evening was scuppered by the am-dram performance of Elizabeth Cadwallader as Alice. It's a role that is as equally difficult to play as June as so much of the part is playing the girly-girl but with the ability to turn on a dime and show the character's predatory side, a survivor always on the lookout for the next protector. June's reveal at the end should also make dramatic sense but with the casting of the obviously young Cadwallader it simply didn't.

The casting of Helen Lederer as the spare-wheel character of Madam Xenia must be looked on as another of the production's problems. This utterly meaningless character was dropped from the film and Lederer's already - um - idiosyncratic performance style simply highlighted this character's absurdity.
And this was all played out on to a truly schizoid set design by Ciaran Bagnall - downstage an Agatha Christie touring production, upstage a standing set for RADIO GA-GA: THE MUSICAL.

The Arts Theatre has had an uncertain life recently with more threatened closures than hits. If they are banking on ho-hum productions like this as a lifeline then they had better think again.