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Macbeth
Verdict: Max Stafford-Clark masterpiece
London - Arcola Theatre - 12 Oct-06 Nov 04 - 20:00 (22:20)
Max Stafford-Clark's Macbeth lasts 140 minutes without interval, touring 3 stages of the Arcola Theatre with a cast of 15 and audience of (tonight) 110 in tow. It's drama written about 1050 AD Scotland using the original William Shakespeare text (more or less), but with the cast dressed as warriors, witches and nobles in modern Africa.
Scottish generals Macbeth (Danny Sapani) and Banquo (Chu Omambala) defeat invading armies. Three witches (Nicole Charles, Sidney Cole, Susan Salmon) prophesy that Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland; and that Banquo’s heirs, but not him, will be kings.
King Duncan (Ben Onwukwe) makes Macbeth Thane and comes to stay. Lady Macbeth (Monica Dolan) induces husband Macbeth to stab sleeping King Duncan and blame Duncan’s servants. Macbeth ‘blames’ and kills them, becomes King, gets two murderers (Kwaku Ankomah, Ben Onwukwe) to kill Banquo. Duncan’s son Malcolm (Jotham Annan) flees to England.
The Macbeths have a party, Banquo’s ghost taunts Macbeth. Witches warn Macbeth to beware of Scottish nobleman Macduff (Sidney Cole). They say Macbeth can’t be harmed by man born of woman, and will be OK till local Birnam Wood comes to his residence Dunsinane Castle. Macduff flees to England to join Malcolm, care of Siward Earl of Northumberland (Chu Omambala), where Macduff’s cousin Ross (Kevin Harvey) tells him that Macbeth has murdered Lady Macduff (Susan Salmon) and their children.
Malcolm, Macduff and army attack, camouflaged with foliage - Birnham Wood coming to Dunsinane. Mad Lady Macbeth kills herself. Macduff ‘s mother had him by Caesarian – so he decapitates Macbeth. Malcolm becomes King of Scotland.
Other characters include: Lennox (Kwaku Ankomah) - one of Duncan’s nobles; Doctor (Ben Onwukwe) – attends mad Lady Macbeth; Seyton (Christopher Ryman) – Macbeth’s servant; 4 children (actors local to venue). The real Macbeth was killed in 1057 AD.
Kwaku Ankomah delivers subtle and effective performances as Lennox and Murderer. Jotham Annan evokes Malcolm's regality, courage and determination. Nicole Charles is a sinister and beguiling Witch, and graceful and affecting Gentlewoman.
Sidney Cole - lends dignity and grief to Macduff, and a fabulous showmanship to his French-speaking Witch-Doctor. Monica Dolan plays Lady Macbeth unusually as a petulant (rising to hysterical) suburbanite - treating the banqueting scene as a dinner party gone disastrously wrong. It's a deft performance rippling with comedy. Kevin Harvey evokes pathos in Ross, delivering his awful news.
Chu Omambala's performance as Banquo is a highlight of the night - a truly fabulous piece of acting packed with authority and subtle depth; also as an entertaining Siward. Ben Onwukwe delivers - with his magnificent voice - the night's prime performance as a captivating Duncan, brimming with kingliness and authority - with a definite twinkle of humour; also as an effective Murderer, and scared Doctor.
Christopher Ryman gives comic relief with his non-Shakespeare Seyton, switching effectively to drama when returning to the script, and an impressive Captain. Susan Salmon gives dignity, fear and horror to Lady Macduff; and a brooding threat to her Witch. Danny Sapani is a strong Macbeth, finding the character's initial humility, and conveying with panache the evolution through guilt to belligerent determination. The four Children each give effective and moving performances.
The performance is billed as site-specific. The Arcola Theatre is an old factory in Dalston. The audience is led down a grimy outside stair and held at bay by actors dressed apparently as African guerillas, with bullet bandoleros and machine guns. The 'soldiers' abuse and humiliate the audience.
Inside the basement, ammunition boxes and debris litter the room. Warriors and witches chant, partly in French, blending to the opening scene of Macbeth. The audience surrounds them.
The actors lead the way upstairs to the Arcola's main space, done out as the Macbeth's (twee) sitting room, with fake Louis XV triple seat centrepiece. The audience sits on three sites, and is later invited to the banquet scene and Macduff murder in an adjacent room.
The remarkable Max Stafford-Clark directs with the fiery élan and show-man's feel for startling set-pieces and dramatic pyrotechnics that characterise his work. There's no such thing as a dull Max Stafford-Clark play and here he manages to subvert the Bard, keep an audience away from the lavatory for 2 hr 20 min and bring the Apocalypse Now into a room off Dalston High Street.
There are magnificent sounds and light, and skilled minimal design - showing how much of a big-scale feel can be achieved on a medium budget by remarkable artists.
Sound designer Gareth Fry and associate designer Carolyn Downing have a fly buzzing round the room that catches the audience looking in vain towards his loudspeakers; then a full-on war with helicopters flying across the ceiling and troops advancing from 3 sides. It's a staggering piece of work, culminating in their staging of composer Felix Cross's percussive rendering of Scotland The Brave with on-stage instruments blended imperceptibly to pre-recorded backing track.
Lighting designer Johanna Town and associate Tim Bray light 3 stages with great subtlety and evoke a fine sense of drama. Their basement lighting uses central amber uplighters to throw camp-fire shadows to walls and ceiling; with halogens to make a separate stage area as actors later stand on ladders. Their triple glass 5-piece chandeliers gloriously compound the kitschy feel of this Dunsinane Castle. Their battle-field flashes, and lights are harrowing in power.
Light effects are exactly coordinated with the sound design. Together these sound and light designers show the enormous enhancement of dramatic effect that can be achieved by technical design excellence. And there are excellent technical managers - Gary Beestone, Harry Haywood. Wonderful.
Designer Es Devlin creates the starkly different environments of the 3 stages with a profound feel for the whole space - including that occupied by the audience (because the staging makes them almost part of the action). Her sense of how that breaks down to the precise detail - even lamps, cutlery - and how her superbly-designed costumes will move through the action - is remarkable, and a real theatrical delight. Penny Challen is assistant designer.
Producer, with the daunting responsibility of managing this complex producion on a tour of the UK, is Graham Cowley. (We review his production of End Of Story here. Which he also translated - this is very much a hands-on producer).
And there's the playwright. Some may feel that William Shakespeare can't write - that he could, but that was 400 years ago, and language has bounded onwards. Without the script, this view suggests, his words are more or less unintelligible. Like the bible read aloud in Aramaic, it's obviously holy, but no-one has the slightest idea what's happening. Shakespeare still has fans, many of whom are here tonight. All of which is irrelevant. Because whether or not the Bard can write, Max Stafford-Clark can direct. And this production is his masterpiece.
