Macbeth

This is a dark tragedy prompted by an ambition so raw and powerful it turns Macbeth into a cold-blooded murderer. Jason Klarwein excels as the well-respected General who craves King Duncan’s office so intensely he sacrifices all – his integrity, marriage, friendships and reputation – because of it.

Klarwein’s face can assume a scowling menace in a blink of an eye. It’s a brooding countenance well suited to the play’s themes of betrayal, grief, brutality, self-doubt and derangement. Designer Simone Romaniuk’s gloomy, dank forest setting supposedly conjuring ‘atmosphere’ rather than place is less successful. It’s a set that achieves a workable depth but isn’t entirely successful as a backdrop to all of the scenes, for instance, the intimacy of the scheming deliberations between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (Veronica Neave).

Overall, the design is derivative like something out of a Hollywood take on Peter Pan. The cargo-trousered, blood-smeared Scottish soldiers resemble a gathering of muscled up ‘lost boys’. The athletic singlet-topped look recalls Tap Dogs, the larrikin dance troupe, and is functional but out of step with the traditional dresses worn by Lady Macbeth and drab costuming of the King.

And yet, if the design lacks coherence, the acting does convince and Shakespeare’s archaic English is comprehensible because of the cast’s fluid, meaningful delivery. Neave is as good as Director Michael Attenborough’s interpretation allows her to be and triumphs in the hand-wringing mad scene.

Eugene Gilfedder plays Duncan, an old man and doctor with aplomb. Tama Matheson creates a believably noble Banquo. His appearances stoke the action and the scene in which a ghoulish spectre of Banquo causes terror and hysteria in the recently crowned Macbeth is certainly a winning highlight.

But oh dear those writhing contortions, feline hisses, flexed claws and ceaseless angular moves of the three witches diminishes their centrality and gravitas as harbingers of evil. Instead, the trio presents as a coy export from a certain Lloyd-Webber musical.

Dubbed the original Game of Thrones, Macbeth under Director Michael Attenborough exhibits an heightened emphasis on violent war mongering. But the intensity in the psychological sparring and manipulation of Macbeth by his power hungry wife is abrupt and barely credible. Scarcely off the battlefield, an honourable man is ready to stab his benevolent leader to death after a curt exchange with his spouse.

And yet the production has its strengths including the sword fighting routines coached by Nigel Poulton, Phil Slade’s visceral sound score and David Walters’ astute lighting strategies. Above all the drama, after so many centuries, Macbeth presents as fresh and compelling and is sure to spark healthy debate.