Unfortunately, whilst I greatly enjoyed elements of the production, I don’t think I had the best experience the day I chose to go. With a large school party joining the twenty or so regular ticket holders, the event felt overcrowded – too many people, crammed in too small places and taking too long to get from one scene to another. Plus it took a while for the students to realise that the end of one scene wasn’t an opportunity for a leisurely stroll and a chat before the next, so frequently I found myself missing chunks and the atmosphere that the small cast was creating was shattered more often than not.
Despite this, atmospheric, is I think still the best word to describe the production. I really loved the dark, dankness of the venue – its unusual corridors and cubby holes. There were wonderful moments when I glanced behind me to find we were being trailed by a witch, or a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye would reveal an actor framed in an arched doorway in the distance. It was both exhilarating and unsettling and the use of candlelight throughout couldn’t help but add to this sense of being caught in a ghost story.
I thought the cast were very good and did a fair job at distinguishing between their varied roles, though I did wonder if I would have been a little confused if I hadn’t known the play so well. It was difficult to judge though how strong the central performances of Macbeth (Dominic Allen) and Lady Macbeth (James Wilkes) were, though there was nothing particularly to fault in them, the problems I described above made the experience of the play a little scattered and incoherent and made it difficult to appreciate or follow the journey the characters were taking.
By comparison this erratic approach suited my favourite characters in this production, the witches (Wilkes, Joe Hufton and Marcus Emerton) – who I found genuinely scary. I thought they made the most interesting use of the unusual space and the hypnotic, slightly off-kilter quality of the chant that accompanied there every appearance echoing through the dungeons was entrancing. The decision, as well, to move the “When shall we three meet again,” speech to the end of the play is one that I think it will be difficult to beat and there was a moment I also loved when Hufton playing Banquo suddenly reverted, though only for a moment, into his witch persona and then back – leaving me torn between thinking the witches were in complete control, manipulating Macbeth at each turn; and the feeling that this was all in Macbeth's head.
Though it may sound from some of what I’ve said above that I really disliked the promenade aspect of the play, I truthfully didn’t. I thought the movement through the space led to some of the most intense moments for me. I also found it fascinating to watch the way the audience reacted, especially in the way we rushed forward to view the more violent scenes. There was a sense this gave that we were all willing accomplices to Macbeth’s deeds, implicated and caught ourselves. And it was the departure from this promenade approach at the end, when the audience and actors were separated and something more akin to a proscenium arch suddenly intruded that worked least well for me. Though I suspect this was to give the cast greater freedom to produce a more impressive fight, or me I found it very distancing breaking my investment in the story. Also because of the layout of the area, it meant large parts of the sequence were hidden from view.
Despite these issues though, it was a fascinating performance and a mostly exhilarating experience which has left me with many haunting, lingering images that I believe it will be difficult for future productions to dislodge.
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