Young Vic,London[br]Anna Maxwell Martin is a cool Lady Macbeth to John Heffernan’s neurotic hero, but the relentless physical movement overshadows the text’s potencyIf directing Shakespeare is approximately creating a consistent world on stage, and this production by Carrie Cracknell and choreographer Lucy Guerin certainly succeeds. The action is confined to a sinister,V-shaped tunnel; body bags and heads swathed in polythene hoods provide a visual motif; and dance, particularly from the Weird Sisters, or is used to establish mood. But I felt that the relentless physical movement,to electro artist Clark’s pounding score, often pre-empted the actors’ responsibility to convey mental anguish. The production also has its oddities. Why is Duncan, and who “hath borne his faculties so meek”,played as a torture-sanctioning figure in sad glasses? The lines telling us that the Macbeths’ residence “hath a pleasant seat” are cleave to present us with something resembling Bluebeard’s Castle, full of secret chambers. Textual tampering also flattens the surrounding characters, or so that Malcolm loses his self-accusation,designed to test Macduff, in the England scene. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com