One of the most striking features of Macbeth is its pared-down directness; it is by far the shortest of the tragedies, and the one with the most sustained impetus. There is no sub-plot, and the narrative arc consists of a quick rise in the fortunes of the ruthless protagonists, followed by their inexorable, headlong fall towards ignominy and a ‘dusty death’.
In this Tobacco Factory Theatres production, director Adele Thomas has economised further, slimming down the original cast list and using just ten actors. Gone are a whole raft of thanes, murderers, messengers and assorted apparitions. The result should be a very sharply-focused examination of power politics operating at both a domestic and a national level. At its best this production achieves that kind of intensity, most noticeably when Lady Macbeth is centre stage. In the earlier scenes Katy Stephens portrays her as a temptress and tormentor, capable of seductive warmth one moment, and murderous cold-heartedness the next. Yet we get glimpses of her fragility, and the loss of a child appears to cast a long shadow. When Macbeth discovers that he can plot fresh murders without consulting her, she finds herself alone with her sterile bitterness and guilt, and it destroys her. Stephens conveys her descent into madness and despair with great skill. As Macbeth, Jonathan McGuiness matches her for energy and urgency in their scenes together, but his is perhaps a less nuanced characterisation. However, he convinces as a man who, though not a natural born murderer, eventually becomes anaesthetised to the horrors he himself perpetrates.
Inevitably, there is a great deal of doubling of roles, and in this fast-paced production this can become a little confusing. There is also a certain flatness in some of the performances, making it hard for any newcomer to the play to distinguish one character from another, and the general drabness of the costumes contributes to this lack of distinctiveness too. However, Maggie Bain is a spirited Lady Macduff, and her scene with her young son is very moving, shifting from good-humoured banter to horror at the arrival of Macbeth’s hired killer. The supernatural dimension is represented by three properly other-worldly witches, with faces hidden and voices given an unearthly distortion. Their incantations are not in English, and there will be those who miss those well-known lines about toil and trouble and a cauldron bubbling. There’s no cauldron either, though they do have a mysterious box of flickering light.
At its core this is a play about two people who turn against Nature. Lady Macbeth denies her own womanly instincts, and Macbeth allows his ambition to subvert his soldierly ideals of loyal service. They turn all Scotland into a hellish ‘blasted heath’, represented here by having the performance area laid deep with fragments of shredded rubber. It looks like a desolate moonscape, though it has to be said that the smell is more reminiscent of a bike shop. Visually it is very effective, but there are times when the actors wade through it in a rather ungainly fashion. It may be that the intention is that they should appear to be mired in a black desolation of their own making, but the clumsiness it creates is distracting. The sound and lighting design also contributes to the idea that Nature has been fractured. Strobe lights flicker and there are deep, subterranean rumblings, as if a volcano is about to erupt. Almost every change of scene and moment of significance is punctuated with these effects; they are initially striking, but become over-used, and occasionally they overwhelm.
This Macbeth marks an important moment in the history of Tobacco Factory Theatres, as it is the first play of their inaugural Factory Company season. All theatre-goers will wish this project well, and I would have liked to give this production an unequivocal thumbs-up, but not all of it convinces. Katy Stephens is outstandingly good, and there are real strengths elsewhere, but some elements are less successful. Nevertheless, despite its unevenness, it is certainly worth seeing. ★★★☆☆ Mike Whitton 28th February 2018
Photo by Mark Dawson Photography
