By Keira Power
CONTACT: 18kpower@wghs.org.uk
Macbeth. One of the four horsemen of the GCSE English Literature apocalypse. Although most people will admit that the story line has its merits, no one has ever entered GCSEs going, “oh goody, almost incomprehensible quotes to learn and analyse”. However, for those trying to struggle through what happened in act 4, scene 3 compared to act 5, scene 5 there is a better way to appreciate the play. Over the summer I went to the RSC in Stratford- Upon- Avon to see Macbeth and I must admit to having enjoyed it more than I thought I would after GCSEs.
First of all, we’ll tackle the setting. If you have never been to the RSC, and frankly it’s not a common past time, you may not have realised that they change up how they stage the plays each year. For example, “Much Ado About Nothing” set in a futuristic world with a predominately black cast, “War of the Roses” set mostly traditionally but with handheld cameras and cameramen to capture close ups on a chain mail screen at the back of the stage, “The Tempest” with a female Prospero and an environmentalist spin. For Macbeth- considering that the overall theme for the season was “Power Shifts”- a setting within a post- apocalyptic world with lamps and medicine as well as knives and witches that accessed a whole new level of creepy.
The first thing you see is a misty stage with tangled vines and huge volcanic rocks in the background, accompanied by a brass band. Yes, a mobile brass band, bag pipe player and singers who sang in what sounded a lot like Scottish Gaelic. If you don’t like loud noises, this was not the play for you- the entire first few rows must have felt like they had been in a club the next morning. This goes on for a while, very annoying and so on. Then the witches appear, and you know why they took their time. Forget walking on stage, the witches pushed through a membrane onto the stage as if they had just been born. The familiar picture of the 3 witches (I’m happy to announce that one was a man- everyone can be described as a hag now in theatre) dancing in a circle whilst discussing the weather vanished in favour of breathless gasps which underpinned the true message of the scene- they are playing with fate, not having a coffee and a gossip.
At the same time as this, 3 birds fell from the ceiling onto the stage in canon with an uptake in the bass. This, as well as highlighting the raw power of nature embodied by the witches, happened twice more during the play at moments of intensity and tension almost always alongside the witches. This was all very dramatic and unnerving until one of the birds fell off the stage and onto the lap of one of the people in the first row, who looked around puzzled and gingerly slid it back onto the stage.
All very dramatic, but if we skip ahead to, in my opinion, the best bit of the play you really get a glimpse of the supernatural. After the interval came the witches’ last round of prophecies- an emotional charged scene that fully encompasses Macbeth’s descent into his own personal hell. The start of the final half of the play was made all the more interesting to me by the warnings of the stewards for the front row to lean away from the stage. The reason why soon became obvious in the most expressive way possible. When the witches conjure their spirits to speak to Macbeth it was accompanied by a ring of fire- forget cauldrons, this was a ring of fire on the floor, followed by the witches speaking the prophecies instead of apparitions. It is clear that in this production at least the witches are an integral part of the scenery as well as the harbingers of fate.
Moving away from scenery we go to the acting. I have never seen an RSC production where the acting hasn’t been extraordinary, and this was no exception. From a Macbeth, who captured both the heights of vulnerability and unhinged violence, a Lady Macbeth, who was truly terrifying as both power hungry and insane, and a (female) Duncan, who managed to make hopeless and annoying naivety seem like veritable optimism, the acting had nuance that made this masterpiece all the more sinister. However, there are three examples which I will focus on: the Porter scene, Lady Macduff’s murder and the ending.
Moving away from scenery we go to the acting. I have never seen an RSC production where the acting hasn’t been extraordinary, and this was no exception. From a Macbeth, who captured both the heights of vulnerability and unhinged violence, a Lady Macbeth, who was truly terrifying as both power hungry and insane, and a (female) Duncan, who managed to make hopeless and annoying naivety seem like veritable optimism, the acting had nuance that made this masterpiece all the more sinister. However, there are three examples which I will focus on: the Porter scene, Lady Macduff’s murder and the ending.
The Porter scene was completely re- imagined for this season by the comedian Stewart Lee in order to make it more impactful, or at the very least not cut out this scene as is so common. Instead of a monologue on equivocation, the audience was treated to a stand- up comedy act by Alison Peebles’s Porter. This scene was the comedic relief you need in such a heavy play and included the audience being accused of trying to buy culture (that earnt a few self- conscious laughs), picking on a younger boy a few seats in front of me about his GCSEs (as she pointed out, if you have never actually read the play you won’t realise that this isn’t Shakespeare’s original scene) and jibes at Boris Johnson’s equivocation (ok, maybe you might realise it wasn’t written in 1603). Whilst this scene isn’t particularly helpful if you are using the production for revision, it is a snapshot into what the porter scene would have felt like to the Shakespeare’s original audiences.
In total honesty, Lady Macduff’s murder was so horrific that there was a warning on the doors for violence before the play. Lady Macduff is a picture of innocence in the otherwise twisted play, and the murder of her and her children reflects the fate of those caught in conflicts they have no say about. As Lady Macduff speaks with her oldest child, she carries two, quite obviously, dolls with her as her younger children. The reason for the dolls becomes clear when Macbeth’s murderers storm the stage. They proceed the kill the Macduff family in the most violent ways possible, including breaking the necks of the children with resounding snaps that echoed around the theatre. The entire audience held their breath at the sight of this brutality, but in the context of the play it made sense. The destruction of innocence and safety that is apparent throughout the entire play- although never so viscerally. The actress playing Lady Macduff must also be commended for her heart wrenching response to the murders, that could not have been an easy scene to play.
Finally, we come to the ending- you get all the usual faff about righteous kings and the restoration of the Great Chain of Being, although with a more sincere performance from the actress playing Malcolm. However, what I want to focus on is Macduff. Normally it is assumed that he would be happy to play a subservient role to Malcolm, this production re-imagines that. The witches crowd around Macduff in a puzzled sort of way after the party has left to crown Malcolm, similar to how they looked at and crowded around Macbeth previously. So, the story continues…
This production is a perfect example of the effect Shakespeare can have on an audience when it is played correctly. It is well worth a watch if you are trying to understand how certain lines have greater impacts than is immediately obvious or if you just want to experience a classic story transformed into a new creation that truly highlights the themes of the play and the danger of unbridled ambition.
Other reviews of this production to read:
Macbeth review – a strenuously fresh reading with one-liners by Stewart Lee | Stage | The Guardian
Review: Macbeth (Royal Shakespeare Theatre) (allthatdazzles.co.uk)
