Having never seen a production of Macbeth I was eagerly awaiting this modern-dress version produced by Cheek by Jowl, the company responsible for a very powerful Othello at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in 2004 and an inventive Troilus and Cressida at the Barbican in 2008. The set was sparse, leaving a wide expanse of stage bounded either side by tall wooden pallets through which light periodically streaked into the murky gloom enveloping the stage. The lighting was atmospheric and particularly effective during the banquet scene; the arrival of Banquo's ghost was spookily done with only his head illuminated, coming seemingly disembodied towards a petrified Macbeth.
Donnellan's efforts were interesting but unfortunately the overall effect was rather underwhelming and amateur. Sincerity was missing from many of the performances and some of the choices made regarding staging were bizarre and didn't work well. The decision to present the three weird sisters as disembodied voices was perhaps a way to make the supernatural elements of the play more palatable to a modern and incredulous sensibility but I was looking forward to terrifying witches in all their bodily ghoulishness. The lack of witches ties in neatly with Macbeth's visions, the 'false creations' of his mind, but this was taken to a whole different level with the absence of all of the murderers in the play which left Banquo squirming around on the floor gripped by dramatic death throes as his would-be assassins remained invisible. Similarly Macduff's wife and child pin their own arms behind their backs and die with terrific convulsions which lack all semblance of shock and violence because of the stifled hilarity provoked by watching someone pretend to die in this overtly theatrical manner.
Anastasia Hille as Lady Macbeth gave an unsteady performance which strengthened as the play progressed; she was bewitching in the sleep-walking scene but her gestures were far too flamboyant and descriptive at the beginning so that she almost appeared to be miming her words. Will Keen was grating as Macbeth; he made a good show of being wracked with guilt, tormented by his ambition and then overcome with a sense of his own power but his enunciation was poor and his utterances often sounded little more than a series of grunts which rather spoilt the great Shakespearean iambic pentameter. The sexual chemistry between the two was well-expressed; the moment where they passionately embrace after murdering Duncan, trying to keep their bloody hands out of the way, was particularly disturbing.
Kelly Hotten's porter was probably the star of the show, her inscrutable thick Glasweigan accent did nothing to mar the bawdy comedy which was excellently expressed with her body anyway. Unashamedly straight out of a pantomime, the porter's character was approached honestly and knowingly which is more than can be said for the rest of the play which offered its audience pantomime theatricality in all pretentious seriousness.
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