Macbeth

Overview

“Anon, Anon! I pray you, remember the porter.” And so you shall, if you chance to find your butt affixed to a seat in the Darlinghurst Theatre before May 10. Danielle King’s triple turn as the Porter/Lady Macduff/gentlewoman in their current production of Macbeth is worth buying a ticket for. And, honestly, she’s not the only reason. This is a solid and coherent production that captures the vibrancy and colour of Macbeth’s rise and fall — twisted tragedy that it is — even when individual performances come up slightly off-kilter.

The strength of this production lies in its ensemble work and props go to director Christopher Hurrell for effecting it and to the cast for pulling it off. In an attempt to undermine our modern-day scepticism/complacency towards the supernatural, Hurrell decided to cast the entire cast as the weird sisters (Brisbane company Zen Zen Zo did this brilliantly in the 90s — to different effect). The result is a raspy, energised opening scene that sets the tone for the whole production. Thirteen actors lined up around a suitably dour set (Justin Nardella) hiss, screech, drop and twitch in all their witchy glory. In repetition, it is quite mesmerising. And it goes a long way towards revealing that fate had its designs on Macbeth long before the ambitious, cold-blooded tyranny of his character bubbled to the surface. Movement director Mackenzie Scott’s choreography is simple and effective and it enlivens the final battle scene to hair-standing-up-on-neck proportions.

That said, where the ensemble succeeds, individual performances do fall. There is a decided hangover of witchiness in most of the cast as they switch to their other roles — too light on their feet and skittish. The soldiers carry neither the weight of battle nor the heavy jubilance of victory and it makes them seem too contemporary (or unaffected by war) and decidedly unwarrior-like. Nicholas Eadie and Margot Fenley give nuanced performances as the Macbeths but, again, come across as too contemporary and lacking in regality. I like my kings kingly. Nonetheless, this Macbeth is elegant in its simplicity and on the whole a most worthy production.