A shaky interpretation of motive and premise undoes the Loons’ brave and innovative Macbeth.
The Lyttelton Loons' Macbeth
The Loons’ Macbeth is set among the rubbled remains of one of Lyttelton’s iconic buildings, complete with mud pools, crumbling stairwells, tagging and thick smoke spewing from rusted drums. The cast – dressed in degrees of end-of-the-world shabby chic – emerge from bushes and huts to the hypnotic beating of drums: witches, kings, soldiers, servants and feral children smoke, drink, beat each other with sticks and revel together. Macbeth meets Mad Max.
This is director Mike Friend’s and set designer Tony Geddes’s post-apocalyptic vision of Macbeth played out in post-quake Lyttelton. The set and costumes are a striking visual metaphor for the evil and treachery at the heart of the play. Add to this Joe Bennett’s prudently edited script and Hamish Oliver’s stunning sound design and we should have a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical experience. There are moments of this, but more often potential dramatic potency is lost in the rubble and artistic vision through unconvincing performances and a shaky interpretation of motive and premise.
David Ladderman’s Macbeth has a strong physical presence, but comes across as a bit of a lad who swings capriciously from insouciance to anger. The difficulty with such a thuggish Macbeth is that it’s hard to locate any heroism. There’s little nobility to degenerate from, and to have tragically and dramatically manipulated out of him by his wife, the witches and his “o’er leaping ambition”. In fact, the whole notion of nobility and mobility is problematic for any Macbeth set so darkly among the debris of an already ruined social order.
Toni Jones’s Lady Macbeth is also a little out. She’s more sly, more smarmy, than malevolent, although her “out damn spot” scene is compelling. The whole cast is committed and enthusiastic, but Tom Trevella – playing a number of roles – is really the only actor who completely convinces. A brave, strange and innovative production. The ghost scene is creatively and powerfully staged, and the idea of the weed-smoking witches as sexy, supernatural puppeteers to the Macbeths also works well. If you can overlook the acting and ambiguities, the visual and physical elements alone should entertain if not engage.
MACBETH, by William Shakespeare, edited by Joe Bennett, directed by Mike Friend, the Loons, London St, Lyttelton, until September 16, as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival.