Macbeth review - Ash Dalton 10N
In Simon Balle's rendition of Macbeth at the Luton Library Theatre on the 17th the director has used a variety of mediums to emphasise certain aspects of the play, this is most prominent in Scene III, the first encounter with the witches and in Scene XIV, in this review i shall be going over the most effective of these mediums. I believe that the directors intended approach was to keep with the original play, and not change it too much unlike in Mrs Palmer's rendition of Romeo and Juliet.
"Macbeth, the thane of Glamis, is walking with his friend Banquo when they encounter three witches huddled together. At first they mock the witches calling them unearthly and question if they can even speak. After Macbeth demands they speak to him they turn towards him and prophesise that he shall become thane of Cawdor. Macbeth dismisses this. They then tell him he shall be king, the also say that Banquo's children are in line for the crown. Banquo too is confused at this. They then disappear without a trace, and mere moments later some messengers come to macbeth and tell him he is now the thane of Cawdor. Banquo wonders if the witches were telling the truth, but puts it aside. Macbeth tells his wife of the witches prophecy, and she eagerly takes it onboard, wishing to be queen. Macbeth however is not sure if he wants to go ahead with this. He then sees a dagger before him and is perplexed, and scared of it. It bids him to murder king Duncan, and so he does it. His wife hears the sound of an owl scream, and knows that Macbeth has done the deed. She takes Macbeth's dagger to hide it, leaving Macbeth to clean himself. When Macbeth comes back Macduff and Lennox are inside, they ask if the King has awoken and Macbeth replies he is not sure. He takes Macduff to the King's chamber to find him dead. Malcolm and the King's son Donalbain enter and Macduff tells them the king is dead. They want to know who and Macbeth tells them he had killed the grooms in the king's chamber. The others are shocked and Lady Macbeth, realising her husband my crack under pressure, pretends to faint, drawing everyone's attention to her. All but Malcolm and Donalbain leave. Malcolm says he is going to England and Donalbain says he will go to Ireland. They leave. Later Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are crowned, while Banquo observes this from a distance. After the party Macbeth speaks with Banquo, and Banquo reveals he is leaving. Macbeth wishes him the best, however, he knows that Banquo's children will threaten his position as leader, so he sends three murderers after him and his son. The murderers catch up to Banquo and his son Fleance and kill Banquo, but Fleance manages to escape and flees. The murderers return to Macbeth and tell him that Banquo is dead, his body hidden in a ditch. Macbeth asks of Fleance and the murderers tell him he survived and fled the scene. The murderers depart and leave Macbeth to his banquet, however as he goes to sit down a ghost of Banquo appears in his seat. Macbeth shouts out in fear, asking why it has come to him, however no one else in the room notices the apparition. It soon disappears and Macbeth toasts to Banquo, saying he wishes he were here, however the ghost appears and so Lady Macbeth exclaims he must not be well and asks everyone to leave. Macbeth goes to find the witches and demands they tell him what exactly they do. The witches reply that they can answer questions of the future. They then show him three apparitions that tell him to beware Macduff, to be brave and bold, and that he Macbeth will not be defeated until "Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him." Macbeth demands to know more but they disappear. A servant then comes and tells him Macduff has fled to England. Meanwhile in England Macduff is told that his wife and children have been killed by Macbeth and he swears revenge. At Macbeth's castle, Macbeth and soldiers are gathered together when they hear a woman scream. A messenger comes to tell Macbeth his wife is dead. Another messenger tells him that it appears as though Birnam wood is moving. Macduff comes and challenges Macbeth to fight, and he accepts. They fight but eventually Macbeth is killed. Malcolm, king Duncan's oldest son is crowned king of Scotland."
In Scene III of Mrs Cornell's rendition of Macbeth, the director's (Mrs Cornell's) use of movement of the cast members, specifically the witches and the ensemble made the witches seem inhuman. They moved really slowly and in a very synchronised pattern. This was a good choice of movement because it gave the witches the desired effect of a being not of this world. I know this was the intended effect because of Banquo's quote: "That look not like th' inhabitants o' the earth." This quote shows me that in the original play the witches were thought of as non earthly beings, and so in this rendition of the play they appear quite inhuman, which fits the original and proves that it had the desired effect on the audience. If i were to have directed this scene i feel i would have done the same thing as it really made them creepy and mysterious, especially the synchronisation with which they moved.
The witches furthered this point by huddling their bodies and standing as crookedly as possible. This gave off a really eerie look and helped the effect of them being inhuman. I think that the witches really lived up to their characters because as previously stated Banquo refers to them as unearthly and also calls them "withered." A common depiction of something withered is generally hunched and cracked, potentially broken.
In Scene III of Macbeth, the director and also the stage crew have used lighting extremely well to focus on certain regions of the stage. This allowed the audience's attention to be directed towards the main events in that scene. In this particular scene (Scene 3) the lighting of the witches in the center of the stage boosts the effect of the aforementioned movement and added to their inhumanity. It also directed the audience towards them, meaning they would not be forgotten easily throughout the play, and so as the events of the play unfolded people would never forget who started the whole series of events. I think that if i were to have done this scene I would have made the lighting in the stage quite dark, except for a spotlight on the witches, Banquo and Macbeth to really direct the attention onto them and draw it away from anything else happening on stage or in the audience, captivating the audience in doing so.
In the same scene the director has also used the ensemble to help focus the attention of the audience. By making a semi circle around the main stage and facing out, away from the audience and the center of the stage, the audience's attention is further directed towards the cast on set. I think that having this on mostly all of the scenes was a good choice because it meant if anything went wrong offstage, or there was movement offstage people would still be drawn to look in the center of the ensemble, where they were supposed to be looking.
Cameron McLeod did a great Macbeth in the performance. He sustained his voice at a loud enough sound that anyone in the audience could have heard him. He made great use of the stage and made sure he was aware of everyone around him. I believe Macbeth is supposed to be quite a strong character and this was pulled off exceptionally well by Cameron who knew exactly how to use his voice in different scenes. For instance when he first encountered the witches you could hear in his voice he was intrigued, but confused by their presence. During the fight with Macduff he sounded fierce and angry, a great contribution to the fight taking place.
In conclusion I think that movement, lighting, set and body language were used extremely cleverly to give the desired effect in the play. I myself have never seen Macbeth 'nor read the script and knew very little about it, so i was pleasantly surprised by this version. However i think all aspects of it were used to create an amazing performance and i really enjoyed watching it. However, i still think that Mrs Palmer's rendition of Romeo and Juliet was better!
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