Running until 27th April 2013 in Trafalgar Studios
This show is *officially* sold out, and I’m afraid the only way you’re going to get in is if you brave the Baltic weather and queue for either day tickets or returns, which coincidentally is what led me to the beautiful steaming mug of Beechams Lemon I have in front of me, and I have to say, it was well worth it.
8am, Whitehall, London, Thursday 4 April. There are already 23 people in front of me, most with sleeping bags and layers to rival an onion. The lads and I at the back of the queue are not very hopeful, and come 10.30am, when the ticketer comes out and informs us that the day tickets are now sold out, we have reason to give up. But I am determined. So at 4.30pm, I come back and stand at the door and there I stay for 2&1/2 hours. My friends come by at 6 with coffee and cookies and there is a universal sense of ‘Please god please please let this work’. At 7, another ticketer comes out and informs me the only returns tickets available are £65. Luckily for me, a lovely lady walks over soon afterwards with a ticket and lets me pay half its face value, because that’s all I have.
At this point, I am ready to tear the play apart for not being worth the wait or the cold or the guilt for not being able to pay the lady full price, but as soon as I sit in the newly transformed Trafalgar Studio 1, with its perfectly tiered seating so each member of the audience has a full view of the stage below, and another four rows of seats behind the stage, I begin to warm up to the whole idea. The set looks like an underground bunker in World War Two — the table and chairs are all made of dingy metal, there are grilles in the floor, and an overhead cross-stage walkway covered in misted, murky glass. There are ladders at either side of the stage that lead up to the walkway, and these can slide into center stage or the wings with a gentle push. The only thing that distinguishes the beginning of the stage and the end of the audience seating are the lights.
Three trapdoors pop out of the stage floor as the lamps in the theatre switch off, so only three white lights burning up from underneath the stage can be seen. Out of each, a gas-masked figure in khaki emerges — it’s the Weird Sisters. They set the precedent for the whole play, rolling Shakespeare’s words over Scottish tongues while their voices are mutated through the masks. After they meet, the white lights switch off as a band of soldiers wielding guns with flashlights swarm the stage and we meet Duncan and his Thanes. The use of darkness and light in the show is powerful and artfully done and fits in perfectly to the script, with all its superstitions and heaven/hell imagery. If I could shake the hand of the director, Jamie Lloyd, and the lighting designer, Adam Silverman, I would. And then I’d buy them both a drink to thank them.
The audience learn quickly that this set is versatile — the production stays quite close to the text and the rapid changes of scene are well marked in slight alterations of props. What I found particularly enjoyable was that although Macbeth is formally known as ‘The Scottish Play’, Shakespeare never wrote it for Scottish actors, yet some of the lines in this production are at their best when read in that voice: “Who could refrain,/ That had a heart to love, and in that heart/ Courage to make ‘s love known?” It also set up the difference effectively between Duncan and the rest of the characters, as he was the only one that spoke with an English accent.
Two scenes in particular stay in my mind, Act 4 Scene 1 (Macbeth learning about Birnam Wood and ‘no man born of woman’) and Scene 2 (death of Lady Macduff and her children).
I will not ruin the story for anyone who may yet see it by disclosing exactly how these scenes are performed, because in my view they are the strongest scenes in the production. Once we get past 27th April I will add to this blog post for those who will not have the pleasure of seeing it on stage and fill in what happened in as much detail as I can. Until then, I will only hint.
Regarding 4.i., I was really taken aback by James McAvoy’s performance; he was seamless on stage. The way in which he (or the director, I am unfortunately not sure who to credit) chose to interpret this scene adds another layer on to the meaning of Macbeth’s downfall and more to the point, his character development up until that point.
In 4.ii., the end was amended quite a lot in a way that improves the story. The more formal Shakespearean language (“What, you egg?”) was dispensed with and the executions were dramatically altered from what is in the text, which I must admit made it more real and therefore even more upsetting. Rather than the anonymous murderers doing Macbeth’s bidding, he appears on stage himself. (Once the run is completed, I will disclose the extent of his involvement).
I have now spoken at length about the set, the layers of interpretation and the standard of production. Now on to the actors themselves.
I was fortunate enough to be part of the show that witnessed McAvoy break the fourth wall. There was an unthinking member of the audience who took out their camera phone shortly into Act 3 Scene 1 and began recording. Right before he begins the monologue ‘To be thus is nothing,’ McAvoy saw the phone, ran towards it, still very much Macbeth, and shouted, ‘Turn the f****** camera off!’ Everyone clapped immediately, and he apologised and returned to the stage, carrying on without fault. It was a wonderful thing to behold to witness how skilfully he can concentrate on his performance. After the show ended and the cast came out for applause, McAvoy apologised again and invited any audience members who wished to stay behind to remain for a post-show discussion, during which he apologised again to his colleagues and any audience members who were offended at his use of expletives. Frankly, as a fellow Celt, I endorse it. But that is not the impression I want to leave you with of his performance. I tell that story only to illustrate the devotion to his craft. He is, needless to say, a potent and powerful actor and I felt he would not disappoint, having enjoyed his acting in films like The Last Station and Atonement. Fortunately, I was proven right. As Macbeth, McAvoy employs a fearsome energy on stage and he is not afraid to hurt himself, falling off and jumping on moving ladders, chairs, tables and throughout he gives a graphic and convincing performance. There is no doubt as to how much of himself he puts into it – everything.
Claire Foy was Lady Macbeth and a commanding lady she was. I had never had the pleasure of seeing her before, but her exact rendition of the character was paralleled only by James McAvoy. She also was not afraid to raise her voice or hurt herself on stage and even though physically she is not an intimidating person, her physicality and intensity as Lady Macbeth made it easy to understand how that woman could dominate a King.
I think a word also needs to be given to Jamie Ballard, Macduff. Having read the text before, I had an impression of Macduff as a flake who lands in a sufficient amount of good and bad luck to overthrow Macbeth. But Ballard’s performance in 4.iii., when Macduff learns of his family’s murder, shone a new light on the character for me, as a dignified, grief-stricken, but determined nobleman.
After bearing witness to the show, it is no surprise to me that is sold out for the rest of its run, but Fortune favours the brave, and it seems, the determined. Day tickets are £10 and go on sale at 10.30am every morning, so bring your canteen and your blankets down to 14 Whitehall before 27th April. It is worth the wait.
