Theatre
Macbeth (an undoing)
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
Neil Cooper
*****
“The play is cursed I understand that now” says Lady Macbeth in the second act of Zinnie Harris’ new take on Shakespeare’s Scottish play, which breaks its dramatic straitjacket to unleash hitherto untapped forces. As Liz Kettle’s shape shifting Carlin says in her scene-setting prologue, however, “the story will be told, the way it has always been told”.
This is certainly the case in the first half of Harris’ own production, played out on Tom Piper’s expansive warehouse like set. The prophecy of Macbeth’s ascension to the throne and the bloody murder concocted in collusion with his wife before its ensuing descent into chaos are all pretty much intact. In this way, Carlin’s promise doesn’t so much ring twice as come knock-knock-knocking like some telltale heart of inevitable doom.
There are shifts, however, in a 1930s Jazz Age-tinged rendition that sees Nicole Cooper’s Lady Macbeth wearing very tweedy trousers prior to Adam Best’s Macbeth return home from the war. Amidst the swish of party glamour, Jade Ogugua’s pregnant Lady Macduff is a constant reminder of Lady Macbeth’s childlessness. Lady Macduff nevertheless flaunts her drunken dalliance with James Robinson’s Banquo, while Star Penders’ hapless Malcolm is a puking brat with all the sulky social skills of Harry Enfield’s Kevin and Perry. At the centre of all this, Lady Macbeth’s dominance over her husband suggests Best’s Macbeth is punching well above his weight.
It is the second act, however, where Harris fully explodes the original play into a manic metaverse, as Lady M attempts to author her own fate and break out of the metaphorical glass ceiling her original creator has imposed on her. Cooper conveys all this with a ferocious intelligence that brims with barely restrained rage amongst the everyday madness in a thrilling reimagining that lays bare the real power behind the blood- spattered throne.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here