Shakespeare's Macbeth gets trimmed in a visually striking English Touring Theatre production that adds songs, dance and some audience participation.
A stylish, modern, wooden kitchen dominates most of the action, with video footage projected onto the curved upper portion of the wall. The lighting and occasional unsettling soundscape at times generate the effect of a thriller.
The audience is taken straight to scene five, some three hundred and forty lines into the play, where Lady Macbeth (Lois Chimimba) disposes of baby clothes into a bin bag. The witches are skipped, along with early conversations between various male characters.
Some of the things we miss are reported to Lady Macbeth in a voicemail from her husband who begins his message with “hi babes”. Her sombre mood changes as he arrives. They are soon joined by King Duncan (Daniel Hawksford) and a group of fighters. All are warmly hugged by Macbeth.
Alex Austin as an amiable Macbeth seems an unlikely ambitious killer. Casual and relaxed, he even steps out of his role in the banquet scene to invite a couple of audience members to join him at the table. We don't see much of his fighting skills, though he does kill the small child of Macduff.
Lady Macduff (Bianca Stephens), the child’s mother, says, “I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly world; where to do harm Is often laudable, to do good sometime Accounted dangerous folly”
Macbeth’s relationship with his wife gradually becomes distant, but in the second half of the play, as the lights briefly dim, he plays a recording of the 1938 romantic song “Two Sleepy People” as they lovingly dance together.
However, the inclusion of songs can sometimes be puzzling. In the scene where Macduff (Ammar Haj Ahmad) learns about the murder of his family, Malcolm (Bella Aubin) the daughter of King Duncan, suddenly sings to Macduff the 1970s song “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie”.
The addition of song, dance and video footage often works but can be distracting. It also isn’t always clear what meaning they are trying to give to the play, something compounded by the occasional actor rushing their lines. However, the production is always entertaining and watchable.