Macbeth - Son of Light

Annie James, based on the play by William Shakespeare
Quids In Theatre Company
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

Macbeth is standard fair for theatre companies from Broadway and West End to the community theatre companies and school drama clubs. And sometimes it’s very good. And sometimes it’s bad. Here by Quids In The Theatre Company it just doesn’t come together.

Chris Begg has put forth the premise that the Macbeth written about by Shakespeare is not at all the real Macbeth. He survived and ruled another 17 years and married again to a woman who, as an aside, had a son.

One can’t make out how the histories merge or resolve the inconsistencies; an interesting premise which gets lost.

Old Macbeth sits and watches and sometimes comments on the action in a professorial way. But the three actors who play the remaining characters are lost before they begin.

Most particularly bad—I’m sorry, there is just too much “acting” going on—is that actor who plays Lady Macbeth. The young Macbeth surfaces when the director gets out of the way. The actor playing Banquo comes off best.

This is a Macbeth to pass on.

Reviewer: Catherine Lamm

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