Reviews Exeter Published 3 May 2014

Macbeth

Beer Quarry Caves ⋄ 30th April – 10th May 2014

Thane of caves.

Belinda Dillon

Steeped in bloodshed and betrayal, murder and madness, Macbeth is a text ideally suited to site-specific productions in atmospheric locations. Whether an imposing castle on a Scottish island or a derelict hotel on New York’s West Side, an innovative staging can offer fresh insights into a much-performed work.

By plunging Macbeth into the other-worldly gloom of Beer Quarry Caves – a vast series of subterranean halls and caverns created by 2,000 years of excavation for the highly prized Beer Stone – Devon-based theatre company Four of Swords seem to have the right ingredients to mix a mighty heady brew. The connected caves, a mix of ‘rooms’, damp expanses and corridors that stretch off into the shadows – complete with bats – echo with a constant drip-drip-drip, perfectly conjuring the chill dankness of a medieval Scottish castle. As the three Witches lead us through the space, we come upon scenes and filmed projections that pull us from Macbeth and Banquo’s first encounter with the Wyrd Sisters to the final confrontation at Dunsinane. It’s got tonnes of potential, but is unfortunately hampered by an overly abridged text (it runs to just over an hour), some shaky directorial choices and a cast that mostly haven’t quite got to grips with the rhythms of the language.

What does work well is positioning the three Witches (who put in the strongest and most consistent performances of the night, particularly Mike Gilpin and Sara Hooppell) across three layers of the production: they guide the audience through the physical space, corralling us from scene to candle-lit scene with sinister encouragement and eerily primal music and song; in their traditional place, within the world of the play, they are Macbeth’s link to the supernatural world, allowing him to access the darkest recesses of his ambition; and in this conflated version they also speak lines attributed variously to Rosse, Macduff, Donalbain and others, which progresses the plot but which also serves to require their continual presence just at the edge of the action, a constant reminder of the dark forces at work. The veil is thin, this seems to imply; how close to the surface these deep desires actually lie.

On occasion, the promenade nature of the production makes full use of the opportunity for immersion: in an invented scene, we follow Macbeth into Duncan’s chamber to witness the murder, and later march on Dunsinane behind Malcolm. But these are the exception rather than the rule, and while coming upon projected films – which are mostly effective, stylistically, against the stark white of the limestone walls, their jerky tempo and lurid cinematography reminiscent of silent horror classics – sometimes adds expositional detail, they often jar and on occasion outright confuse. For instance, we hear confirmation of Banquo’s murder and Fleance’s escape straight from the murderer’s mouth as newly crowned Macbeth is about to begin his celebratory banquet, but then everything pauses while we watch a film that dramatises the scene – which I’d assumed had been cut, considering that much more important scenes had been – and features Banquo and Fleance anachronistically riding on a quad bike before being set upon by the assassin. With that bizarre image in mind, what should be the play’s most compelling scene – the entrance of Banquo’s ghost and Macbeth’s reaction – lacks any tension. With the location and the lighting offering opportunities aplenty to create something genuinely affecting, here Banquo (Charlie Coldfield) simply wanders in, glowers, then wanders off again.

The general lack of tension is largely down to the heavily abridged text – how long could an audience be expected to walk and stand around in a dark, damp cave that never gets above 9°C, let alone the cast? – which results in a sort of ‘greatest hits’ scenario where we traipse from ‘big’ scene to ‘big’ speech, with none of the build up or establishing scenes that add nuance and subtlety to character and motivation, and nothing to convey the significance of what’s happening. This also limits the performers’ registers mainly to extreme emotion, with Midge Mullin’s Macbeth growling most of his lines through bared teeth, and Lady Macbeth (Sarah White, also on directing duties) starting at maniacal with nowhere else to go, although she tones it down to put in a commendably moving performance in the sleepwalking scene. In the early scenes, Philip Kingslan John as Macduff (and sharing the role of director) seems a confident presence, but by the time we reach the revelations about the murder of his family, the breakneck pace seems to have knocked the stuffing out of him, too.

This is Four of Swords’ second production – last year they staged Jekyll and Hyde in the decadently crumbling ruins of Poltimore House outside Exeter – and continues their intention to ‘create new adaptations of classic literary works and present them in unique spaces’. For this they are to be commended, and it’s obviously what audiences want: this run of Macbeth is completely sold out. Perhaps the performance weaknesses were down to first-night nerves, but the truncated structure and missed opportunities need further attention if this production is going to achieve its potential in this remarkable space.

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Belinda Dillon

Originally from London, Belinda is an editor and writer now living in Exeter. She goes to as much theatre as the day job will allow. When not sitting in the dark, or writing about sitting in the dark, she likes to drink wine, read 19th-century novels and practice taxidermy. Your cat is very beautiful. Is it old?

Macbeth Show Info


Produced by Four of Swords Theatre

Cast includes Midge Mullin, Sarah White, Philip Kingslan John, Charlie Coldfield, Mike Gilpin, Sara Hooppell, Elisabeth Burnette

Link http://four-of-swords.com/

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