Review - Macbeth

I believe I've mentioned, more than once, that Macbeth is one of my very favorite plays and that I try to see as many productions of it as possible.  Have I ever told you why?  Well, too bad if I already have.  :)   Macbeth was the first production I did as an undergrad.  It was the first time I auditioned for a play by Shakespeare and I was so nervous.  I knew I wouldn't be cast as Lady Macbeth, as I was only a sophomore, but I thought I could have a chance at Lady Macduff or the Gentlewoman.  Before my audition, I was nervously chattering with the very kindly director and I blurted out, "I just want a costume and to be able to walk across the stage!"  Well, he took me seriously.  I was cast as an attendant, a part that doesn't really exist in the play, I just had a costume and followed Lady Macbeth and/or the Gentlewoman around.  It was great fun.  I met my first college boyfriend during that production, and I made many lifetime friends.  I have such fond memories of that entire experience and whenever I see other productions of Macbeth, I often have my friends' performances still in the back of my mind.

So, that's my Macbeth story.  Briefly.  I will also say that I adore Kenneth Branagh and would absolutely not miss seeing him onstage, in whatever he chose to star in.  The fact that he chose Macbeth as his first NY onstage outing just seemed like the happiest of accidents.  I actually became a contributor to the Park Avenue Armory, just to have the chance to secure tickets to Macbeth during the presale.  I'm so glad I did.  I also enjoyed seeing the Armory (well, what I could see of it).  Another of my perks to donating is that I can get a free guided tour - I may do that when my mother next comes to town.  I'm always looking for fun, only-in-New-York-type things to do when she's here.

Anyway, getting to the production.  SPOILERS WILL ABOUND, so if you're going to see the show and don't want to know how things happen, I'd STOP READING right about now...  I went with a chum from grad school who is also a Kenneth Branagh superfan.  We bought these tickets in December, so to say that we were ready to see this show, believe me, we mean it.  They ask you to arrive at the Armory at least a half hour before curtain.  There's a whole ritual that goes along with the show, to immerse you in an experience, rather than just see a performance of Macbeth.  When you arrive, you receive a wristband telling you what clan you're in.  I was in the Angus clan, my chum was in Caithness.  We wandered around the first floor of the Armory for a few minutes, then I checked my raincoat and umbrella because I didn't want to lug them around all night.  Then we went upstairs to meet with our respective clans.  Each clan had its own meeting room, with a map showing you where your clan originated.  We sat in there for a few minutes (and I did my social media obligations, for those of you who follow me on Instagram or Twitter), then a gong sounded.  Our clan leader had us practice what we would say when we arrived at the main door to enter. 

 

photo credit: Stephanie Berger

We were led back down the staircase and then waited in front of the main door.  We were asked by a hooded cast member (who just happened to be one of my office's former interns!) what clan we were.  We bellowed ANGUS, and he pulled a bell cord, opened the main door, and we were ushered in.  Our leader told us to walk briskly, but I admit that we all dawdled just a bit to take in the entire experience - when you walk in that door, you're immediately practically on the set.  The Drill Room at the Armory is over 55,000 square feet and they use every inch of it.  Led by another hooded cast member carrying a torch, you walk through an eerie clearing, on a stone path.  There's fog and cool mood lighting; there are stonehenge-type set pieces.  It was all very beautifully designed to put you right into the experience yourself.  We were then led behind a curtain backstage, then up to our seats from the back.  The seats are padded benches with no backs.  Ugh.  I did know that in advance, but I was determined to come anyway.  It was also very hot in there, as all the clans were slowly led into the room.  The seating was tiered platforms on two sides of an elongated playing area, with an altar-like playing space on one end, and the stonehenge-y rock formations on the other.
I tried to stand for as long as I could, knowing that sitting without a seat back for two intermissionless hours was going to be a chore, no matter how engaged I became in the play.  My seat neighbors kept looking at me, wondering why I wouldn't sit down.  Finally, when three more gongs went off and the ushers scurried away, I sat down.  And the play began (probably around 20 minutes past the scheduled start time).



photo credit: Stephanie Berger

What an experience!  This production of Macbeth is fast and furious, passionate and smart.  It speeds along for the two hours and leaves you quite breathless.  The pace just beautifully underscores the inevitability of everything.  The Weird Sisters are indeed weird, and get things off to a grand start.  Then the first battle is simply spectacular!  Rain starts to fall, so there are wonderful sword duels in the rain and mud, with some staging I hadn't seen before, and lots of opportunities to put seeds in your mind about what will happen later.  It really was masterfully done.

There were many moments that I saw/heard anew, as if for the first time.  For the first time, I felt Lady Macbeth's pain over having lost a child; I cried during the Malcolm/Macduff scene, which can be the deadliest scene in the English-speaking theater if not done well - this was the best I have ever seen it acted and staged.  I was sobbing at Macduff's 'but I must also feel it as a man.'  The sleepwalking scene was spectacular (it helped that it was done practically right on top of me) and the killing of the Macduffs was horrifyingly theatrical and wonderful.  The funeral procession of Duncan that turned into Macbeth's coronation was gorgeous.  The marshy space outside the playing area that I mentioned before, where we all entered, became Birnham Wood, so when all the soldiers entered with torches and pieces of wood, it really was as if the forest was marching towards us.  Really, the stagecraft throughout was just magical and illuminated the text beautifully.

photo credit: Stephanie Berger

As did the acting.  Kenneth Branagh did not disappoint me in the least.  He was an amazing Macbeth - a virile soldier through and through, who barreled through his soliloquies as if they were orders.  He speaks with such clarity and purpose, yet with musicality and passion.  He was thrilling.  It all worked together so well, and then, when he did take a breath and a pause to realize all that he had done, during the 'tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow' speech, it was chilling.  Alex Kingston was also fantastic as Lady M, sexual and passionate.  When she drew a circle around herself to give the 'unsex me here' passages, it was so right I wonder why I never thought of it before.  You knew once she stepped out of that circle, it was an inevitable descent.   Their scenes together were charged and real, especially the scene after killing Duncan - which was done is full view, another wonderful and heartbreaking choice.  The way Macbeth handed over the bloody knives to his wife - seriously. Chills.  

I could just go on forever, but this post is already way too long - all of the acting was wonderful, the sets/costumes/lights were fantastic and the musical score, composed by Patrick Doyle, never overly called attention to itself but was a wonderful accent to everything.  I was breathless, with a racing heart throughout.  OK, so my back hurt a little at the end of the evening.  So what.  Really, if you can, and if you enjoy Shakespeare done in an earthy, visceral way, hie thee to the Park Avenue Armory and see this Macbeth.  One can only hope that Branagh decides he needs to be on New York stages regularly.  I, for one, am crossing my fingers and hope that he does...