Theater Review: UST’s “Macbeth” grade B
Shakespeare is a daunting dish for first timers – the language can be hard to swallow and lack of historical background, cultural context and proper explanation between scenes can leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
But, like finely made Belgian dark chocolate, Shakespeare can be prepped to please anybody’s palate – advanced or otherwise.
Utah State Theatre’s stage adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” captured the spirit of the Thane turned Tyrant and his violent mistress despite a few misfired attempts at eccentric genius (which can be forgiven, considering the final product).
Director Lynda Linford has incorporated a modern interpretation on the characters, dressing them in a style she calls “Punk/Goth Retro,” which, simply put, is a bunch of Gothic gangsters in kilts. It’s a fun twist, especially during the play’s final battle, but will likely be met with criticism from Shakespearean purists.
The tragedy of the entire disease-infected kingdom is captured in the set, which is reminiscent of both the rolling hills of Scotland and a scabbed and bleeding wound. Apparently, in a play where fair is foul and foul is fair, beauty and decay can’t help but coexist – kind of like Regis and Kelly.
The multimedia presentations, engineered in the bowels of the graphic design lab and incorporated throughout the play, seem a good idea on the surface and are put together well, but are hard to see and, for those unfamiliar with the story, seem extremely out of place.
On the flip side, the soundtrack accompanying the play accentuates the tale’s Celtic origins and adds to the overall mysticism of the production. The bagpipes, played by theatre department public relations director Jeremy Gordon, highlight the heavy rituals underlying the Scottish monarchy.
The interpretations, which are rather absolute for a play whose meaning is still being debated by critics and scholars, are thought provoking and good fodder for late-night conversation. That is, if you’re into renaissance drama.
Unfortunately, for those unfamiliar with the play or unlucky enough to sit too far off on the edges, the three-hour production can seem a full-force descent into Scottish Hell. There are, however, two ways to prevent the play from turning into a confusing 180-minute snore fest: first, go early and get good tickets; second, thoroughly familiarize yourself with the plot.
While I can’t likely get you good seats (seeing how the play is required viewing for every art humanities class on campus), I can give you a cursory introduction to the play.
“Macbeth” chronicles a Scottish king who rises and falls on the prophecies of some shrewd Highland witches. The play opens with the witches who, dressed like acid-scarred vixens from the Pussycat Lounge, prepare to meet with Macbeth. Though only written into three scenes, the witches, under Linford’s direction, appear throughout the play controlling the actions of their puppet king and his bloody ambition.
The scene moves with little explanation to a large battle where Duncan (David Ebert), the true king of Scotland, puts down traitorous usurpers. After the battle, Duncan discovers the betrayal of one Thane of Cawdor, whom he orders executed.
Macbeth (Brandon Pearson) enters the play with his good friend and partner in arms, Banquo (Luke Bybee), and is hailed by the hags as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and one who will be king hereafter. Banquo seeks and receives a prophecy that while he won’t be a king, his children will one day sit on the throne. The witches disappear and Macbeth discovers he has been appointed Thane of Cawdor, fulfilling the first part of the prophecy.
At the urging of Lady Macbeth (Rebecca Johnson), who, clad in a black, gothic coat and hooker boots, looks like an uncanny double for Trinity from ‘The Matrix,’ Macbeth stabs the King and then blames the murder on his chamberlains. Suspicion falls on the king’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, who, fearing their own lives might be lost to the usurper’s blade, flee to other corners of the British Isles.
Shortly after he takes the throne, Macbeth drenches the stage in a bloodbath in order to keep his ill-gotten crown.
Macbeth, troubled by his bloody conscience, seeks out the witches again who, long anticipating his arrival, show him visions of an armed head, a bloody child and a crowned child who prophesy that, while Macbeth should fear Macduff, he cannot be killed by anyone born of woman and, even then, not until the forest of Birnam moves toward Dunsinane (Macbeth’s castle).
Lady Macbeth gives in to her troubled conscience, goes mad, and commits suicide. At the same time, a large force, led by Malcolm and the English general Siward, moves against Macbeth’s castle where a large several-scened battle takes place. Macbeth, having escaped death and fearing no man born of woman, finally meets up with Macduff who, declaring that he was “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb (and is therefore not of woman born), cuts off the usurper’s head.
Though Shakespeare ends the play here on a note of possible triumph and cleansing, Linford again touches up the interpretation by bringing out the witches again, who repeat the opening lines of the play in a twisted chiasmus, suggesting the foul destruction of the Scottish nobility will continue. This last interpretation is perhaps the most exciting of the play.
Overall, the main characters are extremely capable actors, capturing the emotions of murderous retches and betrayed innocents. However, the supporting cast, with a few notable exceptions, including Mike Gardiner and John Belliston as the piss-drunk porters of Dunsinane, is lackluster at best and a far shot from the support necessary to make the play a triumph.
Purposeful or not, the play is a mixture of foul and fair with more to offer the Shakespeare veteran than the first-timer. But, if you’ve got the urge, the time and the ticket (preferably in the middle at about the third row), you’ll probably enjoy trading and trafficking with “Macbeth” and its riddles and affairs of death.
Matt Wright is a theater critic for the Utah Statesman. Questions and Comments can be sent to him at
mattgo@cc.usu.edu.