THEATRE REVIEW: MacBeth - The Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot. Liverpool.

How wonderful it was to be in a new theatre in the North-West. This was my first time at Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot and what a beautiful building and setting. After losing the Oldham Coliseum earlier this year and other theatres in the NW producing less and less work, it was so encouraging and exciting to be in a new producing house. And what better way to start my journey than with Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Macbeth is one of the great plays and the one I have probably seen the most. This other worldly play where the main protagonists are manipulated by supernatural forces deals with politics, envy and the poison of seeking power.

This co-production by Shakespeare North, Northern Stage, English Touring Theatre and Théâtres De La Ville De Luxembourg is certainly ambitious in its vision. So, it is a brave choice for that most famous other worldly back drop - the Witches - to be cut from this production. It is also a brave and bold choice to set it in modern times using multimedia screens, video messages on phones and a clever use of a CCTV just off-stage giving glimpses of secret conversations. The design by Basia Bińkowska is striking and sets up this world well. This show is bursting with bold ideas and vision which should be commended for its bravery.

The show relies on the strong ensemble cast creating an atmosphere that invites the audience in - literally in some cases - and that I as an audience member in the auditorium want to be a part of. There are some scene changes that are styled out bleeding one scene into another helping to create an intimacy which drew the audience in. There is a lot of music in this production which is unusual for this play which feels right in some places but definitely not in others.

There are lots of clever devices in this production, the ghostly dinner guest is particularly effective – I shall say no more! Using the CCTV camera in the hall to show some brutal moments like the fight scenes which look convincing and shocking at some points. A lady just in front of me gasped in absolute horror at one of the characters being killed. All credit to fight director Kevin McCurdy for this.

Mike Nobles Macbeth is a very introspective character, torn by his conscience and his pre-destined future, he wrestles with his thoughts, often mumbling to himself - even for his big speeches! His relationship with Lady Macbeth played well by Laura Elsworthy, is believable in the most part and the chemistry between them feels genuine. However, a lot of their scenes seem to be so intimate that the audience are almost excluded from this. I was sitting in the lower gallery so not far from the stage, but I could not hear quite a lot of Noble’s words due to him swallowing a lot of his words and poor diction. For some reason the actors wore mics, even though the space was not that big, yet still I was not hearing every word due to little or no voice projection. I see no reason why a professional actor should not be heard in a space of this size, especially when wearing a mic!

Noble certainly feels the pain of Macbeth but he plays it almost to himself, he doesn’t let the audience see the turmoil he feels and for me he lacks the gravitas needed to be a convincing usurper. We never see how high the stakes are when he does decide to invoke the plan his wife conjures up.

All the cast work hard to fill the stage with life, with good performances from all, but notably Guy Rhys and Coral Sinclair who play Macduff and Lady Macduff respectively. However, there does seem to be as many questionable choices as commendable ones. Why would you cut the witches who set up the whole supernatural world in which the play inhabits? Why does Malcolm sing a karaoke song, yes, a karaoke song, and then Macduff sings a line from it when he is told the worst news any father can hear which totally broke the drama for me? Why when the first half is so physical that the second half is so static which is when the war starts and Macbeth is under siege? What purpose does it serve of some of it being filmed and projected above, causing quite a lot of split focus? Why were members of the audience asked to sit in and join the banquet scene? What was the bagpipes starting and stopping supposed to signify at the start of the second half? For every clever and inventive bit of direction there was an equally odd and confusing bit of direction. They say you should not notice good direction because you are so absorbed in the world of the play so you should simply be enjoying the story. Too many times though, I was distracted by the choices in direction and found myself asking: Why? Why? Why? It’s a shame as the director Richard Twyman is obviously a creative and talented director with a lot of ideas, but there were too many directions in which this production was being pulled towards but no final destination. To say this show was more style than substance may seem harsh, but sadly that was the case for me.

Macbeth is at the wonderful Shakespeare North theatre till September 23^rd, it then goes to Northern Stage and Ipswich before embarking on an international tour.

Reviewer - Prospero
on - 6.9.23