Macbeth
Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company
23rd-26th October 2024
Repton 400 Hall Theatre
Director: James Dean
It is easy to find a production of Macbeth to watch, given how frequently Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy is staged. From professional theatre companies to local drama groups and school productions, Macbeth has become a mainstay on British stages for a number of reasons. It is on the national curriculum at both GCSE and A Level, and generations of students have been introduced to its dark themes of ambition, power, guilt, and fate, as part of their educational inclusion, making it familiar to many. This familiarity helps build a continual audience and fuels demand for fresh interpretations. Macbeth is also famously adaptable; it can be reimagined in settings as varied as feudal Scotland or post-apocalyptic futures whilst retaining its intentions and impact. Its supernatural elements—including the weird sisters and haunting visions—also offer a dramatic appeal that keeps audiences gripped, making it a popular choice for theatre companies.
All of which might explain why directorial choices in Macbeth often seek to reinvent it, and Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company have done this, with their gothic horror-inspired version of the text.
The plot of Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s simplest, with no subplots. The action of the play follows a single decision made early on, by the Scottish nobleman, Macbeth, who hears a prophecy from three seemingly supernatural beings that he will become King. Macbeth, urged on by his wife, Lady Macbeth, decides to murder King Duncan and seize the throne in line with the prophecy. As Macbeth’s guilt and paranoia grow, he descends into tyranny, haunted by supernatural visions and ultimately undone by his own ruthless actions.
I believe that ultimately the success of a production of Macbeth lies heavily in the way the “weird sisters” are handled and have seen numerous productions where they are portrayed as banshees, cackling hags and even children. These choices will often be the central force of an interpretation and can be the difference in a production working well, or not. The gothic-horror imagining of Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production, presents these beings to us as bloodied vampiric brides, complemented by a phenomenal castle set, a darkly gothic soundtrack and hazed lighting choices which dip from smoky grey to blood red, punctuating the horror unfolding on the stage with real atmosphere. The corpse-brides, whilst using the original text, are displayed to us as not only a version of The Fates verbally manipulating the events of the play, but in this instance are absolutely integral, taking on the roles of the hired assassins who kill Banquo and Macduff’s family, physically manipulating the dagger which Macbeth famously follows to kill Duncan, and serving Macbeth’s guests at his banquet. This concept also allows the brides to feed Macbeth their blood during their final three prophecies, which seemingly transform Macbeth himself into a Dracula-inspired “hell-hound.”
It’s an interesting take and one which is extremely successful. In Act 5, Scene 5 Macbeth states “I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun” which absolutely lends itself to his transformation into this Dracula-like version of the Scottish lord. If something is in the text that can inspire an interpretation, then it is a valid choice to interpret it as such, and this line has a particular resonance following on from the blood-tasting ritual we have so recently seen.
The characters in this text never reference the weird sisters as “witches” (although they are referred to as such in the stage directions and prefixes) which allows any interpretation of this play to use these characters as prophets or other supernatural beings, rather than traditional witches. Early modern theatregoers would have understood the word “weird” (pronounced as “wayward”) to mean “disobedient” particularly aimed at women and would have linked that description in the context of THIS play, to sorcery of sorts – also implying power and control. Presenting these characters as vampiric brides is not only a valid interpretation which radiates the gothic-horror nature of this text to the rest of the characters, but also a powerfully and visually effective one.
This vision also allows for a series of edits to the text, ensuring that this already quite pacy script, is able to be played out with a decent and action-packed run time. Omitting lines from the longer monologues (notably some of Lady Macbeth’s references to having previously birthed children, and almost the entirety of the Porter’s speech) means that some of the deeper themes and character rationale for choices can be avoided, replaced instead by the very clear idea that supernatural forces are very much at work here. This concept runs right to the very end of the performance, with a final moment (which I won’t spoil in case you’re going to see it) of the future lineage of the monarchy and an interesting question posed on the final image of this play.
The cast are, as ever, strong and it is easy to forget that DSTC are an amateur company. E. Montgomery-Ashford’s Macbeth is a striking-looking central protagonist, with powerful stage presence and a commanding air, which unravels throughout the course of the play effectively and visually. Zoe Grunnell is a fantastic Lady Macbeth, powerful and in control, but then vulnerable and frightened in equal measure. This is a challenging role to play, and Grunnell manages to enable us to recognise the horror of her actions, with a modicum of sympathy for her plight. Strong performances too by Danny Duder as Banquo and Matt Swan as Macduff enable the plot arc of how Macbeth’s ambition leads him to turn unwaveringly on those who were his peers and equals at the start.
The Weird Sisters played by Samantha Drake, Alex Wrampling and Isabelle Lee ground and theme the play in their excellent physicality and strong vocal performances. The moments where they come through the audience are particularly chilling.
The whole cast are excellent and each of them should be applauded for their roles both within and outside of the ensemble, but a special mention should go to Macduff’s Children played by Alfie Smith, Ivy Bird and Arthur Bird whose innocence allowed us to glimpse the true brutality of their murders, as well as an excellent performance by Roger Whiting as the fated King Duncan.
There are a couple of moments that don’t quite land as well as the vision perhaps hoped for. During the second set of prophecies, the weird sisters become transformed and possessed by a disembodied voice, but the voice comes from the speakers into the auditorium and not from the stage which immediately disconnects the effect, and the lip-synching isn’t always 100% (a truly challenging thing to do in a live performance) – this voice is also a little unclear, and the prophecies here are vital plot points – my companions in the audience missed the content due to sound distortion, and so didn’t pick up on something the plot heavily relies on, which they asked to be explained to them after the performance. On a similar theme, there are frequent blackouts in this production which, although possibly a design-choice, are unnecessary in terms of stagecraft and serve to present a moment of disconnection between the audience and the stage.
Macbeth Is also a play which is heavy on the rhyming couplets which signify to the audience that there is a scene or action change. Depending on the point in the play, it can be effective to deliver these lines in a way that makes sure that they don’t land on the rhythmical beat. There are moments in this production where the couplet is almost nursery-rhymey, which is a little jarring to hear.
There are also times where the iambic pentameter is a little over-delivered. For Macbeth in particular the rhythm is important as most of the verse (with notable exceptions) is written in iambic pentameter (5 beats of 2 with unstressed then stressed syllables), to juxtapose in stark contrast with the way the weird sisters speak in an entirely different rhythmic pattern (trochaic tetrameter – 8 syllables rather than ten, with a different stress pattern.) It is absolutely not for the audience to worry or know about these textual structures, but when they don’t quite land, it feels as though something is a little off.
However, these are very minor quibbles in what is a spooky, energetic, interesting and largely very clear production of this text
Strong support by Tom Morley (The Captain), Evelyn Scanlon (Fleance), Phil Hodgkiss (a urinating Porter), Jake Soar (Malcolm) and the whole cast, as well as incredible atmospherics in the form of lighting, set and sound (Jamie Vella, Ken Owens, Neil Jones, Richard Heappy) and some really wonderful costumes all contribute to this really fantastic production. The company are also to be applauded for their inclusion of a BSL interpreter and audio description services, ensuring that their work is not only of an extremely high standard, but also accessible.
Director James Dean has made bold choices in his vision for this production, which have paid off to great impact, and he has, alongside his talented cast and crew, created something really special here. If you get the opportunity to catch this show I whole-heartedly recommend it.
Having taken my year-11 son who is seemingly allergic to Shakespeare, his endorsement of “that was alright and I understood most of it” is 5 golden stars indeed.
Photo credit: Doodah Photography
Review shared on this site courtesy of Rebecca Morris
