In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) latest production of Macbeth, Christopher Eccleston takes to the stage to portray the soldier’s fated descent into madness.
Shakespeare’s famed Scottish play sees the victorious Macbeth return from battle with his fellow Thane, Banquo (Raphael Sowole). They encounter three witches who prophesize that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and later King of Scotland while Banquo’s sons will be kings.
Lady Macbeth (Niamh Cusack) convinces her husband to kill King Duncan (David Acton), an overnight guest in their castle, to fulfil the prophecy. Unfortunately, their regicide triggers a chain of events and various attempts to keep power, which lead to the Macbeths’ downfall.
Horror, Psychological Thriller or Comedy?
As Peter Bradshaw accurately points out in the play’s programme, this play is “the first horror film”.
Director Polly Findlay undoubtedly plays up this element of the play as the three witches appear as three slight young girls, plastic dollies cradled in their arms. This doesn’t diminish the strength of their intimidation however.
Christopher Eccleston is very much the soldier in this production. He bursts onto the stage in the hulking weight of military gear with the loyal Banquo.
Whereas the witches may contrast against Eccleston’s physical frame in pyjamas and cutesy slippers, both Macbeth and many a classic horror fan will become unnerved with their chanting in unison, punctuated by flashes of ghostly blue on the theatre pillars.
Nonetheless, when such figures appear in Macbeth, the question is: are they truly supernatural or perhaps psychological?
However, this production frustratingly swings between shocking with horror thrills, exploring emotional depths and then going for easy laughs.Eccleston’s plain-speaking Macbeth earns a chuckle. He addresses a knowing comment of passing a “rough night” to both actors and audience.
Similarly, the Porter’s (Michael Hodgson) wry delivery of lines and attitude to other characters and slightly to the tittering crowd occurs even in key moments of a vengeful Macduff in search of Macbeth.
There is naturally a lot of humour to be found in horror. For many, the natural reaction to incomprehensible events is to react with laughter.
On the other hand, Shakespeare’s shortest play counts down from the death of Duncan to that of Macbeth. In stark red, we see a clock ominously tick down, reminiscent of a thriller or The Ring.
Unlike The Ring, we know that there’s no hope that Macbeth will avoid his fate. This creates the temptation to watch the clock and render his eventual death somewhat anti-climatic.
This could have been remedied by a focused depiction of Macbeth’s mental breakdown owing to his struggle with the consequences of regicide. Yet, this psychological torment fails to really appear in the midst of a cacophony of different ideas.
The Motivations For Murder
In this production, Macbeth needs very little convincing from his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth.
Likewise, Findlay seems to imitate that it’s the combination of the witches’ predictions for Banquo and King Duncan’s effusive praise and embrace of his companion, which really sours Macbeth’s attitude to the king in her interpretation.
The audience even feels a stab of sympathy for Duncan’s obvious preference for Banquo.
Duncan appears in a wheelchair but goes as far to pick himself up to congratulate Banquo, yet ungraciously wipes his palm after a handshake with Macbeth. Such subtle yet telling decisions contrast the king’s attitude to our protagonist versus his companion.
Then, on one hand, this production aims to mainly examine time and children as a way to live on after death. Natural when Macbeth is set during a time when heirs are of the utmost importance.
On the other, Findlay detailedly explores the human emotion behind the loss of a child and its consequences.
Here, it is apparent that the Macbeths have lost a child and are in pursuit of the crown to fill that emptiness.
Indeed, the RSC’s staging is so full of children that it almost seems to taunt them.
Banquo’s son, Fleance (Kyle Barton), is very much loved with both the Macbeths and Ross (Bally Gill) demonstrating an affection for him.
Of course, Ross’s almost brotherly handshakes seem far more genuine. Whereas the Macbeths seem saddened by Fleance’s departure with Banquo, Macbeth does attempt to kill Fleance.
Still, their trauma colours their actions and speeches, such as Lady Macbeth’s appeals to spirits to rid herself of female and therefore maternal feelings.
This production may lack Macbeth’s psychological struggle with the idea of regicide. However, it’s arguable that this exploration of the Macbeths’ loss is a more thought-provoking and relevant interpretation.
The audience cannot excuse the behaviour of the two, but their actions are borne out of grief rather than straight malevolence.
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Indeed, Findlay’s Macbeth takes more issue with power than the individuals wielding it.
Duncan’s relationship with his “sons” again raise the issue of children and loss like Macbeth. His daughter, Donalbain (Donna Banya), is particularly affectionate during the play’s opening scenes, perched on her frail-looking father’s bed.
In contrast to Lady Macbeth’s comment on his vulnerability, the king’s attitude to his soldiers demonstrates his more hard-headed nature. Similarly, Luke Newberry depicts a rather unlikeable Malcolm.
While Duncan’s death is an unjust loss of life, we no longer have the same ideas on treason and the absolute power of the monarchy.
Duncan is not wholly innocent with his preferential treatment and later, Macbeth is not fully evil, despite his ambition. We also don’t see a jubilant crowning of Malcolm at the end and it’s easy to imagine power corrupting him too.
As these three more complex characters show, it is easy to find some justification for a revolution or toppling of a head of state both in the play and today.
Similar to the play’s fascination with equivocation, it’s simply a matter of picking and choosing facts to suit your own narrative, while ignoring certain inconvenient truths.
Lady Macbeth – The Celebrity Queen
No one knows this better than Lady Macbeth. Cusack appears every inch the elegant wife in her refined jade coloured blouse or slinky emerald-green dress. However, there is something more frantic than cunning in her efforts to persuade Macbeth to kill his king.
While there is nothing lacking in this approach, it’s easy to miss the depiction of a more cunning companion to Macbeth. What Macbeth can possess in physical power, Lady Macbeth has in mental strength, which makes her eventual madness all the more shocking.
However, Cusack’s Lady Macbeth is…almost likeable?
The skilled creative team put together a stunning, celebrity-like coronation, complete with red carpet, the flash photography of an enthusiastic cameraman and glittering gold confetti.
You’d be forgiven for imaging that Lady Macbeth is acting on the advice of some idiotic PR team.
Indeed, with Macbeth’s military costuming and the refined glamour of Lady Macbeth, it’s easy to think of the upcoming royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
After all, the pairing of Cusack and Eccleston creates a duo who appear loving in their early interactions.
There are moments where Cusack’s Lady Macbeth seems to manipulate the couple’s image to present nothing but marital bliss. At one point, the royal party discovers them kissing from an overhead gallery and Lady Macbeth laughs coquettishly as if caught with a secret beau.
Yet Cusack creates a sense of vulnerability with the sleepwalking Lady Macbeth. Her portrayal instead points to the psychological frustration of an ambitious and charming woman hemmed in by gender roles and childlessness.
But this examination of Lady Macbeth’s mental state or even horror-like elements is again undermined by misplaced comedy. The haunted Cusack approaches and shines her torchlight at audience members. For some this may be unnerving, for others, simply amusing.
A Talented Cast
The Porter plays an unusually significant role in this version of the Scottish tale with his deadpan humour.
Unfortunately, his comments and incessant background vacuuming again lessens the essential underlying tension present in Shakespeare’s text. Although, Hodgson is genuinely spooky and spectre-like with his constant presence onstage.
Bally Gill is notable in giving a great performance in the role of Ross. Small gestures and subtle changes of expression show the character’s developing suspicion and mistrust of Macbeth.
This adds more drama and complexity to the play’s momentum such as the banquet scene. As Lady Macbeth desperately tries to excuse his behaviour, Macbeth launching a bread roll and seeing the ghost of Banquo is clearly too much for the honourable Ross.
But it is Edward Bennett who simply devastates the audience. Quiet through most of the performance, upon discovering the loss of his family, he shows a heartbreaking unwillingness to believe Ross’s tragic news.
The gentle-looking Macduff, complete with a sensible cardigan, appears as a civilian victim and prompts us to consider how we’d react in such a situation.
The Changing Nature of Power
In today’s society, how much can we sympathise with upper-class nobles squabbling over the throne?
After all, the Scottish subjects only merit a brief mention during the nobles’ criticism of Macbeth in apparent concern for them.
However, it’s Hodgson’s Porter who highlights the real cost of events, making chalk marks on the wall for each death. After the death of Macduff’s wife and children, the Gatekeeper keeps drawing without stopping until the cramped space of the wall is littered with white, like the ghosts of the dead.
Nevertheless, does this become meaningless after a while? In our age, news reports cover the sheer number of victims in tragedies but the real-life effect is sometimes hard to quite comprehend.
Indeed, quotes from the play flashed like news headlines over the stage. But it’s easy to forget to glance up and in some instances, are distracting in the already overcrowded set design.
The intention of Fly Davis, the designer, is to link domesticity, waiting rooms and the rooms of power and quietness.
Rather than a throne, Macbeth’s seat of power is the now symbolic black office chair. From the one in the iconic Oval Office or in the office of a CEO of a huge multinational, their sitters now wield more power than the monarchy.
This single item would be far more effective alone than with the staging’s other superfluous elements. After all, how could a man use his power with empathy when he is suffering from shut-up grief?
Final thoughts
The play features too many ideas and genres at the cost of appreciating subtle elements like the musicality of Shakespeare’s lines.
But in the same way that Shakespeare wrote in response to the new monarch, James I and possibly the Gunpowder Plot, Findlay has responded to modern ideas.
When it focuses on the psychological, this interpretation of Macbeth is at its strongest.
Indeed, it’s playing at the same time as one of Eccleson’s other projects. BBC’s Come Home features Eccleston as a lonely and confused single dad Greg, whose wife has walked out.
The BBC show looks at childlessness at a personal level and critics have often examined its effect on Lady Macbeth. But this version of the Scottish play finally looks to the male perspective. As is often said, “the personal is political” and it’s about time this is considered for men too.
Macbeth runs at the RSC’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre until September 18. For tickets, please visit the RSC website here.
