This production of Macbeth is packed with atmosphere, writes PATRICK MARMION… All hail David Tennant, Thane of Covent Garden (pity about the headphones)
Macbeth, Donmar Warehouse
With Ralph Fiennes’ Macbeth in Liverpool heading to Edinburgh next month and David Tennant’s take on the bloody Scottish monarch officially installed in Covent Garden last night, we have the intriguing prospect of an English warlord wreaking havoc in Scotland and a Scottish warlord wreaking havoc in London .
Maybe they should both raise an army and meet halfway to find out who’s boss – in Leeds. The only problem is that these two very cerebral thinkers, Thanes, might convene a summit and reach an entente cordiale.
Tennant has the advantage of experience with the supernatural voodoo of the piece from his time as Doctor Who.
But Shakespeare did not provide a Tardis or sonic screwdriver to defeat the witches who lure him to slaughter and destruction. More seriously, the standout feature of Max Webster’s new production isn’t so much the acting as the minimalist production itself, performed entirely in front of an audience with headphones hooked to each seat.
Yes, this makes it a bit like listening to an audiobook or podcast with an illustrative performance attached. In the solemn, severe Scottish staging, the entire cast wears black kilts and gray vests or polo shirts, with DM bovver boots.
The standout feature of Max Webster’s new production is not so much the acting as the minimalist production itself, performed entirely in front of an audience with headphones plugged into each seat.
Pictured: Lola Shalam, Lucy Mangan and Danielle Fiamanya in Macbeth
Eerie Celtic music is played from a gallery separated from the wide white stage of a stage by smoky glass; the ominous sounds of squawking crows, heavy breathing and loud singing are transmitted to our headphones.
It’s very impressive. And yes, to use the term du jour: it is ‘immersive’. But it also gets in the way and when you (defiantly) take off your headphones, you realize that the actors are not in the same soundscape as you.
This has the unfortunate effect of reducing the performers’ intensity by about 20 percent.
Tennant’s voice is of course a powerful instrument: thick, resonant and classically trained with the added threat of sounding like a Scottish hardman.
But he’s also an inward-looking, mumbling Macbeth who’s forced to turn the microphone down to keep the microphones from blowing. I found him more exciting when he took the lid off late and let loose into the fray. Until then, he’s in danger of becoming more like an unstable office manager that no one knows how to handle.
Tennant’s voice is an instrument, but he is also an inward-looking, mumbling Macbeth who is forced to lower his voice to keep the microphones from blowing.
Interestingly enough, Cush Jumbo as his wife, Lady Macbeth, seems in turn a difficult colleague.
Their chemistry is cold, but compelling. From the start, she seems to be suppressing a nervous breakdown and does indeed have a panic attack before washing her OCD hands at the end.
Yes, the show has a lot of atmosphere, but this comes at the cost of separating us from the actors.
And yet it is so unusual and ambitious that Tennant is probably ahead of Fiennes. Therefore, I must hand it over to the entire company and hail this Macbeth as Thane of Covent Garden.