Kaliswa Brewster, Kate MacCluggage and Mahira Kakkar.
Photo by Charles Erickson
Photo by Charles Erickson
Well, now.
If you are a frequent attendee at
Hartford Stage you will have recently seen “La Dispute,” a frothy, light
exercise in Age of Enlightenment folderol. The set for this show is basically a
cotton-candy forest with nary a shadow in sight.
Return to the Stage several days
later and you are plunged into darkness, deep into darkness…and eventual
insanity…for Macbeth has listened to the weird sisters and taken the advice of
his avaricious wife, and thus has slain the king. What follows is one of
Shakespeare’s darkest plays, and director Darko Tresnjak (who also designed the
protean set), along with lighting designer Matthew Richards and sound designer
Jane Shaw, simply do not allow the audience to escape the physical, mental and
psychological horror of Macbeth’s actions. You may have come away from “La
Dispute” saying, “Well, so what?” but I challenge you to come away from this
production of “Macbeth” without being moved…and troubled, for the cast and
creative team have conjured up a nightmare that you will not soon forget.
From the moment Macbeth (Matthew
Rauch) stumbles upon the weird sisters (Kalisa Brewster, Mahira Kakkar and Kate
MacCluggage), the soldier triumphantly fresh from the battlefield, you know
that he is doomed, for in the darkness, with mist rising, his future is
foretold – that he will one day be king -- but the sisters do not mention the
heavy price that many, including Macbeth himself and his wife, Lady Macbeth
(Kate Forbes) will have to pay before all is over.
What follows on a stage but barely
lit and sparsely furnished (save for a series of rectangular panes that first
appear as glowing cathedral windows and then, late in the play, are central to
Birnam Woods marching on Dunsinane -- hence fulfilling the sisters’ prophecy --
is, at best, grim, for there is murder most foul and insanity. For those who
have seen both plays being performed in repertory, it is interesting to ponder
the shift the cast must make when it moves from the cotton-candy world of “La
Dispute” to the depths of dread and despair that Tresnjak and company have
conjured for the Scottish Play.
Given that this is basically a
single-set production, it is also interesting to see how Tresnjak stages
certain scenes that would normally demand a change of set. Perhaps the most
compelling alteration from standard productions is the banquet scene late in
the first act (yes, normally there are five acts, but things have been
compressed and condensed) in which the ghost of the recently murdered Banquo
(Grant Goodman) appears to haunt Macbeth. Most productions will show you the
banquet, with the ghost wandering the tables, but in this production the
banquet occurs up-stage and unseen behind the dark panels that hold the
aforementioned “panes.” Hence the ghost’s appearance and the effect on Macbeth are
first heard before seen. In panic, Macbeth rushes from the banquet through a
center-stage door to appear on stage, followed by the ghost, who is immediately
lit in blood-red light. It’s a stunning and unexpected entrance and effect.
Tresnjak has not shied away from
the reality of murder most foul and thus the production may not be fit fodder
for the younger set – it’s one thing to see someone blown away on a video game
and quite another (given the visceral power of live theater) to see murder most
gruesome (both of adults and children) and suicide (Forbes is especially fine
in the “damned spot” scene) enacted before your very eyes. Tresnjak has opted
to emphasize the dark nature of this play (both literally and figuratively),
and the result is, if nothing else, disturbing…and hence, good theater.
If you came away from “La Dispute”
feeling a bit sticky – just too much froth weakly anchored on specious, beside-the-point
intellectual bonbons -- then a sure way to cleanse the intellect and sear the
soul is to settle in for the shriving experience of “Macbeth.” Trust me, you
will leave the theater shaken, and isn’t that what theater is all about?
“Macbeth” runs through November 10.
For tickets or more information call 860-527-5151 or go to
www.hartfordstage.org.
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