REVIEW: Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon.

Review by Russell Blackaller

WHAT a treat! Christopher Eccleston playing Macbeth with the RSC.

Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t quite hit the spot. There is much to enjoy in Polly Findlay’s experimental take on this great play, including a masterful performance by Eccleston, but the overall production feels disjointed and confusing.

Niamh Cusack’s Lady Macbeth is impressively dramatic, but her madness seems to be there from the outset and her relationship with Macbeth seems strangely cold.

I liked the idea of the witches being portrayed by young girls wearing onesies, but there is nothing sinister about them and this interpretation even requires the famous “hubble bubble” scene to be removed. And why is that huge distracting digital clock counting down to zero throughout the show?

This is one of those productions where you spend the first half trying to work out the director's meaning, or whether you have permission to work out your own interpretation. Then you spend the second half giving up trying.

The setting appears to be the headquarters of some huge business or political empire, but there is little to re-inforce this idea of Macbeth being a business or political leader.

The Porter is usually the smallest role, but ingeniously, in this production, he has more time on stage than anyone else, being the caretaker, observing the action throughout. So then we are left to answer, “who the devil is he?”

Perhaps the bored caretaker is simply imagining his superiors playing out the story of Macbeth? It is intriguing that at the final battle, when Macbeth calls Seyton to support him, the caretaker (Porter) joins the action, revealing himself to be Seyton. Or is he the real Satan? Hmmm.......

6 out of 10

Macbeth runs in Stratford until September 18 2018

Box Office 0844 800 1110

Review by Russell Blackaller