Review: AC Arts presents William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

REVIEW: AC Arts Student Production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’

Tuesday 26^th June 2012

Rookie reviewer mistake: running late to a show! It worked out fine, because I called ahead and asked them to wait a couple minutes and also because the school group were running behind as well (thank you city road-works!). I made sure to phone ahead because there was no way I was missing the latest production by an academy that gave us talent like Kate Cheel (of recent State Theatre Company acclaim) and last year’s stunning The Laramie Project. Never mind the fact that it was directed by nowyesnow’s-and soon to be State Theatre Company’s-Geordie Brookman who has an incredible talent for the sinister visual (as demonstrated in last production The City). And Adelaide being the community that it is, I did know one of the stars! Be it known that AC Arts are churning out some amazing talent on, off and for the stage and the industry that bubbles around it. Be sure to get amongst and support them.

Safe to say that with an introduction like that, I enjoyed the show. But wait. I think the biggest risk with Shakespeare is that people have expectations, and the know-it-alls all know exactly what they want from a particular character, how they believe it should be portrayed. I would say the only flaw in this play is that very expectation that wasn’t exactly met for me. The concept was fool-proof: Macbeth in the original text, albeit adapted in places but done in corporate dress and stilettos. The modernisation had enough elements giving the nod to old-style dress and behaviour that you had no feeling that the text was alienated (a hard balance to walk so well done there). Exchanging swords for pens, and battles for corporate mergers, this was a Macbeth we could resonate and relate to. However, there was something that always seemed to be missing. Oh yeah, where’s the title character?

Brookman’s direction, collaboration between students and professional, gave a fast-paced, cut-throat coordinated and run-like-clockwork production. Patrick Clements’ Macbeth got a little lost in all the commotion. The opening scene described his bloodthirsty embattled soul-such was enshrined in the original time-setting of the play-however our first look at Clements is as a jovial, guy-next-door, Mr Congenial. It took him some time to finally get to the gruff and greedy Macbeth we all want to see punished, but by then it’s too late and there evolves a great sense of pity, not justice for his end.

This, mixed with the dramaturgical glorification of Hecate and the Witches (played excellently), meant that the sense of hubris-and thus the whole moral story of Macbeth- was lost. This left subsidiary characters Donalbain, Lady Macbeth and Witches 1 through 3 to take the fall for what goes down at Castle. Conclusions certainly aren’t as razor sharp as other elements of the play.

However as far as not-so-positive comments go, that’s all I’ve got! Other than a bit of character misplacement by Clements, he played the tortured soul beautifully, and demonstrated fantastic vocal skills, carrying off the big monologues with clarity that I apparently found noteworthy (looking back o’oer my notes), and once he did get into the more bloodthirsty Macbeth, he was simply masterful and the earlier indiscretion forgotten. Tess Fowler as Lady Macbeth was a superb choice; she navigated the transition of her character's undoing with true plausibility and horror. The ‘unsex me here’ monologue was almost spiritual, and opened up a side to the character we don’t see very much of. Thanks to Fowler for the depth.

Although Macbeth’s Witches are often the one thing directors do get right, this crew were the best and most interactive I’ve seen, which although made them a lot more vilified, it brought a fantastic eeriness to the play. Michaela Black, Clara Solly-Slade and Jordan Cowan were absolutely enthralling when on stage. Cowan as the Porter did a brilliant job at (finally!) easing a bit of tension after Duncan’s death. They creep along the outer edges of the stage, giving a more mystical edge to the play and suggesting a lot more abstraction of the characters from their minds. I’ll admit for the first time I’ve ever seen or read Macbeth, I peered a lot further into character psychology due to the masterful interpreting of the text by the actors and creative team.

Each actor, bar the leads, played a multitude of characters. The interludes by Jason Marsiglia and Jhon Bedoya Mendez almost came as a breath of relief, the tension was so enhanced, although there was the odd drop in characterisation and voices used to separate characters was not effective. I feel that more time spent deciding where the line between modern interpretation and original text was. Which brings me around to the graphic elements of the play.

The corn syrup blood was almost a character in itself, but was done very artistically. Using suffocation by plastic bag as weapon of choice throughout the play definitely had the effect of frightening the audience. That said, it became a perfect symbol for murderous thoughts-a genius move of Brookman or whoever thought of it to have Malcolm playing with the bag at the very beginning. The set was brilliant, many enter and exit points facilitated the pacing and the open plan stopped the play from generating claustrophobia. Lighting and sound were perfect, mixing creepy modern tunes with inspired actor tableaux gave the play that killer something extra. Great work again by Brookman and students.

In a final word, I give my ‘Star of the Show’ nod to Jane Mahady who played Malcolm, and Hecate. She was made for these roles and commanded stage whenever she stomped those towering shoes all over it (props right there for keeping composure in six inch pumps). Her style of acting was incredibly varied and she handled the character transitions like a true professional. Oozing sensuality as Hecate, spitting underhandedness of Malcolm (particularly the sins speech with Macduff-amazing). She was theatrically insurmountable in this piece.

Looking forward to seeing these fine young theatre stars out there in the big wide acting world as cut-throat as competitive as they were in Macbeth’s day. It looks like they’ll do just fine. La la la, la la la la la, la la la, la la la la la…..