The Stage

Macbeth

Published Monday 24 January 2005 at 10:20 by John Thaxter

Not since Judi Dench and Ian McKellen a generation ago has the Macbeth household seemed quite so female dominated, nor the text so carefully explored for every nuance.

Simon Russell Beale’s Thane, an introspective worrier, agonises for what seems like minutes over the precise word to match his thoughts, frets about his lack of progeny when surrounded by other men’s children and falls into uneasy observation of his own wickedness, a chair-bound figure as events unravel, finally slumping to his knees in submission to Macduff’s sword thrust.

In contrast, Emma Fielding’s Lady Macbeth, a decisive woman of action with expressive hand gestures, briskly supervises Duncan’s murder while treating her husband like some great booby, a model hostess at the banquet and a stoic sleepwalking figure. Both these fine performances bring fresh insights to the play, including Macbeth’s personal involvement in the slaughter of Sara Powell’s Lady Macduff.

Drab Jacobean costumes match the period, while John Caird’s staging in Christopher Oram’s design offers a Dunsinane of anthracite walls, sticks of furniture brought on by the cast and an atmosphere of haunted, candle-lit gloom. In a sole concession to technical effect, the paved performing space is cleverly lit by Neil Austin to create a flickering dry ice circle for the pale, ageing Weird Sisters, chillingly played by Ann Firbank, Jane Thorne and Janet Whiteside.

Among a strong supporting cast, William Gaunt is a soldierly Duncan, John Rogan doubles as Porter and a ruminative, Freudian Doctor while Tom Burke’s thoughtful Malcolm articulates self doubts in the English scene.