Glorious, fast, furious Macbeth
Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Company 1999)
Reviewed by Bryce Hallett
The Sydney Morning Herald, August 1999
Ian
Judge's swift-flowing Macbeth affirms its faith in the language, poetry and
unforgettable speeches of Shakespeare to orchestrate a vivid, illuminating and
"musical" production.
Considerable clarity and majestic imagery are achieved in the subtle, brilliant way Judge harnesses the "sound and fury" of the composer, designers and a strong, alert ensemble. He conjures the torn, corrupted landscape on a mostly bare stage, opening it out to unseen realms to suggest all kinds of imaginings - devilish and angelic.
(...)
In a welcome return to the stage, Colin Friels gives a magnificent portrayal of the suffering man/animal and murderer Macbeth. It's a tightly disciplined performance that gains conviction and power from Friels investing his trust in Shakespeare's luminous meditations, noble passages and wordplay. With calm nerve and attack, the actor brings Macbeth's torment and "vaulting ambition" keenly alive with a perplexing shade of humanity left intact.
As willful and hard as the Scottish Thane is, Friels keeps firm grasp of the inner turmoil and flaws to soften, or at least make us question, the forces which possess and drive him calculatingly on. In almost every turn, the Weird Sisters (Phillip Dodd, Vanessa Downing and Claire Paradine) cling to the earth or hover close by - eccentric hags up to a point although, given their premonitions and powers, more the "juggling fiends" as Macbeth calls them. Decadently draped on chandeliers or stirring the pot, they, like furies, give us cause to wonder about the extent of their powers and the evil which pulses through Macbeth's criminal hands.
Where Friels's portrayal is reasonably contained, secure and expressive of a trapped, doomed creature, Helen Buday's Lady Macbeth appears in a regal, voluminous silk dress. It disguises fragility yet its plumage and line seem to offer the opportunity of unnatural flight. Buday is remarkable. She is a treat to observe in the scenes before and after the dead-of-night machinations when Macbeth ascends the stairs and murders Duncan. Later, when the demons of madness descend, her performance is weirdly absorbing.
(...)
Performed without an interval, the Sydney Theatre Company production runs for two hours yet in its epic sweep it never seems much more than one - the look, rhythm and sound of the piece gaining the benefit of Judge's considerable opera and musical theatre experience.
Written in or about 1606, Macbeth - apart from the literary sources which informed or inspired it - sprang up in a time of complex political upheaval. While its subject of regicide and succession has the brute alien nature of myth, its penetrating stare into the human condition communicates directly to our heart and soul.
(....)
This is a glorious telling of Macbeth, one which enables us to "hear" its voice of tyranny and conscience, and marvel at its wonders.