Macbeth – The Lowry

Tonight Shakespeare met Tarantino, this was the bard seen through the lens of some kind of super-visual filmmaker complete with swear words and a dark, brooding attitude. What we have with this production is theatre as film, it could be said to have more style than substance.

As a backdrop to the action there were projected flashy, incandescent and strangely beautiful images and video. They were bright, scintillating and imaginatively put together with great skill and creativity. The problem was that they were, at times, somewhat distracting.

Above the stage top left and right were two screens showing feeds from two mobile cameras which were on stage. Given the conceit of Macbeth reimagined as a Tarantino film, set in an underground world of drugs and prostitution, Macbeth and his wife performed towards the cameras and not to the audience. Although, the audience could see them on the screen it became in a sense a live film in the theatre.

This was intended, but the other aspect of this retelling was that the three witches become narrators of the piece. The producers knew when they were devising the show that post-Covid they could only afford five performers. So, we have Macbeth and Lady Macbeth alongside the three witches who play all the other parts in the play.

The problem with this is that the witches indulge in a lot of exposition, explaining what is going on and telling the audience what is happening. In places, this is done with some wit, yet in others it became a tad tiresome. Such as when Macbeth and his wife are talking and the witches add in “he said” and “she replied” to emphasise it is a story. The best moments in the play were those when they let the play speak and we heard Shakespeare’s dramatic poetry.

In the audience were a lot of schoolchildren, I assume it is on the syllabus, and I could see how a show like this would be attractive to them. It had the vibe of a movie, the Macbeth’s were young and it was more like a cool video game than a play. In a way, given the way it was narrated, it was like one of those revision notes books for students.

A lot of the main themes were there such as ambition, guilt and the nature of power. The theme of predestination and free will was not really explored but I suspect this was never meant to be a deep examination of the play. They do though give it a nice twist at the end.

Benjamin Westerby as Macbeth gave the character an understated elegance. Fitting in with the aesthetic he moved smoothly from the mixed-up kid to the indifferent, ruthless boss.

Maia Tamrakar as Lady Macbeth had a ferocious, untamed energy. You could feel the hurt she had gone through, and nothing was going to stand in her way. It was an extremely powerful performance.

Laura Atherton, Stefan Chanyaem and Matt Prendergast as the witches and ensemble performed their roles with skill and not a little zeal.

The show continues at The Lowry until the 11th March, for tickets go to www.thelowry.com and it is touring the UK.

It was produced by Imitating The Dog and for more on the tour go to https://www.imitatingthedog.co.uk/project/macbeth/

Reviewer: Adam Williams

Reviewed: 8th March 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★