Macbeth – Harrogate Theatre

Writer: William Shakespeare

Adaptor: Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks

Director: Andrew Quick, Pete Brooks, Simon Wainwright

Words like ‘innovative’, ‘experimental’ and ‘inventive’ are often used to describe productions by Imitating the Dog, and it was clear from a single glance at the stage that Macbeth was likely to be no different.

The stage was almost bare but for an imposing bank of video screens at the back, a couple of chairs, large screens suspended on both sides at the front, and two video cameras on dollies (a firm favourite in shows by this company). It resembled the old BBC screen that used to come on when programming ceased of an evening, which was a major indication that the adaptation was going to somehow modernise William Shakespeare’s famous work.

This has always been Imitating the Dog’s bread and butter, creating an experimental playground in which they fuse video, sound effects and live action to present new and exciting concepts and perspectives. The difficulty with this production, is that they had taken on the behemoth that isMacbeth – a play so well known and loved, by so many people, that it was always going to be a huge task to slice up the play and stitch it back together with new scenes, new context and reimagined characters.

The production felt somewhat like a number of ideas and concepts had been incorporated in a pick and mix style. The setting was a mythical Estuary city, essentially a spoof of London which was an amusing idea – familiar, yet different. The characters were all present, though only Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were played by the same actors throughout. The three other cast members, dressed in trench coats, with ‘jokeresque’ smiles painted on their faces, switched between the rest of the (admittedly large list of) characters attempting to change their behaviours to represent each different one. This would have been enough to keep up with, but there were more concepts introduced – a complete back story for both the Macbeths, describing their upbringing and the problems that had already befallen them by the tender ages of 20 and 17. While the audience was absorbing all of that information, there was a crash course in learning about Yakuza (Japanese gangs) because the titles Macbeth receives in the play (Thane, King) had been replaced by ones based on the organised crime syndicates originating in Japan.

The final concept that the audience were required to process was the use of the big screens at the sides of the stage. These broadcast close ups of the main characters live and were used the whole time. In many cases the action on the stage was not where the focus lay, instead encouraging the audience to look up and see the ‘film acting’ occurring on the screens. Initially disconcerting as there is a slight lag, but gave the action a certain filmic quality.

Any one of these experimental concepts would have been fascinating, but throwing them all in together alongside what seemed like slices of the original Shakespeare script with sprinkles of slang and expletives seemed a step too far.

A small number of the audience left at the interval, perhaps this was not the retelling of the famous Scottish play they wished to see. It is certainly not for the puritans and instead requires leaving much of what is previously known of Macbeth at the theatre door, something that many theatre goers may not be able to do.

Runs until 25th February.