Macbeth – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon

Writer: William Shakespeare

Director: Wils Wilson

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes…” Or rather, something weird, in the form of the RSC’s latest production of Macbeth, directed by Wils Wilson in her RSC debut. Initially, things appear promising, with a suitably bizarre and supernatural opening on the misty Scottish moors in the company of three feral witches (Eilidh Loan, Dylan Read, and Amber Sylvia Edwards) thanks to Georgia McGuiness’s atmospheric set design, complete with dead birds falling from the sky. Sadly, the play almost immediately dissolves into something that feels underwhelming and confusing throughout.

In his RSC debut, Reuben Joseph is, unfortunately, a disappointing Macbeth. He doesn’t embody the spirit of a great war hero, which is what Macbeth is when we meet him – it is his prowess in battle that affords him the title of Thane of Cawdor, bestowed on him by Queen Duncan (Thérèse Bradley). He is also much more emotional, much earlier on – which makes it difficult to reconcile this more timid man with the one brave enough to commit his terrible crimes (goaded by his wife or not). Then, when the witches’ prophecy begins to turn nasty and Burnam Wood descends on Dunsinane, Joseph’s performance of a railing, angry Macbeth feels hollow, somehow – not helped by having him pause as if he’s forgotten his lines, and then take up a microphone during the famous ‘tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ speech. A strange directorial choice!

Valene Kane’s Lady Macbeth is bizarre, almost infantile, from the outset – when we first meet her, she’s kicking her feet with glee in a rainstorm – so it doesn’t feel believable that she’s cold, calculating and frankly, clever enough to manipulate her husband into committing multiple murders, when she floats around the stage giggling and humming. It also jars with her descent into madness later on – because when we first meet her, one gets the sense she’s been part of the way there for some time!

And speaking of the murders – they are all entirely too bloodless, save for what appears to be red paint on the Macbeths’ hands (which remains throughout the entire play after the murder of Duncan, which is very distracting, despite what it might symbolise). Given how messy the murder of Duncan is meant to be (“how did the old woman have so much blood in her?”), and the throat-slitting of Banquo, it is underwhelming not to have these brutal acts realised fully on stage, particularly as the RSC has form for doing fantastic gore (Titus Andronicus, anyone?). The most striking moment of the production comes with the deaths of Lady Macduff and her children, with the three witches suspended above the action, screaming, screeching and wailing like banshees, accompanied by the sickening snap of neck bones. Disappointingly, Macduff’s (George Anton) response to the news of his family’s massacre feels so rushed and turns to anger so quickly that all the effort put into that previous scene feels wasted on such an underwhelming response.

Macbeth as a play is traditionally dominated by male characters, so the decision to cast women in a lot of these roles (Banquo, Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain) is a commendable one. However, for this play, it doesn’t work, and it in fact takes away from Lady Macbeth’s character as a woman in a world surrounded by men, adopting their baser instincts and natures. It also makes for a confusing experience for the audience – not least when the actors of previously deceased characters return in other scenes in different guises. This is particularly confusing with regards to Fleance and Coll Macduff, both played by Liam King, and when the death of Young Siward is announced towards the end, with Siward played by the actress who had been Queen Duncan in the first half.

Much has been made of comedian Stewart Lee’s rewrite of what he calls the ‘rubbish’ Porter scene, but one could argue it’s only ‘rubbish’ if you don’t understand what its function is. Primarily, it is to instil in the audience the horror of Duncan’s murder and to drive home that the Macbeths’ castle has become, in effect, Hell itself, the knocking the relentless sound of impending doom. In Lee’s rewrite, we are wrenched from the dark horrors of the Macbeths’ castle and plonked into a mini stand-up routine by veteran Scottish actor Alison Peebles as the Porter, the ominous knocking replaced by a painfully sharp electric buzzing sound. Here, the Porter passes comment on the GCSE students in the audience, Tory MPs, and of course, Boris Johnson “and that mad woman with the…wallpaper!” With the play clocking in at two hours and 45 minutes (not including the interval), this feels like an indulgence that is entirely unnecessary and jars completely with the rest of the production.

This is felt in other aspects, too – there are what appear to be elements of old Scottish folklore weaved throughout and showcased through the costumes, and the interactions with the witches in particular, but these rub uncomfortably up against more modern aspects, including ugly trainers and characters running around in plastic raincoats alongside companions in furs and capes. The use of a gold curtain in later scenes to dictate the Macbeths’ castle feels too basic when coupled with electric lights and more modern elements, and these scenes in particular could have used stronger dressing to give them more structure when compared with the wild expanse of the moors. Julia Cheng’s movement and Kaitlin Howard’s fight choreography work well, particularly in the scenes with the witches and the final battle scene at Dunsinane. Macbeth and Macduff’s final confrontation is scrappy, desperate and dirty, culminating in a brutal bludgeoning – although this is largely hidden behind a curtain of black tassels, the noise sounding too far away from the audience to be truly involving.

Ultimately, this is a Macbeth that doesn’t know what it wants to be – does it want to be modern, or steeped in Scottish folklore and more supernatural, otherworldly elements? Does it want the audience to be horrified by the Macbeths’ awful acts of ambition, or laughing about our ex-PM? This is a confusing mishmash of a production, which feels like it’s had a lot thrown at it to try and make it ‘different’, but the end result truly leaves a lot to be desired.

Runs until 14 October 2023