Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Glenn Elston
There’s something magical that happens when open-air theatre can use the changing evening light to its best advantage. That’s particularly true for Shakespeare plays, which tend to front-load any comedic elements to the front when the skies are light, ensuring that the black of night has fallen before the blood and guts come to the fore.
That’s not quite true for Macbeth, though, which has a tendency for dourness and tension from the off. For Australian Shakespeare Company’s production, playing in the grounds of Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens, this is compensated for by dousing early scenes with copious amounts of artificial haze. Not only does this allow for the wooden stage to convey the sense of a blasted heath, but also for fingers of light to pierce through as the sun sets behind the stage.
That heralds a production which feels about as traditional as one could get, notwithstanding attempts from director Glenn Elston and musical director Paul Norton to turn some of the witches’ incantations into half-spoken musical numbers. Everything tends to lean towards the traditional in a production that captures the events of Shakespeare’s tale of Scottish royalty while rarely puncturing its emotion.
Hugh Sexton’s Macbeth is gruff and forceful from the off, which emphasises his place in the hierarchy of Scottish nobility as its most charismatic and respected of army generals. But it also renders the character’s soliloquies less as internal turmoil at the prophecies that predict he will become king, and more as an actor intoning passages that he has to get through.
Sexton is able to leverage his character’s relationships to show some depth to the character, helped by performances from Johnny Light as Banquo and, especially, Nicole Nabout’s Lady Macbeth. It is in those interactions that we see the elements of a good and wise leader that must be sacrificed at the altar of ambition.
Even then, Dave Angelico’s set design reinforces the feeling that this is a lower-level Shakespearean production. The omnipresent castle set feels flat and uninspired. That is, until a later scene when, as Macbeth revisits the witches and receives a vision of Banquo’s descendants as a royal lineage, the castle revolves to show a far more interesting structure. A shame, then, that when the vision is over, the castle returns to its staid frontage for the rest of the show.
In a play that has little scope for lightness, Oliver Byng makes the most of his scene as the Porter, allowing for a little ad libbing and audience interplay. Another bright spot comes with the introduction of Macduff. Jackson McGovern has a handle on the role that combines a deep understanding of the text with a charismatic performance that is missing elsewhere. While his character really only features in the play’s final third, McGovern makes us believe that we have always known Macduff.
Other portions of this production show some of the potential this company possesses. The moment in which Light’s Banquo emerges from the witches’ cauldron dripping in blood perfectly demonstrates the play’s capability to be played for its horror value. In addition, the final act’s swordplay is genuinely thrilling thanks to some impressive fight choreography by Scott Jackson.
But with the play’s bloody conclusion comes a sense that while this is a competent retelling of the Scottish Play, it is little more than that. Its reverence to the play’s text is admirable, but it comes at the expense of Macbeth’s ability to explore the fatal cost of ambition.
Continues until 31 August 2025
