A Maelstrom of Murder, Madness, Chaos & Comedy
Buckle up for this eighty-minute performance of Macbeth, because there are no breaks on this murder train.
This rendition of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is performed by Out of Chaos, and I could not think of a more apt company name for this show. With only two actors playing every role in this abridged interpretation, I was certainly set to expect utter chaos. But, to their credit, the team had clearly prepared for easing the audience into this dynamic.
Entering the theatre, we are greeted by a single red light casting an eerie glow on stage, with ‘Tudor’ style music playing. Though the prelude is at odds with the rest of the more modern sounding underscore. The play starts with a jolt and instantly onstage are the three (two) witches, the use of reverb and crackling through the speakers greatly assisting the macabre prologue. We are introduced from the get-go on how we will keep track of characters, with the actors announcing “Enter (character name)” and showing where that character is stood on stage or a specific mannerism. After the first few of these, you quickly accept this choice and find it does not pull focus from the show. This certainly gives us the tangibility needed in scenes, as things can move at maddening speeds throughout.
Hannah Barrie was a beautiful ball of insanity and spontaneity to watch, her frantic and fraught Lady Macbeth balancing well with Paul Mahony’s stoic and grim Macbeth. Their push/pull, of fighting/supporting each other, justifies their accelerating spiral out of control. The paranoia of Macbeth is explored with excellence and is furthered with ‘The Murderer’. Keeping him in shadow and mimicking Macbeth’s movements, it gave the impression our protagonist was talking to his own reflection rather than another person. This presented his descent into madness in a more subtle and intriguing manner to the more overt sections. Their performance of Donalbain and Malcom was an adorable duo to watch, though this made it a challenge to portray their more war like mentality in the climax of the play. The pair’s transitions between characters were a joy if absurd to watch, especially when one actor would end up having a conversation with themselves.
What was a fresh take for this show, was a deeper exploration of comedy within the performance. Tongue in cheek asides and audience participation were a frequent occurrence that left me chuckling each time. Though this causes a dissonance with the darker themes of the play, it certainly gives the audience a nice momentary pause between scenes. The play is a quickly building storm and with only a short time to cover it all, these moments gave us time to breath. Hannah’s portrayal of Seyton, being an amalgamation of multiple roles, took on The Porter. Traditionally one of the few moments of comic relief, their departure from the text for this scene felt disconnected from the rest of the true-to-script show. This may be due to the traditional humour not landing with a modern audience.
The only real issue with a shorter version of the play and so many roles covered by two actors, is that there isn’t time to explore the characters in-depth. Macduff felt stilted, having portrayed a perfectly heartrending moment hearing the death of his family to when we see him next, where he is oddly level-headed against Macbeth.
Overall, the show successfully retold the beloved play and held strong to the themes of darkness, horror and mysticism, sprinkling in light-hearted moments and some excellent deathly silences. There are so many more things I would love to comment on, but in summary; I was impressed with the show and would thoroughly recommend any and all to go, though if you don’t like being picked on by actors, avoid the front few rows.