Bursting with style; lacking in substance
Moonhawk Theatre company, founded by director Leon Witcombe, seek to make provocative theatre which parallels the present day political landscape with uncomfortable proximity. Their Macbeth, premiering at the Burton Taylor Studio, simmered with shocking spectacle and suitably hideous caricatures of past and present far right leaders. An oppressive soundscape composed by Darren Fellerdale underscores the performance, situating us in an atmosphere of heightened sensory intensity and unrelenting pace. However, while the company were successful in committing to Witcombe’s ambition of pushing a spectacle as far as it will go, not enough consideration was given to how these spectacles served Shakespeare’s words or Moonhawk’s production as a whole.
In lieu of the well-known witches prophecy conventionally opening the play, Lady Macbeth (Laura King) stalked onstage and played a videotape, consisting of harsh noise and blurred visuals projected onto the backdrop. Witcombe’s choice to task Lady Macbeth with establishing the witches’ presence had strong potential, referencing an exciting school of thought that identifies her as a ‘fourth witch’, or significant instigating force of fate and action within the play. However this was not developed, rather Lady Macbeth was painted a victim, repeatedly sexually violated by both Macbeth and King Duncan. In her final scene, Lady Macbeth was dressed in a silk white slip dress, the only costume change which deviated from an ensemble of striking black costumes, making an unmissable attempt to absolve the Queen of complicity in the play’s murderous action. Her suicide, arguably her largest decision of all, occured quickly, quietly, and out of sight, contrary to the several graphic and amplified instances of violence and death within the performance. This solidified an interpretation of her character which underplayed her agency. King’s performance, though elegant and accomplished, featured monologues that felt rushed and lacking intention, which I feel was owed to her character’s underdeveloped and convoluted purpose within Witcombe’s vision.
As King Duncan’s minions planted ticking bombs among the audience, Moonhawk’s Macbeth announced itself as playing with pace and power. I was struck by the boldness of such a visual in the context of present global politics, and intrigued to see how such emotionally live references would be metabolised throughout the production. In emphasising the presence of drugs, alcohol, desire and excess in all characterisation, a clear message of power as itself a destructive drug came through. Soundscape snippets and gestures referencing Hitler and Trump alongside Ambrose Hogan’s truly repulsive depiction of King Duncan as a perverse Epstein-like figure amplified this message with political resonance.
Yet the performance fell into a rhythm of repeated violence, sex-club montages and aggressive masculine ego-battles until the delivery of this point began to feel repetitive. Moonhawk’s stage combat and physical theatre was well choreographed and confidently delivered, however these moments were overused, and not grounded in plot development. This risked the physical montages bordering on comedy, since the extravagant spectacles were not given time to land. Pace was built through swift action and hurtling through speech, rather than looking to Shakespeare’s masterful iambic for rhythm – as such, several of the play’s most iconic moments fell a little flat. A heavy-handed inclusion of expletives and adlibs furthered this – it often felt like Shakespeare’s words were the final thing to be considered in a long list of SFX and experimental techniques, with delivery bordering on monotony or having to fight against the soundscape. Though the performance was aesthetically striking, this was at the detriment of its emotional beats. While the soundscape attempted to drive pace with a pulsing heartbeat motif, my own heartbeat was unfortunately not roused to match it.
Macbeth’s stronger moments were its simpler ones, with striped-back duologues between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth most effectively summoning tension. Similarly, including a comedic observation made by the Porter (Geraldine Hodson) that alcohol degrades man added effective depth to the presentation of those in power as hedonistic drunkards. Alex Jenkin’s portrayal of Nickduff offered the most compelling character arc, depicting a scorned mother descending into a vengeful, insatiable rage. This crossgender casting offered an interesting dimension to the depiction of masculine violence, and Nickduff’s grief after the brutal murder of her wife and children was one of few moments given enough time to successfully land.
Macbeth states that life is ‘Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’ – Moonhawk’s production takes this claim and runs with it. While their Macbeth is successful in delivering a fierce audiovisual onslaught, I daresay Shakespeare’s interrogation of guilt, complicity, and destructive ambition endeavoured to leave us with a little more.
Reviewed by Ella Thornburn on 22/07/26