BSF's "MacBeth": Creepy, Cool and Exhilarating

◊◊◊◊ 1/2 out of five.

"Something wicked this way comes" says one of the witches in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of MacBeth (sic), which opened last weekend at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival's outdoor theatre space at the Evergreen House.  Boy, she wasn't kidding, either!  This is one wicked show.  Under Tony Tsendeas' tight, thrilling direction, this isn't your high school English teacher's version of a beloved classic.  It is a thrilling, ultra-cool, sleek, sexy, and shocking production.  This industrial/goth/extreme sports presentation admittedly won't be for everyone, but if you let yourself go with it, this Macbeth is a thrill ride and horror film all at once.

From top to bottom, this fierce production is firing on all cylinders.  Tsendeas and his creative staff have created a highly stylized, fully compact realization of a vibrant concept.  Set in what best may be described as an industrial wasteland, designed by Bob Marietta, the nasty, violent environment of Scotland is hinted at, (with cinderblocks, industrial strength plastic and metal/wooden beams) but never overwhelms the production.  The same can be said about Norah Worthington's costumes, a beguiling mix metallic and leather-like fabrics, mixed with embellished extreme sports padding.  You can tell the good guys from the bad, but like the play (and this concept) suggests, the costumes let us know that the line between the two is perilously thin at best.  The one misstep is the porter's costume which includes a popular brand of tennis shoe that sticks out for its lack of generic style.  Otherwise, the costumes really point up the themes - they are sleek, violent, dark, brooding, and have a seriously sexual under current.  (One of Lady Macbeth's costumes is somewhat revealing, and the musculature of the young male cast is almost overtly on display.  Adrienne Gieszl's lighting design, most visible in act two when the sun has set, is equally stark and yet quite moody.  The video design by Anthony Scimonelli adds a very creepy layer to the visual elements of the production, from a dripping blood to some chilling blinking eyes.  Brian Daniloski's sound design is wonderful - every single word is clear as a bell and he used some awesome effects to enhance certain passages.  His original music is enough to give you goose bumps, especially the fearsome breathing between scenes. 

The eighteen member cast is uniformly excellent, finding the perfect mix of Shakespearean acting excess with modern sensibility.  Even the smallest walk-on roles are expertly covered, with many players doing double or even more roles (one actor has the honor of playing five)!  And each actor creates such distinct personae that it is often difficult to realize that there isn't actually a cast of thirty or more!  Standouts in the smaller roles include all three of the witches - Diana Cherkas, Christine Demuth and Everyman regular Rosemary Knower - as well as the ever reliable (and versatile) Chris Graybill and Steve Polites, who offer intense performances as King Duncan and Ross, respectively.

 The larger supporting roles are no less superb.  Dana Whipkey's Banquo is a true tragic hero.  You swell with his bravado in war and are saddened by his untimely and bloody end.  However, it is as the silent Ghost of Banquo, interestingly enough, that Whipkey really delights - it is no wonder that he sends Macbeth to the brink of insanity.  Robb Hunter as the other tragic hero of this tale, MacDuff is the anti-Macbeth in every way.  He is a much younger Macduff than normally cast.  Here, he is not a contemporary of Macbeth which adds an interesting layer to the split between the former friends, and makes the loss of his similarly youthful family all the more moving.  A fearsome combination of machismo and male athleticism, Hunter also adds to the sexual under current that pervades many levels of this production.  (Mr. Hunter also is listed as the fight director, and he has choreographed some visually stunning battle scenes, using a variety of rather nasty looking weapons of individual destruction, and some really nifty slow motion effects.) 

Susan Rome's Lady Macbeth is a boiling cauldron of lusty sexuality - her kisses are passionate and animalistic, and she struts about the stage with a look of desire and savage greed.  This interpretation may not sound all that new - a Lady Macbeth driven by the exhilaration of power and greed, tempered by the insanity of profound guilt - but trust me, Ms. Rome's take on the whole thing is fresh as newly minted money and literally hair-raising.  Most beautifully, she manages to give the audience reason to feel just the tiniest bit sorry for her as she sleep walks looking for relief from the blood that never disappears from her hands.  One can only imagine what she could do with Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd! 

Finally, Conrad Feininger's Macbeth is a little unsettling at first.  He seems reluctant to take on the prophecies of the witches, but settles in once the first prediction comes true.  It is when he becomes almost savagely addicted that we see a man intoxicated by power, fiending for more.  Power is his drug and it is a monkey on his back that he will never be rid of.  His final confrontation with Macduff is heady stuff, indeed.  It is a wonder to watch Feininger go from being sure that "man not born of woman" can't happen to the shock of realizing Macduff himself was "untimely ripped" from the womb, then melting in horror as he realizes, too late, that his end is near.  It is a very quick moment, but Feininger lets us briefly see his regret before plunging into one final, bloody slash at his old friend, now enemy. 

As I said, this Macbeth might not be for everyone, but it is rare to see such a finely executed, fully realized modern concept imposed on one of literature's greatest plays.  Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes this exciting twist on an old classic.

 

PHOTO: Conrad Feininger and Susan Rome in The Tragedy of MacBeth, courtesy of The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival.

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