Review,
National Radio
31 May 2004
By
FRANCES EDMOND
Lyn Freeman: First though, we review Michael Hurst's new
production, Macbeth, in Auckland. Joining me with her views is
our critic Frances Edmond. Hi, Frances.
Frances
Edmond: Hi, Lyn. How are you?
LF:
I'm very good, thank you.
Now
Michael Hurst is turning into something of our very own Kenneth
Branagh. He loves The Bard and he likes taking the lead roles.
What sort of fist does he make of Macbeth?
FE:
Ah, look, Macbeth is magnificient. I have to say unequivocally,
it's magnificent.
I
mean, Macbeth is such a dark and brutal play, you know, and it's
the one where . . . I mean of all the tragedies I guess I think
it's the one where there is no redemption for the hero at all.
But, you know, Michael does a . . . it's a clear, it's (an) intelligent
production, and he gives a very mature performance himself with
great depth and subtlety.
And
it's . . . look, I thought it was a really interesting interpretation
too, because the action, it's like played extremely pragmatically,
very controlled, almost kind of understated--I don't mean underplayed
but sort of understated. And it has the effect of making
the decline of the Macbeths into meaninglessness, madness and
death, you know, incredibly compelling--because it's so ordinary,
it sort of makes it really extraordinary.
And
the production has a kind of momentum that gives it a sort of
steady inevitability leading towards the sort of tragic end. And
the other thing that I thought, that you really get a very strong
sense from Michael's direction of two realities, you know--on
the one hand there's the kind of inner psychology of the Macbeth's,
and then on the other there's a kind of outer presentation to
the world, so it gives you a very psychological interpretation,
which makes it really quite contemporary, I think.
LF:
He's quite remarkable isn't he really. . . ?
FE:
Yeah, he is . . .
LF:
. . . as an actor and a director?
FE:
And also his performance. Like, I have to say it's a wonderful
performance, you know. He takes the audience on Macbeth's journey
from opportunist to nihilistic brute, and you get every emotional
turning point, you know, from the temptation through the doubts
through the wrestling with the conscience. You know, when
it gets to that really chilling point in the play, "I am
in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more returning
were as tedious as go o'er", you just know that he knows
that he's going down this path before him and there are going
to be no more doubts and there's no going back.
And
it's quite . . . it's very powerful. And you get to
the end, there's a man who has destroyed himself and the world
around him. Because, you know, because you get the sense
that he embarked upon evil and it became an end in itself and
then there is the darkness and that's all he knows and feels.
There's no kind of light or meaning left and it's sort of truly
dreadful.
LF:
Just quickly. We've mentioned Michael; anyone else stand
out for you in the cast?
FE:
Yeah, Macduff is fantastic. You know, he does that
really hard thing where you've got to suddenly pull grief from
the bottom of your being, you know, because his wife and children
have been murdered, and Benjamin Farry as Macduff is really good.
And
I must mention the witches. What he's done with the witches
is really interesting. They're played by Peta Rutter, Hannah
Gross and Kate Prior, and they're dressed as nurses so that they're
played with a kind of amoral efficiency. They're the sort
of nursemaids of the piece, you know. They're there as the sort
of facilitators of destiny and it has the effect of making the
production much more that Macbeth is in charge of his own destiny
rather than at the whim of a sort of malign fate. And I thought
it worked very well.
LF:
Well, there you go. Sounds like pretty much a 10 out of 10 from
you, Frances?
FE:
It does; it was a 10 out of 10.
LF:
Fantastic. Thank you, Frances Edmond, reviewing Macbeth which
is currently on at Auckland's Maidment Theatre.
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