The Scottish Play

Wednesday night, I went to see Canadian Stage's Macbeth. This is a year of firsts for the long-running Shakespeare in High Park: A repertory season (Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew), and a collaboration with York University's MFA program.

Access to a larger group of production people was immediately apparent in the staging. Multi-level stairs, platforms, soaring girders, balustrades, and rustic doors evoked the feel of a massive medieval castle. But the play started a little silly for me: Macbeth led his men to battle before the first scene. With the group trotting in place, simulating horse-riding, and the inarticulate screams and deaths, it was like Monty Python meets Game of Thrones. Luckily, the rest of the performance went much better.

The strongest actors were Hugh Thompson as a burly, thick-armed Macbeth, Ryan Hollyman as a righteous MacDuff, and Phillippa Domville as a stylish, Beverley Hills-esque Lady Macbeth. They all inhabited the roles and especially the words, though Thompson at times seemed a touch diffident, belying his powerful physicality. The other actors were competent, though now and then they recited their lines in sing-song patter instead of forthright realism.

This staging was loading with effects, some more successful than others. The witches appeared cloaked in red, their faces painted white. They spoke their lines in staggered triplicates, making even risible (to modern ears) passages like "eye of newt" sound other-worldly. The director loved putting the other actors in slow motion movement while a character speaks aside or in a soliloquy, then resuming "normal" speed. This worked best when Macbeth invited Duncan into his home while pondering murderous thoughts. But it seemed gimmicky after the 4th time. Perhaps influenced by HBO's Game Of Thrones, this was a violent staging with fights and murders lovingly choreographed.