We recently had the opportunity to see two productions of Macbeth in the course of less than one month. In February, we had the pleasure of taking in the Donmar Warehouse production starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, directed by Max Webster, and the ‘Macbeth the Show’ touring production starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, directed by Simon Godwin. This provided us an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast the choices and performances of two very distinct productions.
Possess them with the heaviest sound
Let’s start with the overall conceit for each. The Donmar production doubled-down on the enforced intimacy of that notoriously compact space by creating an almost individualised experience. Each audience member had to wear earphones to experience the ‘binaural’ soundscape, which really added to the atmosphere and made for a uniquely intimate vibe. The opening tableau was a metal bowl of water on a white platform that ultimately served as the stage (set designed by Rosanna Vize). There was a glass wall at the back behind which some action and most of the music took place, made possible or at least much more audible by the headphones. All cast members, with the exception of Cush Jumbo as Lady Macbeth, had essentially the same costume of grey jumper and black kilt with black boots. Lady Macbeth wore a white dress throughout. They also took Macduff’s line to ‘cut short all intermission’ to heart – the running time was just under 2 hours with no interval.
An older and a better soldier none
The ‘Macbeth the Show’ production has the opposite feel in terms of scope, by sheer virtue of taking over a massive warehouse. All audience members pass through what looks like a previous battle site to access their seats. The set itself, designed by Frankie Bradshaw, is traditional enough, with a multi-level building facade above the main action area. There are a few ‘stone’ steps up to the main stage, a portion of which are crumbling, presumably to illustrate that the cracks are there to begin with. The costumes in this production are entirely modern military fatigues, with Scots in green camouflage and eventually the English in blue camouflage. Again, the exceptions to this are the ladies, with Indira Varma’s Lady Macbeth appearing alternately in a pantsuit, a caped dress and crown for her coronation, and a white nightgown for her nighttime wanderings. This production had an interval, and ran 2 hours 30 minutes.
Acting it many ways
The Donmar production featured live musicians playing traditional celtic music, and this was cleverly incorporated with the other elements of the soundscape, all intricately interwoven by veteran sound designer Gareth Fry. In contrast, ‘the Show’ production had minimal music, just enough atmospheric sound to set the tone.
There are multiple apparitions in the text and the productions took diverse approaches to this. Both productions had Macbeth’s dagger hallucination as invisible, with Tennant and Fiennes both reacting to clear air. However, they diverged when it comes to the appearance of Banquo’s ghost at the coronation banquet. Tennant’s tortured tyrant once again was witnessed reacting to an empty chair. However, we watched Fiennes unravel at the sight of a bloodied Banquo (played by Steffan Rhodri) staggering through the auditorium. Later on, when Macbeth laments Banquo’s descendants taking and retaining the crown for generations, asking ‘What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?,’ the distinction between productions was striking. ‘The Show’ production showed a roving Macbeth haunted by shades of kings projected onto the walls behind him. This may have proved more effective on the other side of the house, but as the shades were projected from left to right across the stage as the speech went on, it took a little while for them to reach our side of the stage and therefore the scene fell a bit flat for us. By contrast, the Donmar production had Tennant stood in the centre with much of the remaining company circling him and exchanging a crown which they wore alternately in a very effective bit of choreography.
There is a moment just after the murder of Duncan when the Porter has a few brief lines of comic relief while admitting Macduff who ultimately discovers the murder. ‘The Show’ production dispenses with most of these lines which would have been amusing to audiences of the early 17th century, but now the sense of humour is mostly lost on modern audiences – it just sounds like Shakespeare to us. Rather than trot out the lines as written by the bard, the Donmar production takes a radical approach. They take a brief, comic interlude from the play, where the actor playing the porter breaks the fourth wall, interacting with the audience in a totally modern way, before jumping back in at the end of the porter’s speech. It was really effective, I remember thinking ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and it definitely made me laugh out loud.
The line readings of arguably the most famous speech from the play, ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ were both affecting despite being very different. Tennant took the speech very slowly, and his voice wavered suggesting imminent tears at the loss of his beloved wife. Fiennes took the speech much more quickly, and almost in an offhand manner as if fed up with the turn events are taking. His Macbeth hasn’t been right since the deed, whereas Tennant’s has put on a brave face at points.
One element both productions emphasised was Macduff’s reaction to learning his wife and children have been brutally murdered in ‘one fell swoop.’ Malcolm suggests that he must ‘dispute it like a man.’ Both the Donmar and ‘the Show’ placed particular emphasis on the retort of Macduff (played by Noof Ousellam and Ben Turner respectively): ‘I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man.’ Between this line and Macbeth’s evident frustration at the lack of remedy for mental ailments when Lady Macbeth is suffering (‘Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?’), it seems Shakespeare was ahead of his time.
Unsex Me Here
A few words about the women of Macbeth. Firstly, both productions produced formidable performances and both Cush Jumbo and Indira Varma broke our hearts as they made their way to the end. Indira Varma’s performance stands out to us because she really made us understand the motivations of this character from start to finish like we never have before, we’re grateful for the way she gave us a newfound appreciation of Lady Macbeth’s arc. Jumbo’s delivery of ‘What’s duncan not be undone’ will stick with us forever though (if it wasn’t clear before, Shakespeare is a genius).
The productions had very different approaches to the weird sisters, the three witches who prognosticate Macbeth’s doom. In the Donmar production they didn’t appear at all in physical form, they were embodied by sounds as part of the binaural soundscape which produced a very spooky effect. Ultimately we were glad to have them back, though, in ‘the Show’ production. They stalked the stage malevolently during the early scenes where the predictions are made and questioned. In an unusual turn, Godwin had them return for the latter stages as Macbeth meets his downfall, an uneasy presence, and ultimately the final tableau of the show has them sat on the stage weeping, as though astonished at the carnage they have wrought.
Ourself will mingle with society
We also had the opportunity to hear a talkback at the end of the Donmar production, which led to some fascinating takeaways. It wasn’t 100% clear until they all sat down in front of us that with the exception of Cush Jumbo, the entire company, including the live musicians, were Scottish and that this was an intentional decision. We learned about some of the ideas that informed the choices, particularly of the lead couple. The two key principles they built this production around were: 1) Macbeth himself is suffering PTSD from previous battles and 2) the Macbeths are still reeling from the death of a child which occurred in the recent past. I can’t say I had spotted these elements while watching the show, so I wish I could have had a second opportunity to really take them in.
In the talkback, there was also much discussion of the binaural soundscape and the live nature of it, how the sound operator was very much an additional member of the company. Additionally, the cast commented on how different the experience was of playing to a room of people in headphones: evidently audiences tended to cough less during this production (re-enforcing a long-held belief of ours that some theatrical coughs are performative!) and that if anything the laughter is louder, as though folks feel they can let themselves go a bit more.
The final takeaway came from star David Tennant, sporting a fabulous pink and green jumper, who in answering a question about if there were any previous productions of the Scottish play that loomed large in the memory, invoked the 1979 production starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, directed by Philip Casson and Trevor Nunn (and available to stream on Youtube). Tennant regaled us about a conversation he had with McKellen in the advent of the Donmar production. Putting on his best Gandalf impression, Tennant revealed McKellen had 4 pieces of advice:
1. no interval (Tennant agreed, nodding)
2. no actual dagger in the dagger scene (Tennant granted, no issue there)
3. no actual ghost in the ghost scene (Tennant concurred, they don’t have a ghost),
and… (Tennant held for suspense)
4. no kilts! (Tennant had to concede that they didn’t tick all of McKellen’s boxes).
His wonders and his praises do contend
Ultimately, both productions were excellent. If forced to choose we might have slightly preferred the Donmar production, possibly unfairly informed by the talkback. But Indira Varma’s performance is probably the most memorable for us so it’s really very close. And I feel I have given short shrift to Ralph Fiennes, who I often say I believe is one of the finest working actors we have today and his performance was very good.
David Tennant is nominated for an Olivier for Best Actor for his performance in this production, so we wish him the best of luck for the Olivier Awards on 14th April!
