THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By William Shakespeare
Dock X, Surrey Quays Rd, London SE16 7PJ until March 30, 2024. Then at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. April 9 to May 5, 2024
Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma triumph as the murderous Macbeths in this memorable production of Shakespeare’s iconic play. It’s been staged in three unique theater spaces; in Liverpool in November, in Edinburgh in January and now in Canada Water in London, before it heads off to Washington D.C.
Simon Godwin, a regular director on the London scene who is also Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C., has created a vibrant, pulsating, production that proves the maxim that if Hamlet is a play where thought overcomes action, then Macbeth is one where action overcomes thought. For Macbeth to work it must have pace. This one grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go till the end but crucially with no lack of narrative clarity, and not to the detriment of the poetry. This one could even have dispensed with the interval.
Fiennes, who is at the top of his game when it comes to the Bard, pulls off something special and even alters one’s preconceptions of the character. Typically, the emotional trajectory of the couple is downward but Fiennes shows that although Macbeth is a reluctant assassin, egged on by his wife’s vaulting ambition, the evil deeds here give him a backbone. Tyranny almost becomes him. In the dinner scene, after the disturbance of Banquo’s ghost he uses little comic ploys to distract the guests after his outburst, all to the relief of Lady Macbeth who has to ‘handle’ the situation. Fiennes draws out the many colors of this tortured man who is cursed with having too volatile an imagination in murderous times.
Frankie Bradshaw’s modern dress designs are spare and beautifully judged, down to the chic coffee set and golden goblets which scream ‘aspirational’. The costumes, from combats to dress uniforms, are perfect too with Indira Varma’s natural movie star attitude set off by a cloaked gown in striking green. We first see her in elegant trousers, very much the alpha female of today. She could be a media industry maven who’s set her sights on that big takeover. She whips her husband into shape, and after a brief struggle with his conscience, he finds he quite likes it. It’s a much more convincing trajectory for the couple than an ambivalent mug who’s led astray by his scheming wife.
The play has never been about the killing but rather what killing does to people and adaptor Emily Burns gets this. The Witches element is also cleverly handled. It’s not overstated, nor is it explained away by laboring it with some tagged-on modern relevance.
Supporting performances throughout are top class, with Ben Turner particularly moving as the bereaved Macduff and Jonathan Case making the small part of the attendant, Seyton his own.
The space, conveniently next to Canada Water tube station, allows audiences to breathe and mingle. Punters are led in though anterooms strewn with the detritus of modern war, although we’re spared the comparisons and the auditorium itself, with an apron stage, manages to combine both scale and intimacy.
Fiennes’ command of the poetry and his movie star swagger are great to behold, and Varma has never been better, a compliment considering she is always a standout.
This gripping staging is a great one to start off with for anyone wary of the Bard.
