Monday, April 29, 2024

Weekly Margin 2024, W17: Macbeth (an undoing)

4/25/24: Macbeth (an undoing)
What: TFANA and Rose Theatre, London present Zinnie Harris's new adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy which reexamines Lady Macbeth's arc as well as the influence of the weird sisters. 
And? The production makes a strategic error by backloading all its most interesting choices to the second act (a friend of mine left at intermission). The first act is still mostly Macbeth, with a few additions that add flavor but not a lot of substance. And there's entirely too much air in it for the stakes to feel real. As act two develops, we start to see more of the Lady M lens with some inversion of the madness between her and her husband, but there remains a substantial muddiness in the rules of the play, so that some sudden fourth-wall breaks and story awareness feel unearned and ungrounded. I don't regret seeing it, but it's not a must-see.

Nicole Cooper as Lady Macbeth. Photo by Ellie Kurttz.


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