Tag Archives: Mary Swan

Macbeth

Macbeth
★★★½

Jacksons Lane

Macbeth

Macbeth

Jacksons Lane

Reviewed – 21st March 2019

★★★½

 

“Macbeth is at its greatest when it takes these audacious liberties with the source material”

 

Directed by Mary Swan, the Proteus Theatre Company’s version of ‘the Scottish play’ is boldly set in the City in October 1987 just as Black Monday sent financial markets reeling into chaos.

The action takes place in snappy suits, with cocaine snorted off glass tables and dialogue barked into office telephones. The production picks up on the themes of corporate greed and ambition that famously characterise that era. I would have liked them to have done much more with this notion and fully explore those ideas, but the stock exchange context provides a visual backdrop rather than an integral, driving element in how the story unfolds.

A cast of just five actors ambitiously take on all the major parts. Macbeth himself is played by Riz Meedin, who if anything seems a little too casual and unruffled in his delivery to truly carry off the complexity of the role. There’s something missing – an intensity, perhaps. Danny Charles ably tackles Duncan, MacDuff and Lennox, while Umar Butt is fairly solid as Banquo. But all three males are often upstaged by the two female leads. Alexandra Afryea is especially strong as Lady Macbeth and the scene in which she sleepwalks, visibly tormented by her deeds, is perhaps the most memorable of them all. Meanwhile, Jessica Andrade proves herself hugely versatile as Malcolm, Lady MacDuff, the doctor and one of the witches.

It was an inspired choice to play 1980s pop and new-wave music over the sound system between scenes. Bursts of Bronski Beat, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Eurythmics, Japan, Joy Division and The Smiths are highly effective. Better still is the wonderful surprise moment near the beginning when the cast suddenly start moving in time to the stark drum-machine mechanics of ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order. It’s both funny and startling. A later scene, just as powerful, has Jessica Andrade lip-syncing to Prince’s ‘Sign o’ the Times’. Macbeth is at its greatest when it takes these audacious liberties with the source material – those brief instances when it veers off into almost surreal interpretation and embraces the worlds of dance and mime. It’s less successful at delivering the primary narrative. Despite a running time of more than two hours, much of the plot progression felt rushed and disjointed. It’s perhaps inevitable that large chunks of Shakespeare’s writing need to be done away with in any modern adaptation, but it sometimes seemed that these edits were made at the expense of logic or clarity. If you are already familiar with the play in its entirety, though, you’ll find that there’s plenty to enjoy here.

 

Reviewed by Stephen Fall

Photography by Pamela Raith

 


Macbeth

Jacksons Lane

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads | ★★★ | March 2018
La Traviata | ★★★★ | May 2018
Intronauts | ★★★½ | January 2019

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

 

Pinocchio
★★

Albany Theatre

Pinocchio

Pinocchio

Albany Theatre

Reviewed – 4th December 2018

★★

“some brief glimmers of brilliance … but ultimately it feels, well – wooden”

 

Pinocchio, as Disney have proved, is ripe with material that modern audiences of children can enjoy and learn from. This new adaptation, written by Mary Swan and directed by Kaveh Rahnama, unfortunately features hackneyed lessons and little that entertains in a disappointingly slow and low-energy affair.

The story follows the original fairly closely as we see Pinocchio (Floria Da Silva) as a puppet come to life, eager to please his creator Gepetto (Umar Butt), but also easily misled by the conniving Cat (Ed Stephen) and Fox (Rosie Rowlands). However, this adaptation sees a few beloved aspects ignored, such as Pinocchio’s nose growing when he lies, which features only once and very briefly. As a result, the lessons and morals about responsibility and honesty woven into the fabric of the original story feel like they’ve unnecessarily been ripped out. In their place, this script tries to explore themes of parenthood and specifically being a single parent, but the differing intent of the source material makes the moments that focus on these concepts feel inorganic and cumbersome.

Unfortunately, the clunkiness also bleeds through into the telling of the story. Rahnama has tried to incorporate acrobatics and circus elements into the performance, but they fail to come across as story – or character-driven, and instead as an attempt to gloss over the cracks in the plot with gimmicks. This happens too with set and props, as ideas are introduced and then discarded almost instantly; the use of a huge sheet as the ocean, for example, could have made for a visually stimulating sequence but instead is just scenery to an otherwise static and uninspired moment.

The most crucial litmus test of a children’s show, however, is of course the children’s reaction, and unfortunately they seemed restless and uninterested. Many of the jokes and ‘showstopping’ acrobatic moments were met with silence, and the uncomfortable pauses where the actors were expecting laughter or applause dampened the energy greatly, and brought the momentum of the show to a crawl. Pinocchio features some brief glimmers of brilliance, especially in moments in the last section of the show involving shadow puppets and bubbles, and certain performances such as Rowlands’ as Fox desperately try to inject life into the show, but ultimately it feels, well – wooden.

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Liam Croucher

 

Albany Deptford

Pinocchio

Albany Theatre until 29th December

 

Other shows reviewed by Tom Francis:
A Very Very Very Dark Matter | ★★★★ | Bridge Theatre | October 2018
Canoe | ★★★½ | King’s Head Theatre | October 2018
Dangerous Giant Animals | ★★★ | Park Theatre | October 2018
Say my Name | ★★★★ | Theatre N16 | October 2018
Stick Man | ★★★½ | Leicester Square Theatre | October 2018
The Art of Gaman | ★★★★ | Theatre503 | October 2018
The Gap | ★★★★ | Bread & Roses Theatre | October 2018
Timeless | ★★★ | Theatre N16 | October 2018
Welcome to the Big Top | ★★★★ | Live At Zédel | October 2018
Brat Kids Carnival | ★★★½ | Christmas In Leicester Square | November 2018
Chutney | ★★★ | The Bunker | November 2018
Motherhood or Madness | ★★★ | Katzpace Studio Theatre | November 2018

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com