Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

A Toss of an Apple, A Flick of a Wrist

If only this was the last blog post of the semester, I would have come full circle as my second post this year was about the Queens College Drama Department’s production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But alas, this is not my last blog for you all to read before May 25th (when I move out of my dorm). That being said, seeing Macbeth yet again has made me realize that it has been the only Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen, and THREE TIMES at that!

I thought that since I’ve already written about the basic plot of “The Scottish Play,” and because it’s easy enough to google “Synopsis of Macbeth,” I’d focus more on this specific National Theatre of Scotland’s production featuring the talent of Alan Cumming. Something I find very interesting is that the two performances I’ve seen of the Shakespeare play this year have been very non-traditional – the first being an interactive piece taking place during a zombie apocalypse, and this one being practically a one-man show set in an insane asylum. If anything, I think this shows how versatile Shakespeare’s plays really are, especially Macbeth, which Playbill deems “Shakespeare’s most popular play” and “one of the greatest tragedies ever written.”

Now, one might be wondering, the characters in this play are easy to mix up – Macbeth, Macduff, Malcom… all starting with M’s! If one man is to play all three (as well as rest of the list of characters), how is one to tell the difference? I must be honest, at the beginning it might have been a bit difficult to differentiate the roles, but as the play progressed, it was easy to tell what Cumming was doing to delineate between characters. First of all, he used different accents throughout the entire performance – so those who are worried about seeing a play put on with a heavy Scottish accent need not fret! And now, to list a few characters and the traits Cumming gives them:

Banquo is a tough, burly man, who frequently tosses an apple in his hand, but rarely eats of the fruit.

Lady Macbeth is a very sensual woman, frequently using her body to persuade Macbeth to “be a man.” She also tends to flick her wrist in a feminine manner. In one scene, after emerging out of the bath, Cumming differentiates between Lady and Lord with his towel: he covers his chest when speaking as the Lady, but lets down the towel when speaking as Lord.

Duncan is the king, as many know, but instead of depicting this character as a strong ruler, Cumming makes him more of what I would call a Louis XV king – effeminate, frail, and quite immature.

Malcom, Duncan’s son and heir to the throne, is one of the only characters that Cumming doesn’t totally take on with his own body. He uses a small baby doll found in his room to portray Malcom, even adding a high squeaky voice to depict his age. At the end of the performance when taking his bows, Cumming even had little Malcom nod his head in acknowledgment!

The Weird Sisters are the witches who, at the beginning, tell Macbeth that he will be king. This is where the set comes in cleverly, as three television monitors at the top of the proscenium light up and show Cumming from three different angles portraying the three witches.

Macduff, beware of Macduff! Cumming uses a brown blanket, thrown over his shoulders, to show the character of Macduff.

There are several other characters throughout the play, but as they are not main characters, Cumming either portrays them with different accents, or by using props around the room. He uses the mirror over the sink to talk to his servants, and he uses a small, children’s sweater to portray one of Macduff’s children. A wheelchair is used as a throne, upon which Duncan, Macbeth, his wife, and later Malcom sit.

How does Cumming kill off his characters, though? He can’t just slit his own throat – then the show would be over, for good! All the characters are killed behind closed doors. Duncan is killed behind a hospital screen, and Banquo is symbolically killed as Cumming takes a bite of the apple he so frequently tossed. Macbeth is the one character that Cumming actually murders in front of the audience. He goes into the bathtub, filled with actual water, and drowns himself. If one didn’t know that the ending of Macbeth doesn’t just encompass his death, but the coronation of the new king, one might start the applause right there, as the TV monitors show Cumming’s face submerged under water (for quite a long time!). My mother, next to me, told me she was holding her breath for the entire duration of this drowning!

One must remember, though, that as Cumming is playing all of these different Shakespearean characters, he is also playing a severely deranged loon in an asylum. Before when I mentioned this was “practically” a one-man show, I hesitated only slightly because there were two other actors on stage who had some lines but were there mostly as doctors administering to the patient. They did take on some roles – as the ghost of Banquo and as Lady Macbeth’s servants. There was a viewing window at the back of the stage where these doctors were able to observe their ward, often giving Cumming someone to speak and react to. I think their most important roles were as silent doctors. As someone who has seen a lot of Macbeth productions, I still can’t find the same emotion and passion behind Shakespearean roles as I can with other, more contemporary characters. Because of this I thought the most moving scenes were those between the Shakespearean action, those that depicted the true “character behind the characters.” The music, by Max Richter, delineated these short snippets from the rest of the play, making them all the more deep and emotional. When Cumming cried as the patient, and when he curled up on his bed – these were the rawest moments of the entire production. The doctors, silent yet caring, added to the vulnerability that Cumming showed through his body language.

Overall, I think that the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Macbeth, directed by John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg, did a great job coming up with a new twist on the old tragedy. It is always exciting to see how people re-work old plays to appeal to new audiences. The performance was awarded the largest standing ovation I have ever seen, as Cumming took his bows three times, with no dwindling of screaming, whistling, and clapping. When the lights went out, people could not wait to jump out of their seats. Often times standing ovations look like a “wave” – a couple people stand up, and through peer pressure, the rest of the audience follows suit. This ovation, however, was no wave, and the audience just jumped up like a Jack in the Box! This production is a limited engagement and closes in late June, so anyone who wants to see it must do so soon!

Macbeth
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
April 13, 2013

Marina B. Nebro