Not Only Opera

Return to form: Macbeth at the Sam Wanamaker

Macbeth
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Upper Gallery C28, £10
13 December 2018
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On the way to the theatre I was pondering what madness had led me to book at the Sam Wanamaker again after the redeeming-feature-free All’s Well that Ends Well from last winter, after which I had sworn never to forgive. Macbeth, though, shows instead that one should never lose hope: this terrific production wrings all it can from the unusual space of the Sam Wanamaker and in the process achieves probably the finest Macbeth I have seen.

Unlike last week’s Antony and Cleopatra, in which the cast separated into the two stars and everyone else, there is an egalitarian-ness to the SWP Macbeth that is nothing short of a delight (in an appropriately dark and dreadful manner). The Macbeths, superbly played by Paul Ready and Michelle Terry, are still the main drivers but savvy-part doubling among the other roles means screentime is shared more evenly. This must be a deliberate step by director Robert Hastie: the very first thing we see is the drawing of lots for those who will play the witches, actors who later become Duncan, Malcolm and Macduff; later Banquo becomes the Doctor, and Lady Macduff Fleance; and all the cast are instrumental in creating the thrilling coups de théâtre that are the production’s fabric. As well as being visually more interesting than those productions that rest on a central pair, the emotional engagement is stronger too, bringing closer the havoc wrought by the Macbeths among their community.

Every player is on board with Hastie’s programme. There is a shared measure with which they speak the text, always clear, always poetic, laying out with beautiful and always audible simplicity the words and the drama. They are all expert in using this intimate space; when the volume comes up it is frightening and upsetting but never loses the text; when it goes down we lean in, eager but never straining. Though it is needless to single out any of the cast I would particularly praise Philip Cumbus as Banquo and Anna-Maria Nabirye as Macduff, alongside Terry and Ready, who use their voices with the control of singers.

Like the reading of the text, the music and lighting are perfectly tailored to and exploitative of the space. The SWP is a gift to musicians and composer Laura Moody creates a superbly atmospheric score for three female musicians, who wail and whisper to solemn bells. The score’s ingenuity is a grateful recovery from the recent trend for frantic house-music Macbeths. Meanwhile, Hastie and designer Peter McKintosh use all the tricks available to them within the palette of the SWP’s candlelit setting, It could even be considered a gimmick were it not so essential to the theatre and used so aptly. Standing in complete darkness, a merciless hammering on the outside walls, brought me the closest I’ve been to being frightened in theatre.

There are so many touches I hope to remember for a long time: the appearance of Banquo’s ghost, hidden among the dinner guests collected over his grace until he reveals his dreadful wounds; the creation of the three devils, invisible beings conjured through gruesome knocking under the stage; the horror of first Macduff and then Macbeth as they realize what has been lost forever. But these are all part of Hastie’s simple audacity in letting the play speak for itself, and giving it the most sympathetic surroundings that are achievable today. This is a Macbeth to treasure.