Macbeth: the Scottish play that sends shivers up the spine of any seasoned Edinburgh Fringe goer. Overdone and often badly done at that, Macbeth has the perennial appeal for theatre companies searching for something “new” to bring to Shakespeare. With all male casts, all female casts, modern and Ye Olde version abound, the play has been reworked, rewritten and reproduced in many forms, but with few stand-out performances.
Despite its ill-treatment at the hands of many, Macbeth is amongst the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays: an examination of the human ability to override our reason through the power of reason and logical persuasion, it is a gripping and chilling drama of one man’s drive to fulfil his destiny at whatever cost. Infinitely quotable, the drama is as compelling and terrible today as it would have appeared to the Jacobean audience it was written to entertain. Capturing the sheer human brutality of the play’s characters is a difficult task for a full cast, and yet Alan Cumming, alone and near-naked on the stage, does just that.
Set within a dystopian mental institution cell, Cumming takes the audience deep within the play’s theme of psychological ruin. Taking on all the major roles of the play, Cumming is at once a wretching and perverted hag, the torn and exhausted soldier Macbeth, and his sensual and poisonous Lady. Swiftly switching between each character’s unique personality and mannerism, Cumming brings a life and phsyciality to the action that is often lacking from a full ensemble cast performance. Each line and action had purpose and significance, lending the performance a depth that is rare in such a popular Shakespearean production.
Courtesy of alancumming.com.
Terrifying and strangely sensuous at times, Cumming’s physical presence on stage is captivating and compelling. Demonstrating his brilliant ability as an actor, the audience is drawn to Cumming’s lone figure on the stage, giving the performance an intensity that only adds to the terror of the play itself. As the audience views the mental breakdown playing out in gory and graphic detail in front of them, you are moved to pity the poor blood-stained figure of Macbeth, bringing the play’s redemptive conclusion a unique sense of catharsis.
An unnerving and beautiful production, Alan Cumming’s Macbeth brings the play’s physical and brutal reality to life. Soon to begin a run at the Lincoln Centre Fesitval, the performance is a veritable tour de force. I have never seen an audience stand so quickly to give a standing ovation to a performance of this kind: do not dismiss this as yet anothyer version of a classic drama: Cumming’s performance will challenge the audience as much as it will captivate the heart.
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