THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Tobore Azukaneme and Ellie Pink charmed and chilled us in equal measure. Throughout the play, the music, varied and mysterious, added to the tension of the drama, and enhanced the excellent ensemble playing going on between the scenes. But the ultimate success of any production always falls on the two leading characters: Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Here, Louis Rudnicki and Megan Basham led us through the play with insight and confidence. Louis Rudnicki (a dead ringer for a young James McAvoy) laid bare the unravelling of Macbeth’s ‘charmèd’ life with a mercurial glint in his eye and a fearless stalking of the in-the-round space. Meg Basham’s steely temptress was an equally commanding presence, and the pair created real on-stage chemistry. Their first meeting is one of the play’s most exciting moments. Having them both on stage when the letter was read certainly gave us a sense of their strong bond, but shouldn’t we have been able to focus fully on Lady Macbeth, and her reaction to the letter, until her husband’s arrival? But this is a trifling objection in such an assured production. At the mercy of forces beyond his control Macbeth is overtaken by his guilt, and Rudnicki gave us real existential angst as he hurtled towards the stillness of his ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’, terrifying in its acknowledgement of all the futility and emptiness that lies within.
Dark delights Senior production: Macbeth
Many of the actors gave performances of great strength which belied their youthfulness. The tricky scene between Lennox (Ben Potter) and the unnamed Lord (Edward Cook) was beautifully played. Lolly Whitney Low’s take on Malcolm was original, but also true, vital and somehow contemporary; the joking Porter (Darshy Whittington-Rao) and the concerned Physician (Lily-Rose Wallace) both gave mature performances of pinpoint accuracy, as did the whole Macduff family. Justine Cordery as Lady Macduff was wonderfully strong and forthright in her anger at her husband’s absence, leaving her family in such danger. Monty Slater gave us maturity and heartbroken remorse as all the ‘horror, horror horror’ piled up. The children were wise beyond their years and so very touching. Plaudits must go to Junior School boys Ridley Brown and Freddie Brown for such assured performances on the Edward Alleyn stage – they absolutely held their own in a senior production. The stunning costumes, designed by Sophia Pardon, complemented the versatile and transformative set and rich, textured lighting, while the contemporary and evocative underscore chilled and thrilled in equal measure. The opening of the second half, with its sharp-suited sumptuous monochrome couture, bejewelled with blood-red crystal goblets, perfectly captured the Macbeths in all their hubris. With a pervading atmosphere of menace and jeopardy, we were held in our seats, intent on the progress of this thriller; the production was utterly captivating and affecting from start to finish. All in all, it was a tremendous achievement.
DRAMA
A terrifying vision of futility and emptiness was laid open in this compelling production of the Scottish Play, say Giles Block (OA), Head of Text at Shakespeare’s Globe, and actress Penelope Beaumont
M acbeth is a tricky play. While on the page it appears beyond compare, it all too often fails on the stage. Peter Jolly and Kathryn Norton- Smith’s production in the Edward Alleyn Theatre, however, gripped us from the very beginning. This charged and intimate production of Shakespeare’s darkest and most atmospheric play was visually stunning. The young cast delivered the dialogue as if it had been written yesterday, offering a lucid clarity to those being introduced to the play for the first time, as well as a thrilling shot-in-the-arm freshness to those thinking they didn’t need to see another Scottish Play. From the moment when, illuminated by a stark ghostly light, the battle-drenched Macbeth is hoisted aloft like a victorious 1st XV player, we knew we were going to be engulfed by the action. We took our seats beside the snow-covered field, under which could be seen the outlines of bodies: a grisly glimpse into the reality of war? As the bodies melted into air, the Weird Sisters chanted their sinister spells. The clever use – and excellent execution – of movement gave us just the right level of the occult. The goddess of witchcraft, Hecate (Izzy Logan), is usually cut. To have included her in the final Weird Sisters’ scene felt absolutely right. The sinewy feral movement (much of it steered by Catherine Ibbotson) of the trio of Dan Davies,
The clever use – and excellent execution – of movement gave us just the right level of the occult
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