Reviewed by George Basler
A drum beats ominously. The stage is bathed in somber lighting. The set is stark and forbidding. An eerie tone dominates a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which is in the middle of a three-weekend run at Chenango River Theatre in Greene.
Inventive decisions by director Tarah Flanagan and a strong cast create a world where darkness prevails and evil has warped not only individuals but an entire society.
It’s a striking production that catches the essence of Shakespeare’s tragedy while also telling the story in a novel way. Instead of a large cast, only five actors perform the entire play. The adaptation is the work of Craig Johnson, a Minnesota-based actor and director, who has compressed the running time to two hours while retaining Shakespeare’s language.
Johnson’s approach means spectacle is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the play has an almost claustrophobic feeling as the action unfolds through a quickly paced two acts.
Macbeth, believed to have been written around 1606, has a lot of elements that will appeal to even non-Shakespeare fans. There are lurid witches, grisly murders, betrayals and fight scenes as Macbeth deteriorates from a brave and honorable general to a murderous tyrant.
The action begins when Macbeth encounters three witches who prophesize that he will be king. Flanagan stages the scene in a dim light with a spookiness that resembles a Gothic horror story and sets the tone for the dark doings ahead.
The prophecies poison Macbeth’s mind. Egged on by his cold-blooded wife, he commits a series of murders to grab the throne. He even kills his best friend and companion, Banquo. Guilt and madness follow.
Flanagan, as director, exhibits a clear vision on how to present the scaled-down version of the play. To keep the action straight, she and costume designer Barbara Kahl have the actors change small bits of clothing — hats, for example — as they change characters. It’s an imaginative approach that works most of the time although there are moments of confusion.
Most importantly, Flanagan precisely choreographed the five actors to keep the scene changes going at a rapid pace. She also added some touches, such as the ominous drumming, to heighten the dark mood. The muted lighting and set, designed by Julie Duro and Justin Hooper respectively, symbolize the evil that overwhelms Macbeth’s mind.
The Chenango River production features Zach Curtis, CRT’s departing artistic director, as Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is being played by Diana Coates, who has acted with the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and the Great River Shakespeare Company. The three other actors play all the remaining roles.
As Lady Macbeth, Coates effectively plays the character’s cold-blooded personality and growing desperation as she tries to cover her husband’s slide into guilt and madness during a banquet scene, which is a key moment in the play.
But Coates is most striking in the “Out, out damn spot” speech in Act II. She plays the character’s wild-eyed madness and pitiful murmurings with chilling force. The lighting in the scene adds to the emotional force.
The other three actors — Jonathan Contreras, Helena Scholz-Carlson and Jacques Roy — give notable performances. This is no easy task because they play multiple characters. Their acting is thoroughly professional, and that’s no faint praise. Particularly unnerving is a scene in Act II when Roy, as the character Macduff, finds out that Macbeth has slaughtered his wife and children. Roy collapses into grief and revenge in a way that’s shocking.
As is the case with any Shakespeare play, it’s a fool’s errand to try and catch all the dialogue. But the emotion of the words comes through clearly in the Chenango River production. The company also projects some information on a screen before the start of the play, which is helpful in providing background for the action that follows.
Shakespeare wrote Macbeth more than 400 years ago, but the play’s message of the destructive power of unchecked ambition remains as relevant as ever. The Chenango River production makes that abundantly clear.
IF YOU GO: The Chenango River Theatre will present Macbeth through Oct. 20 at its playhouse, 991 NY Route 12, Greene. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday- Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $30 for all performances. The recommended way to buy tickets is at ChenangoRiverTheatre.org. Tickets also can be purchased by calling the 24-hour box office line: 607-656-8499.
Free tickets for high school and college students are available at all evening performances. Email tickets@chenangorivertheatre for reservations, which are required for the free ticket program.
