Melbourne Reviews

It’s been adapted into film, opera, television (there’s even a Simpsons version out there) and been set in every conceivable timeframe and location. Macbeth, the cursed Scottish play by William Shakespeare has been doing the rounds on stage, screen and in high school classrooms for hundreds of years.

So, what is there left to say about the work? What new angle can be discovered to offer some insight into the Bard’s great tragedy? Macbeth (an undoing) by UK playwright Zinnie Harris poses this very question to Lady Macbeth (Bojana Novakovic) who is to give her version of the events that caused her and her husband’s rapid rise to royalty and almost immediate decent to madness and death.

What transcends however, is a confused production that is one half Shakespeare, one half soap-opera that barely manages to scratch the surface of the original text.  

When presented with a production of Macbeth “from the perspective of Lady Macbeth”, I had expected a sort of feminist retelling of the story from one of the greatest female characters in literature. However, Harris has taken this role and given her almost nothing to work with.  

Instead of commanding the stage as a powerful would-be-queen, Lady Macbeth comes across as more of a spoiled valley girl, diminishing her own power with superficial confidence. The great monologue of the first act is cut up and abandoned half-way through as Lady Macbeth paces across the stage as if unsure of herself. In Act II, she even breaks the fourth wall to complain about playing the character! What is Harris trying to say here? Is Lady Macbeth a strong female lead or another puppet in the patriarchy, either way she doesn’t seem to value her as a character.

Other additions to the narrative are a sub plot between a very pregnant Lady Macduff (Jessica Clarke) and Banquo (Rashidi Edward) who are having an affair, and a seemingly uninterested Macduff (David Woods) who is unconcerned with his wife’s infidelity and child. An odd choice given it is the murder of his wife and children in the original play that spurs him to kill Macbeth.

“All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?”
– William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3.

 The titular character (played by Johnny Carr) flits in and out under the thumb of Lady M, and is the closest to the original, but even then, the sexual tension often seen between the Macbeth’s is missing and the reasoning behind his ambition unconvincing.

As we reach the brutal end of this play, the expected blood and gore takes centre stage, but more alarming was the very awkward stage fighting, that brought audible gasps from the audience.

Natasha Herbert who plays several characters (or is one in different disguises?) tries her best to carry the production with her nuanced performance, but she is ultimately overshadowed by the weirdness of the updated tale. The set from Dann Barber is glorious. Spinning one way like a clock and back on itself as the play unravels, it’s a fun addition to the ever-changing Merlyn Theatre.

On the outside with its fabulous stage design, haunting soundtrack and interesting premise, Macbeth (an undoing) seems an interesting take on a classic play, however on the inside it’s more insipid that inspired.