NT Live's Macbeth

I am a giant Kenneth Branagh fan , this screening of him and Alex Kingston in the Macbeth at Manchester was eagerly awaited. Here's what I said for Sydney Arts Guide http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/2013/10/nt-lives-macbeth/ Thrilling, chilling and gripping this is a bold, vivid, magnificently powerful production co-directed by Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston. Tickets to the live season in Manchester as part of the Festival sold out in 9 minutes and it will be touring to New York next year. Here in Sydney we are lucky to see it as part of the NT Live season screenings. The production is set and performed in a deconsecrated church and is full of mud, blood and a very effective use of a huge banks of candles. It is a production that questions faith and belief and belief in the supernatural. There’s a strong stench of corruption in the play and few characters emerge unsullied either metaphorically or literally. The audience sits in the church pews on either side of the long, thin playing space in the middle. Tension is palpable throughout the production which is all about evil and the choices people make, unconsciously or not. Here the Macbeths are presented very much as a loving couple in it together, – at least at first. The Weird Sisters appearance is frightening,- their first appearance makes you jump. (The organ loft above has been converted to a dirty wall, doors slamming) .They are sort of chilling ,blank ,zombie mud spattered creatures that seek to control everything and encourage Macbeth’s downfall . The strident cackles of the demonic trio interrupts the gentle procession of chanting monks below. The Weird sisters plummet us right into the centre of a raging battle in the pouring rain and mud as the play gets off to a whirlwind start. Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth is superb. For a lot of the play it seems as if she is the driving, ambitious force behind it all. Her sleepwalking, well nigh mad scene , played up on the top of the set with a single candle, is chilling and magnificently performed, revealing the nightmares below the glittering surface of the horrendous price she has had to pay in her delirium. Macbeth as played by Branagh has a sense of entitlement and is taking what he regards as his right , as a tested Thane ,with near contempt for untried young men such as Malcolm. His monologues are an internal stream of consciousness of someone who has already made up his mind and is assessing the implications. Branagh’s Macbeth is a spiritually isolated individual lacking spiritual commitment who really believes only in himself. It is this nihilism and inability to connect to others that allows the thane/king to commit atrocities. He is at first full of amicable disbelief at the witches prophecy , then paces alone in anxious thought, hesitates before the ultimate act of betrayal, – here bloodily shown on the altar itself, blotting out surrounding candles – and becomes more explosive and barely sane as events are set in unstoppable motion. Duncan is presented as somewhat younger and stronger than is usually seen, a burly man , a fine, strong performance by John Shrapnel . In this version we see him being awakened, in a trusting gesture, before his grisly murder by Macbeth. Malcolm is presented as Machiavelli like and bearded smooth- faced Alexander Vlahos looks like a Renaissance miniature. Ray Fearon as Macduff gives a magnificent performance, mostly a cold, dangerous warrior, bold and vigorous, but also a loving husband and father. His performance when he crumbles, and is demented with grief and shock at the murder of his wife and family, is heartbreaking. A tense and enthralling version showcasing magnificent acting, NTLive’s production of MACBETH will screen at selected arthouse cinemas on Macbeth starring Kenneth Branagh will screen at selected cinemas on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd November, 2013. The running time is just on 2 hours 30 minutes without interval.