More Shakespeare - Branagh's Macbeth at the Armory.

[skynyc]

(SPOILER ALERT!) Last night I saw Macbeth at the Armory with Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston, both of whom are making their NY theatrical debuts. The production is theatrically over the top from the onset. When you check in, you're assigned a clan and sent to one of the beautiful old rooms in the Park Avenue Armory, to await the bell which is your designation to enter. Each "clan" enters the main hall as a group, and upon entering the murky, foggy darkness you see a large Stonehenge-like erection in the distance. As you walk on the stone path across the constructed moor, you notice the three weird sisters slinking around in the mist.

 

Upon arrival at the structure clans separate into different sections of the theater...two enormous erected bleachers facing each other across a dirt covered stage...the "ancient" stones at one end, an enormous altar at the other. And with a roar of thunder, the stage is filled with sword-fighting and rain.

 

New York's last Macbeth, Ethan Hawke at Lincoln Center, was not up to the task, and got lost among superior performances in other roles, a dark, monolithic set, and dramatic direction.

 

Here Mr. Branagh proves his love for the bard in his fierce and full portrayal...(which he co-directed with Rob Ashford.) His Macbeth is adept with a sword, lusty with his wife, and driven.... Ms. Kingston, best known in the US from the TV show ER, has an interesting scene, which I have never seen portrayed before...after Macbeth has killed King Duncan, Lady M returns the bloody knives to the chamber, incriminating the two sleeping attendants...and in doing so, you see the moment when she suddenly turns from the ambitious ("Screw your courage to the sticking place") to the haunted ("who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him"). Her Lady Macbeth's villainy isn't as great as some I have seen portrayed, and as she weakens, Macbeth gets stronger. It was an interesting choice.

 

The pacing was very fast...and they've obviously trimmed a great deal because the show runs two hours without an intermission. And there's lots of action, from the requisite sword fighting...(I suspect that those in the front row were damp and muddied by show's end,) to the many deaths, with dead bodies leaving wide ruts in the earth as they're dragged off stage. (We joked afterward wondering what laundry detergent the costume crew uses each night, particularly on the gowns of Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff.)

 

The supporting cast was very strong...Macduff and Banquo in particular. And the large ensemble of strapping, sword-fighting men was an additional pleasure.

 

All in all, it was a very entertaining evening. I was fully engaged and caught up in the theatricality of it. The stage pictures that were created were wonderful...Banquo's ghost entering through a wall of fire, the approach of Burnham Wood across the moor, a human-shape-filled cauldron which belched the prophecy of Macbeth's doom, and Lady Macbeth sleepwalking high in the castle's ramparts.

 

The details: I bought my $90 ticket in December and had a decent seat in the very front of the rear section. The show got strong reviews, and has the word of mouth that it's "one to see". It runs through June 22nd, and tickets are supposedly sold out. As I stood waiting for my friend, one gentleman was trying to sell one of his VIP tickets for $350 and he sold it very quickly, although I didn't overhear how much he got for it. There was a long cancelation line outside the theater, I don't know how many got in.

[tyro]

Sounds like quite the spectacle. I'm glad you got to go.

T