‘Macbeth’ by Cheek by Jowl

j.phelan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:33:37 +0000

Director Declan Donnellan cements UK theatre company Cheek by Jowl‘s reputation for pacy, pared-down productions of the classics with this exhilarating version of Macbeth, which comes to Les Gémeaux in Sceaux as part of a European tour. Already a relatively short play, in Donnellan’s hands Shakespeare’s tragedy of a man who would be king moves at breathtaking speed. By overlapping scenes and making some bold cuts to the text, the director brings the performance to a taut two hours that are intense but never rushed. He keeps the play’s staging equally lean: set, props and costumes are all at a minimum, allowing nothing to distract from superb acting by the Cheek by Jowl troupe. The cast are more than capable of conjuring the play’s nightmare imagery with their speech and movement alone; the three witches, for instance, become an entire stage full of shadowy, whispering figures far more terrifying than any amount of dry ice and fake blood. Yet grounding it all in human tragedy are two outstanding central performances by Will Keen as Macbeth and Anastasia Hille as his Lady, who bring compelling naturalness and believability to even the most familiar lines. The result is an exceptional production that is contemporary without being modern-day, theatrical without being stagey, and classic without being traditional.
(Performed in English with French subtitles.)
Until 21 Feb.

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‘Macbeth’ by Cheek by Jowl