Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe – review

In a show titled Macbeth, you’d expect for the titular character and his wife to be the main event. In most productions it often is, with starry casting to match (Ralph Fiennes and David Tennant will be playing the role later this year). However, Abigail Graham’s zippy production has the trio of witches pull focus in a show with several concepts.

Played by Calum Callaghan, Ben Caplan and Ferdy Roberts, the three Weird Sisters wear hazmat suits, donning plague masks whenever Macbeth and co approach. They’re quite lad-dy, an odd mixture of undertaker, men down the pub, and mad scientists. Between them they also play the Porter, and Macbeth’s accomplices, building up a lot of stage time. During the famous ‘Hubble Bubble’ scene they whizz up body parts in a blender, maniacally laughing at the audience. There’s also a stirring image of the trio silently wheeling bodies on hospital beds around Macbeth. These moments of gore and horror could be welcomed, but they only add to the dark comedic stance the show seems to have.

In the titular role, Max Bennett is a slimy politician in slick suits and crisp white shirts. His line delivery feels like stand-up at times, with his asides such as “’twas a rough night” garnering more titters from the audience than a sense of dread. Matti Houghton’s Lady Macbeth, though played excellently, feels muted in this production, with the relationship between the pair, and their real motives, not particularly clear. When the pair have successfully had Duncan (in this production switched to Queen, a great Tamzin Griffin) murdered, their chat about what to do with the knives errs into buddy comedy. Macbeth is made up like King Charles and the cast sings “God Save the King” to him as he takes the throne which seems like a parody. There’s excellent supporting work from Aaron Anthony’s Macduff and Joseph Payne’s Malcolm, but due to the light-hearted atmosphere created, their outpourings of grief don’t hit in the way they should.

The most interesting theme picked from the text is that of children, with it made clear that the Macbeths have recently suffered loss. Ti Green’s set design consists of a stripped tree hung upside down over the stage; the line of succession unfortunately ends with the couple. The continuous presence of child actors, with their deaths staged, are the most horrible moments of the show. Macduff’s child, dressed in a Spider-Man get-up, fires a bubble gun at his murderers before being killed.

With a choir underscoring the piece with haunting melodies, the elements are there to create an intriguing, chilling version of the famous play. Instead, it all feels a little off-kilter and underdeveloped.