Macbeth

Congratulations to Hannah Pamplin and the team for the direction of this excellent production. Well thought-out moves, ideas, a minimalistic set and a very strong and talented cast all increased the quality of this very well-known play. Shakespeare’s plays require actors to understand their characters and deliver their lines with clarity and fluency and this was all achieved with a cast of 15.

Although the scenes were set in modern times, with guns and flick knifes replacing swords, this never detracted from the original story line. With plenty of blood and fighting nothing was left out and the cast had worked hard to produce characters with Scottish accents. This was amazing and all achieved with guidance from their Accent Coach, Christy J Stanley..

Jack Hewitt as Macbeth was outstanding as he skilfully acted and delivered with great articulation the copious amounts of dialogue. He moved the character with ease through different emotions, from sanity to madness. Controlled by Lady Macbeth, he committed many murders, especially King Duncan so that he, Macbeth, could take over the throne. Nothing appeared to faze Jack in this role. Rachel Gray’s performance as the manipulating Lady Macbeth was superb and she delivered her lines with eloquence befitting a queen. In Lady Macbeth’s final scene, she too started to lose her mind with the only way out being to kill herself.

There are many well-known characters in Macbeth: Macduff (Cieran Ryan), Banquo (Noa McAlistair) and King Duncan (Tim Baron) were very impressive in these roles. The other prominent characters are the three witches (in this production, the three sisters) played by Joe Isingoma, Vivienne Mager and Hope Baxter. These three actors were brilliant and I had a feeling that the audience couldn’t wait for the famous cauldron scene - we were not disappointed. The above actors also took on other roles throughout the performance, likewise Malcolm/Fleance (Matt Hutchinson) and Donaldbain/Porter (Alex Wilson). Giving excellent characterisations.

Numerous other roles were taken by Amy Gunn, India Cottiss, Christy J Stanley, Beth Marsden and Andrew James Hodgson. They moved with ease from character to character and gave great performances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, congratulations to everyone involved in this brilliant production of Macbeth. The hours of rehearsals and hard work put in by the directing, acting, technical, lighting and stage crew were evident. You can always tell how good a production is by the reaction of the audience and we were all spellbound.

 

Thank you for the invite and hospitality we received from you all and we look forward to your next production.

 

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