|
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Julieanne Ehre
Produced by Greasy Joan & Co
At the Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-902-1500, tickets $20
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes with intermission
Through May 25, 2008
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee;
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.” –Macbeth
Surreal Macbeth totally engaging
Greasy Joan & Co. follows their smart The Misanthrope with a surreal take on The Bard’s “Scottish Play” (Macbeth). I have seen many productions of Macbeth, some were stunning and some fell flat. Under Artistic Director Julieanne Ehre’s innovative direction, her Macbeth gets to the core of Shakespeare’s quickly paced tragedy. Macbeth is all about the lust for power that finds friends betraying each other and where blinding ambition of a general and his wife propel them to kill. We see Scotland become filled with murder and violence.
Macbeth is a psychological study that finds Macbeth (Dana Wall in a intensely moving performance) suffering from delusional and paranoid behavior with loads of guilt as he gains the Scottish throne only to be obsessed with retaining his power. Lady Macbeth (Sharina Martin in a vivaciously effective performance) uses her seductive power over men to gain her desires.
Greasy Joan & Co’s production features amazingly effective use of sound (by Andrew Hansen) and lighting (by Charles Cooper) on a white austere set (by Kevin Depinet) to create and underscore the eerie atmosphere where supernatural witches, ghosts and “strange imaginings” linger.
When King Duncan (the commanding Craig Degel) visits Macbeth’s castle, he is killed as Macbeth and his lady lust for his throne. Macduff (Kevin Cox) and Lennox (Dan Cox) are suspicious of Macbeth. They leave Scotland with Malcolm (Nick Mikula) as Macbeth’s tyrannical rule grows more vicious.
Macbeth begins to dwell upon the Three Witches’ earlier prophecies of which several became true. He worries about the prophecy concerning Banquo (Samuel Taylor) as the “primogenitor of kings.” Macbeth hires men to kill Banquo and his children. Malcolm and Macduff, in exile in England, raise an army to dethrone Macbeth. Filled with visceral and hair-raisingly spooky scenes, this Macbeth is creepy and quite intoxicating. From the Three Witches (Karisa Bruin, Tien Doman and Megan Faye Schutt) dressed mummy-like to the exciting knife fights (deftly staged by Kevin Asselin), Greasy Joan & Co’s Macbeth is totally engaging. It is articulate, well acted and action-packed.
 |
The cast features a fine collection of non-Equity talents. I especially like the work of Sharina Martin (Lady Macbeth), Nick Mikula (Malcolm), Kevin Cox (Macduff) and Craig Degel (Duncan/Seyton. Dana Wall’s Macbeth was remarkable. Wall reached depths of pathos and cunning seldom seen. This is version of “The Scottish Play” is worth seeing.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: April 17, 2008
|
