Lovely Toni has blogged about Macbeth...
On Sunday afternoon, Black Company performed their full length Shakespeare, Macbeth, in the Calder at the Hepworth. For those unfamiliar with the space, this is the bottom floor of an old mill by the waterfront just next to the Hepworth playground. It’s hard to imagine that Yew Tree could pick a better setting. The stage was set against the back wall with the windows blacked out, other than the ones right behind the stage allowing three beams of light to flood into the room setting a dark and authentic tone. This also created silhouettes of the actors throughout the play, fitting to the eeriness of the witches and adding to the haunting nature of the cold blooded murders in the play. Barring the Romeo and Juliet film with Leonardo DiCaprio, I’d never seen a full length Shakespeare tragedy (despite studying Lady Macbeth for GCSE English). This was mainly because I’d stereotyped them as being harder to follow and a bit duller than comedies but Black Company have changed my outlook completely as I was drawn into each character and the plot more than I have been in any other Shakespeare I remember seeing. Macbeth was played by Sam in a way that took the audience on a journey of sympathy when he was manipulated into murder to complete condemnation and hostility for his betrayal to Banquo. Lucy’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s decent into guilt-induced madness was also memorable as she herself appeared to become a puppet of the witches as they surrounded her and forced her into constant hand washing of the murders she had overseen. The portrayal of the weird sisters by Hannah, Helena and Ellie ensured a constant eerie reminder of the play’s tragic ending. The witches were on stage much of the time, seen to be observing and manipulating the characters. Their use of voodoo dolls was very effective as whenever a death occurred offstage, the head of a doll would be plucked off; seeming that the actions were not just controlled by the characters but that their fate was already sealed and controlled by the witches. The performance lasted just under 2 hours which in itself shows the sheer amount of work that had gone into it. The epic physical theatre battle scene at the start of the play set the tone well, showing how hard each cast member had worked. Learning lines and performing any play for two hours is an achievement; Learning two hours’ worth of Shakespeare and delivering it as though old English is spoken fluently and lyrically by everyone, every day, as the cast did, was more than impressive. Not to mention that many were also tackling A-levels, GCSEs, mocks exams and other end of the academic year deadlines (- there even some year 6 SATs!). So Macbeth has possibly been my favourite plays I’ve seen at Yew Tree, and definitely the most impressive! I hope everyone involved is immensely proud of themselves for the incredible production they put on. Thank you Black Company for a great Sunday afternoon and a new found appreciation for Shakespearean tragedies!
On Sunday afternoon, Black Company performed their full length Shakespeare, Macbeth, in the Calder at the Hepworth. For those unfamiliar with the space, this is the bottom floor of an old mill by the waterfront just next to the Hepworth playground. It’s hard to imagine that Yew Tree could pick a better setting. The stage was set against the back wall with the windows blacked out, other than the ones right behind the stage allowing three beams of light to flood into the room setting a dark and authentic tone. This also created silhouettes of the actors throughout the play, fitting to the eeriness of the witches and adding to the haunting nature of the cold blooded murders in the play. Barring the Romeo and Juliet film with Leonardo DiCaprio, I’d never seen a full length Shakespeare tragedy (despite studying Lady Macbeth for GCSE English). This was mainly because I’d stereotyped them as being harder to follow and a bit duller than comedies but Black Company have changed my outlook completely as I was drawn into each character and the plot more than I have been in any other Shakespeare I remember seeing. Macbeth was played by Sam in a way that took the audience on a journey of sympathy when he was manipulated into murder to complete condemnation and hostility for his betrayal to Banquo. Lucy’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s decent into guilt-induced madness was also memorable as she herself appeared to become a puppet of the witches as they surrounded her and forced her into constant hand washing of the murders she had overseen. The portrayal of the weird sisters by Hannah, Helena and Ellie ensured a constant eerie reminder of the play’s tragic ending. The witches were on stage much of the time, seen to be observing and manipulating the characters. Their use of voodoo dolls was very effective as whenever a death occurred offstage, the head of a doll would be plucked off; seeming that the actions were not just controlled by the characters but that their fate was already sealed and controlled by the witches. The performance lasted just under 2 hours which in itself shows the sheer amount of work that had gone into it. The epic physical theatre battle scene at the start of the play set the tone well, showing how hard each cast member had worked. Learning lines and performing any play for two hours is an achievement; Learning two hours’ worth of Shakespeare and delivering it as though old English is spoken fluently and lyrically by everyone, every day, as the cast did, was more than impressive. Not to mention that many were also tackling A-levels, GCSEs, mocks exams and other end of the academic year deadlines (- there even some year 6 SATs!). So Macbeth has possibly been my favourite plays I’ve seen at Yew Tree, and definitely the most impressive! I hope everyone involved is immensely proud of themselves for the incredible production they put on. Thank you Black Company for a great Sunday afternoon and a new found appreciation for Shakespearean tragedies!
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