Macbeth -- Bard on the Beach

Story in 2 sentences:

Three witches tell Macbeth he's going to be king, so he kills his way to the throne.  His wife is a piece of work.

People who should see this show:

People with deep voices

People who need a nap

Well, someone must have said it backstage. 

Macbeth.  Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth.

I had been looking forward to this one.  I enjoy Colleen Wheeler and Duncan Fraser, I think Lois Anderson is the bomb, and I have always liked this play.  Hubby had also been looking forward to it; it's short. Amazing how the perfect ingredients can still make a horrible dish.

Let's start with the performances.

Colleen Wheeler has a lovely resonant voice, and she certainly knows it.  By her second line, I had begun to understand what had annoyed me so much about the witches:  she had laid down the gauntlet and they had accepted the challenge.  They were having a resonant voice contest.  Combined with Bob Frazer's incredible dramatic technique - look noble and speak slowly (I once heard a director accuse an actor of being a black hole on stage, which perfectly describes Frazer's performance) - their scenes were interminable.  I swear they ran out of underscoring. 

The rest of the cast had their problems as well:  Anton Lipovetsky's wide- eyed Malcolm, for example.  I had been pleased to see him cast in a Bard show, having liked his performance in Rent a few years ago, but he was a disappointment as Malcolm:  uninteresting histrionics combined with focus- pulling mugging.  Speaking of mugging, John Murphy, playing several smaller parts, firmly believed he was the only one onstage.  His cookie-cutter porter was annoyingly out of place in this plodding dramatic work.

Plodding, you say?  Let's talk about direction.  First of all, a purely technical note:  the stage is a thrust, and it was blocked for a proscenium.  Which alienates half of the audience.

Artistically, it was uninspired. 

Everyone knows Macbeth.  We've all studied it.  The reason to see it at Bard is to see something you haven't noticed before, and, hopefully, a special little twist that gives you a new insight.  The new thing I noticed was that there are an awful lot of monologues.  Seriously.  That's it.  The design was similarly uninspired.  In that there was basically no set design and the drab costumes (meant to highlight the somber mood of the piece) highlighted only the boredom one felt as one waited for intermission.  And then curtain.  No one would ever put up with this if it were a contemporary playwright, but it seems that every year there is at least one Bard director who doesn’t see the need to do any real work.

Don't bother.  Save your money for The Merry Wives of Windsor.  Plays until September 20th.

Some highlights:

Craig Erickson's Banquo:  by far the strongest of the cast.

The witches turning invisible:  that was pretty cool.

Banquo's ghost scene:  really well done, and the only reason I came back for the second act (turned out there was nothing worthwhile to see after that, though).

The Merry Wives of Windsor -- Bard on the Beach

Story in 2 sentences:

Falstaff tries to seduce Mistress Page and Mistress Ford.  Instead, they fuck him up.

People who should see this show:

Anyone not from Windsor

Anyone from Windsor (but you might get a little annoyed)

Note:  This is an amazing show and I highly recommend you see it, despite the inaccuracies.

Let it be said that I loved this show, but not as much as my husband did.  You see, the production has been set in Windsor, Ontario, and that is also where the first decade and a half of my life was set.  His enjoyment was not handicapped by reality.

The direction was phenomenal.  The performances were almost all incredible.  The problem, and it's a large one for me (and everyone else from Windsor that I've told about it), was Johnna Wright's concept.

When I think of Windsor in the 1960s, I think of the two categories of story told by my family from that era:  Motown (Windsor is across the river from Detroit), and the Ford (and Chrysler and GM) auto plants.  When I heard that the only play Shakespeare wrote that starred the middle class was going to be set in Windsor, I looked forward to seeing what would be done with the fact that two of the main characters in the play were Mr and Mrs Ford.  When I found out that there would be live music, I immediately started mentally flipping through my dad's LPs, searching out the perfect Motown songs.

Instead, I was presented with country music - well performed, and yes, I like country - but as far as Windsorite music preferences go, I am an anomaly - for the completely reasonable dramaturgical position that Johnna Wright likes country music from the 60s.  Nothing was done with the name Ford, which is even more ridiculous:  I have never gone through a day in Windsor without at least one conversation about someone working at Ford's.  Or Chrysler's.  Or GM.

Pam Johnson and Drew Facey's design followed the conceptual folly:  cowgirl outfits and a country bar.  Characters wandering through with curling brooms - our trashy Canadian sport is bowling, thank you very much.

These were the thoughts wandering through my mind, distracting me from the best production I have seen at Bard since Henry V. 

You should go, though, unless you're from Windsor.  You won't know the difference, and it truly is a gem.  One small annoyance:  if you are a woman who doesn't like being brought onstage, don't sit in the front row.  Plays until September 21st

Some highlights:

 Patti Allan's Mistress Quickly:  comic genius, brilliant facial expressions without ever pulling focus, and an easy rapport with every scene partner.

Alex Rose's vocals:  he's good.

Katey Wright and Amber Lewis's scenes:  there are a lot of them (cause they're the title roles), so good that they work well together; Wright is a little less forced, and more enjoyable to watch, but Lewis holds her own.

David Marr's French stereotype:  pure gold.