Macbeths captivating

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon, but not under the Mainstage tent at Bard on the Beach. There, the usual beautiful backdrop of English Bay was blocked by an earth-toned curtain and the sounds of a sleepy summer afternoon were replaced by thunder, the clash of fighting and other ominous, shiver-inducing sounds. A perfect setting for Macbeth.

In this version of the play, the behind-the-scenes work almost steals the show. Led by director Miles Potter, composer and sound designer Murray Price, set designer Kevin McAllister, lighting designer Gerald King and costume designer Mara Gottler combine to make easy the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy the theatre. The world they create for the Macbeths, and for all those unfortunate enough to encounter them, exudes foreboding; there is continual tension, even though the ending of the play is known, and reality mingles seamlessly with the surreal, so that a bloodied ghost interrupting a festive meal seems like a perfectly possible, if not a completely normal (or welcome), occurrence.

The play begins hopefully enough, with Macbeth (Bob Frazer) and Banquo (Craig Erickson), two Scottish noblemen, returning from a successful battle. Along the way, they encounter three witches (the “Weird Sisters”) – played with spirit and lighthearted eeriness, by Jewish community member Susan Coodin, Dawn Petten and Lois Anderson, who maintain a great rhythm as they deliver in concert their spooky incantations, premonitions and warnings. In this first encounter, the witches foresee that Macbeth will be a king and that Banquo’s descendants will be kings. And therein lies the rub.

Not content to be patient, Macbeth and his equally ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth (Colleen Wheeler), plot the murder of King Duncan (Bernard Cuffling), and carry it out when the king visits their castle. When the king’s sons, Malcolm (Jewish community member Anton Lipovetsky) and Donalbain (Kyle Rideout), flee the country, Macbeth is crowned king. However, knowing the witches’ vision of Banquo’s future, Macbeth cannot relax into his prestigious new position. Instead, he hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son, who manages to escape. His father is not as lucky, and it is Banquo’s bloodied ghost who interrupts the Macbeths’ dinner party, in what is one of the most memorable scenes in this production.

Macbeth’s increasing paranoia is given focus by more prophecies from the witches and, so, more people are killed, including the family of Macduff (Ian Butcher), whose wife is played by Petten and whose son is played with appropriate precociousness by Jewish community member Jordan Wessels, 11, which adds to the horror of Macbeth’s actions – that he has no problem murdering innocent women and children. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth descends into her own madness, a descent that manifests itself in sleepwalking, muttering about the murders and trying to wash the blood off her hands.

More happens in the play, of course, but the Macbeths are really the main attraction, not just because they are at the centre of the play, but because Frazer and Wheeler are captivating and the other characters – the Weird Sisters excepted – fade into the background. It doesn’t seem to matter much what happens to anyone else, and the mind wanders a bit until one or both of the Macbeths return to the stage.

Macbeth and the other Bard on the Beach productions this year – The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor and King John – continue in Vanier Park until into September. Tickets ($21-$40) can be purchased at bardonthebeach.org or by calling 604-739-0559.

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