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Theatre listings > Macbeth. - Tour. Playwright - William Shakespeare. Director - Max Stafford-Clark. Designer - Es Devlin. Lighting Designer - Johanna Town. Sound Designer - Gareth Fry. Music Director - Felix Cross. Company - Out Of Joint Company Website. Cast - here . 2005 Tour Dates and Times - here . Seen to review at Edinburgh India Buildings, Cowgate (venue used by the Underbelly during the festival) on 27 October 2005. Run Time - 2 hours 15 mins with no Interval. Reviewer - Bill Dunlop. Increasing our understanding. Almost any play directed by Max Stafford Clark has to be an event of some sort, and Macbeth in the hands of Out Of Joint is certainly that. Opening in the cavernous space created by the overarch of George IV Bridge, echoes of African chant greeted an audience shouted and hustled into line and into a world where mercenaries and madness are about to rule. Macbeth as an African warlord isn't an entirely novel way of presenting what is perhaps Shakespeare's most complete and fully realised text, so it's to Out Of Joint's credit that what emerges remains a very considerable achievement, fully capable of increasing our understanding of a familiar piece. From a portrayal of traditional African ceremony, the actions takes us face to face with modern battle. King Duncan, Ben Onwukwe, and his henchmen move with a precise uneasiness from barbarity to assumed carapaces of civility we sense they can as easily shed again, and will. Danny Sapani and Raquel Cassidy are splendid as Macbeth and his Lady, although perhaps less convincing separately than when together - which mentioned, aspects of both characters are continual challenges for actors, and Sapani's understatement of Macbeth's great soliloquies give us the man of action caught by thoughts deeper and hence more perturbing than those with which he might be more familiar. Given Max Stafford Clark's background* and experience, a Macbeth whose obsessions are triggered by the apparent supernatural is only one side of a coin whose obverse is the destruction of personal relationships, respect of others and finally of trust itself. Macbeth's psychosis is, in potential, that of any of us - an everyman gone to the very bad, and part of the reason his story lodges so easily and so long in our consciousness. Small moments can speak as loud and sharp as greater ones - the sight of an audience member slowly chewing on a canapé proffered in the banquet scene, as Macbeth disintegrated before our eyes, lingers like an image from Breugel. Direction, of course, can only ever be as good as those directed, and Out Of Joint's company for this production play together to great effect and appear to enjoy doing so. Very much an ensemble out of which it would be invidious to draw individuals except to mention the Porter scene dealt with to great effect as the piece of incongruous stand-up comedy it ought to be. It was also pleasant to be in at what may the beginning of careers for young people who may be being seen on stages elsewhere before too long. Overall, a Macbeth worthy not only of the play, but also the company which presents it. ©Bill Dunlop 27 October 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Note - David Stafford-Clark, Max Stafford-Clark's father practised as a post-Freudian analyst of similar vintage to Winnicott and Bowlby. Cast - Kwaku Ankomah - Lennox / Murderer, Raquel Cassidy - Lady Macbeth, Babou Ceesay - Malcolm, Sidney Cole - Macduff, Dave Fishley - Ross, Adura Onashile - Witch / Gentlewoman, Ben Onwukwe - Duncan / Murderer / Doctor, Patrick Robinson - Banquo / Siward, Chris Ryman - Seyton, Susan Salmon - Lady Macduff / Witch, Danny Sapani - Macbeth. 2005 Tour Details of Out of Joint's production of Macbeth. Tour begins 1 - 10 Sept at London Arcola Theatre 020 7503 1646. 15 - 17 Sept Czech Republic Pilzen Mezinarodni Festival Divadlo, performing in a disused brewery. 23 Sept - 2 Oct at USA Minneapolis Guthrie Theater. 6 - 8 Oct at Mexico Guanajuato Cervantino Festival. 12 - 16 Oct at USA Massachusetts Holyoke Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. 26 - 30 Oct Wed - Sat at 7:30pm also Sat Mat at 2:30pm and Sun at 4pm. at October Edinburgh India Buildings 0131 228 1404. 2 - 6 Nov at Bury St Edmunds Guildhall 01284 769 505. 9 - 12 Nov at Netherlands, The Hague De Koninklijke Schouwburg (Royal Theatre of The Hague). 15 - 16 Nov at Nigeria Lagos British Council Compound, Lagos. 19 - 20 Nov Nigeria Abuja. TBA. Tour ends. Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. Theatre listings >
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