Something wickedly entertaining this way comes, and not on a heath near Forres, but on the stage of the Barrymore.
As you walk into the lobby you see the call board that states: The roles of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo and all other roles will be played by Alan Cumming. The false assumption to be made is that this is one-man show; it is not. There are two other actors, although they speak but only one or two lines of dialogue.
The play has been set in what appears to be an Eastern-Bloc Soviet mental institution during the 70s. The walls are covered in limestone green tiles, there are several beds, a bathtub, several evidence bags, three flat-screen TVs and a fresh set of clothes.
A bloodied Cumming is brought in and cleaned up. The two doctors observe as he recounts the tragedy that brought him to this place in a schizophrenic blaze of glory for 100 minutes.
Truly I can't say enough about his performance. It is masterful. Just sensational work. (It is also the first time King Duncan may ever have stolen the show in a production of Macbeth!!)
I loved so many moments, and I really don't want to spoil anything here. You really must just go and see it for yourself.
Of course Cumming is only one of the stars of the show, and he would be much less without the brilliant co-direction of John Tiffany. He first gave us the simplistic beauty of Once and then the glorious mounting of Glass Menagerie at ART, and then he pulls a rabbit out of a hat with this. If I saw his ideas on paper I would have laughed and said, "You're kidding, right? This will NEVER work." Well somehow he pulled off a high concept Macbeth with a precise vision that would have caused most directors to stumble and fall. This is very selfish, but I hope Tiffany never works outside of New York again!
I'm surprised how much I liked this. Very highly recommended.
One warning though- If you aren't familiar with Macbeth I would strongly suggest reading a summary before seeing it. It may prove to be quite confusing otherwise.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
