Preview: Macbeth, Redcliffe Caves

After a triumphant and acclaimed run at last year’s festival, locals Insane Root return to this year’s Bristol Shakespeare Festival with their promenade production of the Scottish tragedy in the none-more-atmospheric setting of Redcliffe Caves.
With a tightly-knit ensemble of seven actors playing multiple roles, Macbeth features audience interaction, live music, singing and some thrilling stage combat. See our review from last year’s Shakespeare Festival here.
Here are producer Justin Palmer and director Hannah Drake to tell us more. 

How did you hit upon the plan of Macbeth in the Redcliffe Caves?
Justin: I first encountered the Redcliffe Caves after watching a BBC Points West news report about a theatre company performing some kind of Greek myth in there. I immediately thought it would be an incredible location for the right story. It could transform a story that lent itself to an intimate and psychologically disturbing setting.
Hannah was also excited by the idea. It then took us over a year to cut the play down to our promenade version, arrange use of the caves with the Council, and cast, market and perform the show.  

Have you tried hard to make your Macbeth fit its unusual location?
Justin: From day one, we knew we had to make Shakespeare’s words mean something in that location. Otherwise there is no point performing in such an inhospitable place. Unless you can combine the action, the characters’ motivations and their reason for existing in such a place then you might as well just do it in a theatre.
But we wanted it to look as though these people lived there – that this was their cave, their environment, their walls. The Caves are a great set and backdrop. The darkness and cold transport you back in time. In the largest chamber, with the help of a large table and some clever lighting we created what feels like a grand room in a medieval castle. This is the magic of the Caves! 

Hannah: Tragedies are always a challenge in the sense that you are dealing with heightened emotions, high stakes, life and death. But being in the cave environment, which is like stepping back in time, and spying on actors wearing medieval costumes lit by candlelight, means neither actors nor audience need to suspend their disbelief in the same way as in a traditional theatre. It feels like you’re really there in the action, and the modern world has melted away. So the design of this production plays a really significant part in helping the actors into role.

I’m guessing the Witches come into their own in this environment?
Justin: Absolutely. We wanted to make the Witches terrifying again, as we both felt that contemporary audiences have generally lost their belief or fear of witchcraft. We found that a lot of the witches’ text in the play is rather childish and would not unsettle a modern audience used to gory horror films. 
We decided that the witches should be a strong, mostly silent presence in the caves. The caves are their nest, from where they drive the action of the play along, moving characters and audience around at will. From this early textual work, we then worked closely with our musical director Ellie Showering on creating a new witch language through clicks, wails, and song. 

Can we expect the same show as last year, or any major changes?
Justin: It’s an enhanced version of last year’s production. In many ways it’s the same production, but we have changed some elements to make it a sleeker, faster and rawer version. The main changes will include some new music compositions and songs, three new cast members joining us, a slightly new route around the caves allowing for better audience sightlines – and more seating.  

Why do the Caves make such a perfect location for Macbeth?
Hannah: Unlike many historic sites, Redcliffe Caves still feel quite wild. The candlelight and torches show up how red the earth is: symbolically, it feels like the blood-spattered earth of Scotland under Macbeth’s reign, and the darkness of the space seems exactly right for what is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy.
It really feels like a place where witches and the supernatural elements of the play would feel perfectly at home, and our interpretation of the witches in the play has been directly impacted by the environment. We see them as people who have either been banished to the caves, or who grew from it – they have their own language, and their blend of singing and unearthly noises go very far to establishing the eerie, tragic, atmosphere of the production. 

Any other felicitous matches of story and setting in the pipeline?
Justin: We are looking at the moment at a number of ideas, including Othello on gondolas and boats on the Harbourside and Hansel & Gretel in Leigh Woods. We are also looking at doing a Bristol community project involving many of the songs in Shakespeare’s plays.

Macbeth Wednesday, June 8 to Thursday, July 14, Redcliffe Caves. Ages 12+. Duration: 1hr 45mins (no interval). Caves can get cool in the evening: dress accordingly. Personal torches advised.
For more info and to book tickets, visit www.bristolshakespearefestival.org.uk/event/insane-root-macbeth-at-the-redcliffe-caves/?instance_id=120