Theatre / bristol shakespeare festival
Review: Macbeth, Redcliffe Caves
Once the haunt of smugglers and pirates, Redcliffe Caves now slumber half-forgotten beside the quieter reaches of Bristol docks. They’re rarely open to the public, meaning that this production of Macbeth by locals Insane Root Theatre offers an opportunity to combine Shakespeare’s finest psychological drama with a visit to one of Bristol’s best hidden treasures.
In this claustrophobic piece of promenade theatre, a small audience is led into the labyrinthine depths, moving around candlelit passageways where both the blood-red walls and the actors are always within touching distance.
Director Hannah Drake and the tiny cast of seven make clever use of the caves’ fabulous acoustics and dark nooks to spine-chillingly emphasise the supernatural elements that drag Macbeth to his inevitable downfall. Ghostly moans echo at key plot points, dark figures emerge from behind shadowed pillars to scare the bejasus out of audience members, and the entire experience feels like a wander inside Macbeth’s famous ‘heat-oppress’d brain’.
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Ben Crispin’s Macbeth seems touched with madness from the moment he encounters the three Weird Sisters: first almost catatonic when he returns to his wife, later flamboyant and crazed when he has become king, and finally cockily arrogant and utterly assured of his own invulnerability in the final conflict: Apocalypse Now’s Colonel Kurtz with a broadsword.
It is in this last epic scene that Crispin truly excels, his utterly human Macbeth finally emerging as he is tricked into total hubris by the machinations of the spirits. For those interested in such technicalities, his ‘tomorrow and tomorrow’ speech is a masterclass in how to breathe fresh life into a very familiar classic.
There are some fine supporting performances, too. Nicola Stuart-Hill’s Lady M. manifests that edge of neurosis that drives her ambition from the start, tripping into despair as she weeps after the dinner party from Hell where her husband has chased his vision of Banquo’s ghost around the table, and delivering a touchingly downplayed madness scene. And Zachary Powell not only gives a very likeable Banquo, but also plays the killer of Banquo, Lady Macduff et al – one character embodying all of Macbeth’s murderous henchmen – with a touching sadness of soul.
Macbeth continues in Redcliffe Caves until Monday, July 27 as part of Bristol Shakespeare Festival. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.bristolshakespearefestival.org.uk/2015-festival
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