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5 stars out of 5
Macbeth, The Depot, Liverpool, review: Ralph Fiennes brings the tragedy pulsing into the present day
The thoughts this play provokes about the human cost of political violence will linger long in the mind
By Fran Yeoman
Director Simon Godwin’s production deftly blends raw and personal human emotions with broader themes of political machination and violent conflict.
It is not the killing of King Duncan that packs the biggest punch in this version of the tragedy about the cost of political ambition, but the slaughter of Macduff’s wife and children.
The King’s demise happens off-stage of course, as The Bard intended it – our attention is instead on the plotting of Macbeth (Fiennes) and his Lady, the washing away of blood and the impossibility of doing the same with guilt. Macduff’s family’s deaths, as a newly-crowned and ever more paranoid Macbeth seeks to wipe out all possibility of dissent, happen right before us. We watch aghast as all the maternal desperation in the world fails to help Lady Macduff (Rebecca Scroggs) protect her offspring or her own life. It is a heart-rending moment.
When the bereaved Macduff (a brilliant Ben Turner) laments that his children’s lives have become collateral damage in the feuds of adults, murdered as they were “not for their own demerits, but for mine”, it feels like a commentary on current world events.
Indeed, much in this production, which will move on to Edinburgh, London and Washington after its Liverpool run, is close to the contemporary knuckle; the mark of a good adaptation and powerful performances. Staged in a cavernous warehouse studio space rather than a city centre theatre, this modern dress Macbeth – the men in suits or camouflage combat gear, Indira Varma’s manipulative Lady Macbeth in Succession–esqe tailoring – feels uncomfortably relatable. From the outset, as audiences cross a scorched battlefield to their seats before a minimalist stage, we are watching a tragedy unfolding in the here and now. Macbeth’s lament that the Weird Sisters might use “honest trifles” to mask the falsehoods within their central prophesy could be a reflection on modern political communication; Varma’s poised and steely political spouse, who ultimately recoils from her husband’s worst excesses, looks early on like she could be sitting on the front row at party conference.
But it is after the interval that this production finds its full power. Fiennes keeps it understated for the first half – maybe a little too so – but becomes increasingly compelling as he flits between rage, panic and humour on his way to a final showdown with Macduff. Varma, who has an Olivier for her stage work and a legion of fans thanks to screen roles including in Game of Thrones and Luther, is consistently enthralling as Lady Macbeth – the charismatic host of the high-powered dinner party who behind the scenes uses that same charm to pull her husband’s strings. Her growing revulsion at what she has helped unleash, and eventual descent into madness, are the counterpoint to Macbeth’s increasingly maniacal determination to succeed.
The run time of around 135 minutes is through in a flash. But the thoughts this play provokes about the human cost of political violence will live longer.