British 'Macbeth': Bloody complicated

by Michael Sommers/Star-Ledger Staff

Tuesday April 08, 2008, 11:00 PM

MANUEL HARLANKate Fleetwood portrays Lady Macbeth with an icily sweet voice and an insistent manner.

Macbeth. Where: Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., New York. When: Through May 24. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. How much: $51.50-$101.50. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit telecharge.com.

The Chichester Festival Theatre staging of "Macbeth," which opened on Broadway Tuesday at the Lyceum Theatre, was reviewed by Star-Ledger drama critic Michael Sommers when it bowed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 13. This is an excerpt from that review:

NEW YORK -- A great deal of sound and fury punches up a much-acclaimed British production of "Macbeth" starring Patrick Stewart.

Unusually striking visuals, too, emblazon the import. The show's got projections of Soviet newsreels, an ominously screeching soundtrack, a freight elevator, spooky lighting, a refrigerator, gobs of gore and seemingly everything but the kitchen sink -- actually, it's got one of those, too, positioned downstage where Lady Macbeth vainly tries to wash away her sins.

Exactly what all of director Rupert Goold's elaborate toil and trouble is meant to signify, however, is anyone's guess. Probably Goold simply wants to provide a distinctive showcase for Stewart's typically intelligent and resonantly-spoken portrayal of Shakespeare's Scottish usurper. If so, then he certainly succeeds.

With its grimy tile walls, linoleum floor and industrial-style kitchen equipment, designer Anthony Ward's setting suggests an underground Cold War bunker. Howard Harrison's sharply focused lighting creates spaces for action elsewhere. The characters' green-and-red military uniforms and somber business clothes recall 1950s Russian attire, while the incidental music is Slavic in nature.

So the decor and dress create a bleak world of totalitarian terror, which corresponds nicely with Shakespeare's saga of bloody ambition and covert power games.

The problem is that all of these atmospherics become so confoundedly busy -- especially so with designer Lorna Heavey's extremely complicated video projections -- that the narrative tends to get lost in the hubbub. One seriously wonders if newcomers to "Macbeth" will grasp the story.

The 18-member company is capable enough. Slim, raven-haired Kate Fleetwood portrays Lady Macbeth with an icily sweet voice and an insistent manner. Sporting a nasty mustache, Stewart is robust in looks and surprisingly jaunty in spirit even during Macbeth's desperate final moments. Stewart indulges in a few vocal tricks -- animal-type howls, mostly -- but usually he satisfyingly fleshes out the character with vigor and commanding star power.

Michael Sommers may be reached at msommers@starledger.com or (212) 790-4434.