MAKE IT LOUDER
Confession: when I bought tickets to see Macbeth at the Armory it was with little interest in the Tragedie of Macbeth, its contemporary retelling, Shakespeare in general, or immersive theater. It was to witness Kenneth Branagh fill the Drill Hall with his voice. I will listen to him perform under just about any circumstances ( bizarre, goofy, politically dubious). His voice gives great pleasure. When he speaks I’m reminded how beautiful English can be, and how expressive male voices can be.
This production gives us a lot of Branagh, who wears his rough red stubble, tartan shawl and leather breeches well. But the sound mix seems to hold his voice lower than that of the other actors. And he rushes through his words, glossing over the language and also the drama. When, at the end, he’s told that Lady Macbeth is gone, he starts right into the famous “Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow” soliloquy and then, suddenly, the speech, and his grief, are done.
This production doesn’t value language. The play has been squashed to two hours, cutting out chunks of dialogue including “Eye of newt, and toe of frog/Wool of bat, and tongue of dog." The transitions between scenes are brisk, and several other actors also rush through their words. Though they speak clearly it’s too quickly for the sounds, and the meanings, to stick. Without pauses Shakespeare’s language, for someone like me, who has no special literary knowledge, is a finely-wrought and pointless lyric.
One voice breaks through. Richard Coyle, who plays MacDuff, has a clear, direct voice whose rhythms sound authentically Scottish. It’s the voice of a good, strong man; when we hear it we believe that he is a natural soldier and that he himself would make a good king. When MacDuff receives news that his wife and child have been taken he stops in mid-step, and this small rupture expresses grief more fully than even his words do. It’s exciting each time he appears, and moving each time he speaks. Why don’t I feel this way about Macbeth?
Photograph by Stephanie Berger, courtesy of Park Avenue Armory.