By Lachlan Williams:

As director Christopher Hurrell points out in his notes, we are all taught in high school that Macbeth is about ambition, hubris, power and pride. Hurrell though seeks to do something different with his version, and he certainly has.

We are presented from the beginning with a Macbeth who is probably already mad, or at least has some underlying mental health issues that remain unnamed and undiagnosed in medieval Scotland.

Nicholas Eadie’s Macbeth is initially a reticent, edgy, reluctant figure who is more disconcerted by the witches’ prophesying than he is filled with ambition. The lines that stand out, those Eadie and Hurrel have made weightier in the rhythm of the dialogue, are those that betray the doubt at the heart of Macbeth’s ambition.

As he progresses, we come to see him not as someone who lusts hopelessly after power, but as someone upon whom unseen forces have wreaked havoc. Of course he will be king – the witches foretold it. His madness here is not a result of his actions, but a part of them, and he becomes a man trying to escape from himself.

The nightmarish mood is set by a kind of moving “chorus”  consisting of most of the cast transform the fluid space from scene to scene. The set is imposing and claustrophobic, heavy, rusted “metal”  panels cover two sides floor-to-ceiling. A kind of “stage-coal” border runs around the space, and everyone wears whatever they picked up after the goth/viking apocalypse. The theatre was frigidly cold, and while it meant I had to keep my jacket on for the first three acts, I couldn’t help but feel it suited the mood. I heard representations being made to the front of house at interval by some patrons clearly less committed than myself, but I have to say I rather enjoyed it.

Steve Toumlin’s sound design instills paranoia, discomfort and doubt, with its occasional rumbling bass, hissy white-noise-ish effect, and high tones that are barely there, yet still make you clench your teeth.

On those moments (mainly before the interval) when this production really nails it, the effect is terrifying. It’s not disconcerting, or “confronting,” it doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable – it makes you feel sheer terror. The ensemble, with their expressionistic movement, occasionally reach out beyond what’s happening in the play to something gestural and powerful. As an audience member you feel as though they’ve somehow gotten into the darker bits of your soul and started tinkering around.

That fact that this effect is momentary and fleeting is, in some ways, a mercy. It would have been a draining few hours if the players had remained at those heights of evocation. As it is, Macbeth’s madness is so affecting (and so close to us, pushed in our direction by the giant, unforgiving rusted metal walls) that the audience weren’t able to bring themselves to applause at interval. Instead the small group sat in silence, and eventually stood and left, made phone calls and ordered drinks, slightly traumatised. Just because we weren’t able to thank the actors didn’t mean they’d done a bad job. In fact, they’d done a great job, but it was on us and we’d not yet recovered.

This isn’t to say the show didn’t have its weaker points. The fact that Macbeth’s madness and the terror and paranoia of his ascent is such an insular and expressionistic process means that Lady Macbeth is left somewhat stranded, oscillating between a traditional role as an ambitious woman driving her husband, and an odd kind of partnership in his insanity. There were places where planned “high points” fell somewhat flat, but the fact that so many of them landed with such a small audience is a credit to the ensemble. The stage-combat and choreographed killing scenes are particularly effective, and are an innovative and evocative use of a small space and a large cast.

In Hurrell’s production, we’re exposed to something in touch with the madness that control us, whether they’re of persecution, ambition, grief or terror. Though this Macbeth does have its flaws, Hurrell has made firm, unusual and interesting decisions as a director, and committed himself and his cast to them absolutely.

And when it works, my god it’s good.

Performance Details: Macbeth

Featuring Nicholas Eadie (Macbeth), Margot Fenley (Lady Macbeth), Jonathan Ford, John Gregg, Douglas Hansell, Peter Hayes, Matt Hyde, Danielle King, Ashley Lyons, Paul-William Mawhinney, Adam McGurk, Woody Naismith, John Turnbull with Andrew Brophy, Mitchell Burge, James Fraser and Lawson Tanner

Director Christopher Hurrell, Movement Director Mackenzie Scott, Set Designer Justin Nardella, Costume Designers Michael Hankin and Lucilla Smith, Lighting DesignerSound Designer Steve Toulmin, Assistant Director Lincoln Hall Stephen Hawker,

Times: Tuesday – Saturday 8pm, Sunday 5pm

Matinees: Saturday 1 & 8 May at 3pm

Preview: $27, Adult: $37, Student Conc: $32, Senior: $30

Arts/Theatre Correspondent Lachlan Williams is a Sydney-based writer, comedian and musician and has worked with Australian independent live theatre.

Tags: christopher hurrell, darlinghurst theatre, independent thetre australia, macbeth